The most expensive place in the world to park

Updated
Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Skyline, New York
Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Skyline, New York



Londoners are in for a surprise. The capital is not the most expensive place in the world to park. That title is taken by New York, where it costs an average of £20.55 to leave your car for an hour. London, meanwhile, takes second place.

See also: Parking space in central London: a snip at £250,000

See also: The worst place to own a car in the UK - car crime, vandalism, and poor driving hotspots

See also: Council paints disabled bay around a car - then issues a fine


Ubeeqo, the car club app that did the survey, highlighted that at £8.84 an hour, parking in London costs more than the national living wage - 18% more. It means that anyone on the living wage who commuted to London by car would effectively be paying to work.

Top ten priciest for parking
New York £20.55
London £8.84
Stockholm £6.64
Athens £4.85
Oslo £4.51
Milan £4.42
Amsterdam £4.00
Tel Aviv £3.66
Paris £3.66
Munich £3.57

Of course, arguably, there's no real reason to drive into central London when there's an enormous public transport infrastructure. However, if you travel outside normal hours, your local train franchise is on strike, you have something heavy to move, or you have limited mobility, you may need to take the car in occasionally.

Unfortunately, you can't get round the hideous hourly charge by snapping up a bargain rectangle of tarmac and parking on that, because these are enormously expensive too. The most expensive UK car parking space in history is thought to be one that sold in South Kensington for £480,000.

At the moment there are a number of car parking spaces and garages up for sale, including a parking space at a residential block in Mayfair for £150,000, an underground car parking space in Portman Square in central London for £200,000 (or a double space for £320,000), and underground secure parking at The Knightsbridge for £200,000.

It means, therefore, that if for any reason you need to take your car to central London, it's vital that you check out the many apps offering spaces. parkonmydrive.com, for example, has a space in a secure block of flats round the corner from Victoria station for £12 a day, while JustPark.com has a space in a block of flats in the same area for £14.40 a day, and one in Pimlico for £15 a day.

Alternatively, you could technically pay someone to meet you outside work, drive to somewhere where it's free to park, sit in your car all day, and then come back to meet you outside work. As long as you could pay them the minimum wage, it might be cheaper than paying for parking.




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