Do you back up or drive in?

I don’t have a garage, but I am not the type to put extra effort into something not that important in preparation for it being easier for me later.

I also am not great at maneuvering cars and am terrified of going in reverse in any context because I am afraid I will hit something.

As for where/how I park, I park in the parking lot of my apartment complex, and I just drive into the spot.

My mom gets to park her car in the garage. Mine goes outside in the driveway because I am younger and less important. Yes, she says that. I know she’s kidding.

I hire an army of garden gnomes to pick up my car and turn it 180 degrees inside of my garage, thus avoiding the problem entirely. Of course, my preferred mode of transport is my lighter-than-air craft drawn by non-migratory swallows, and so I rarely require their services in any case.

Being impaired at backing in, I pull straight into the garage.

No garage here, but I park in a lot of garages with little space. I always back in, because it is a hell of a lot easier to drive out of a parking space than it is to back out. Once, I got banged in the side by someone backing out who didn’t see me.

She asked to keep it private, and since she worked at the same place I did, I trusted her. Silly me. I will never let anyone pull that line on me again, no matter how close they are related to me.

PS, How do people who can’t back in, back out?

i pull in, but i lived somewhere once that required backing in. whatever works.

No garage, but I normally (about 85–90% of the time) back into any parking spot.

At my apartment, I do this because people here do not know how to park and there aren’t enough spaces, so people park on the curbs – backing in makes it sooo much easier to get out in the morning because of that.

At home, I back in because it is what I’ve always done and it makes it easier to pull out since we live on a busy country road and have 6 vehicles plus a 4 horse trailer in the drive way. It’s a little crowded.

In public, backing in is just a habit from the above situations.

I’d say the only time I pull into a spot directly is when I am in a huge hurry and when I park at my fiance’s house because the spot where I have to park is a bit difficult to maneuver in reverse if his truck is already parked.

i just back that thang up!

some drivers just don’t know how to back it in. my wife is one of ‘em.

@charliecompany34 thanks Lil’ charliecompany34.

@daloon I have a relatively long and wide driveway with nothing between me and the street, that’s how I can back out but not in. Backing in is harder because I have to keep to my side and make sure I don’t run into the lawnmower the assorted bikes, scooters, roller blades or sleds, not to mention the 68 Karmann Ghia!

@Charlie, give your wife a high five from me, she is my people!

We have a biiiig garage. We just drive in. Our driveway isn’t too terribly long. We back out on the street.

It’s a lot easier to back out of my garage than to back in.

No driveway, I parallel park in front of the house every night.

i feel like if i “drive in” i must be in a hurry. when i “back in,” it’s because i know i’ll have to just drive all over again in the morning. it’s one less thing i have to stress about in the A.M.

and here in illinois, where we have to set our clocks one hour ahead this weekend based on some stupid farmers/agricultural law, backing in saves that one minute of morning aggravation.

I always thought that backing in was a ‘guy’ thing. I share a double garage with an apt on another floor. Since I have been here longer, I get the rightside and the other driver’s door opens up against the wall.

My house has a two car garage and it fits both my wife’s and my car acceptably but the fit is still a little snug and too much so for backing the cars in. There is just too much potential for scratches from a wall, the garage door frame/railings, or the other car if you’re not paying enough attention. Better safe than sorry.

i thought this was some kind of sex question until i read the details

I usually just pull in because I am in an apartment complex with a big parking area.
My parents driveway is big enough to do a K turn, so I usually pull in over there too.

i don’t mind the couple extra minutes when I am ready to leave.

I don’t have a garage, but I do have a parking space in a garage. I chose the spot specifically because I could drive nose-in to park in one motion when entering the parking garage, and make one simple reverse move to get out. It would be pretty hard, and needless effort, to reverse into that spot.

I’m not scared of reversing, however. In fact I love to show off my reversing skills. I (a girl FWIW) use parallel parking to do this sometimes. I rarely back into a parking lot spot, but I will take any advantage to drive nose-first through two free end-to-end spots such that I’m aligned ready to drive forward to leave. I once saw this Fancy Parking website, so now I call this maneuver the Fancy Parking move, and I get one karma point for doing it get it, kar ma… :)

My wife drives the mini-van in next to the door into the house.

I back my car in as far over to the passenger side as I can so we both have room to open the driver’s doors.

My driveway is obscenely long and off a major road with traffic so I drive in everytime.

And I don’t have a garage.

I am horrible at backing and avoid it at all costs.

I have a garage but we do not park the cars in it. I will usually back in, but some days its just quicker and easier to just drive right in.

Before I moved to NYC, I was driving in St. L, and I always parked on the street. I’m not a huge fan of backing up, and when I told that to a guy I was seeing once, he backed up out of a parking structure into traffic to impress me.

@dynamicduo I can’t believe there is a website for that! I am definitely a “classic fancy” and “was that a spot I saw?” person – the second espeially at my apartment complex since spots near my apartment are like gold.

I back in.