Quote overview

Where you park your car overnight is an important question on the quote form and can affect the cost of your insurance.

You might think that parking your car in the garage is seen as the safest place and the most likely answer that gives you a discount. However, as you will see from our results, that is not always the case.

Different underwriters for individual insurers have their own view of what makes a good or bad risk. So, the answer to the parking question might yield different results depending on who you get a quote from.

We analysed rates from over 100+ companies using a comparison site to see the difference in price between parking overnight in a private garage, parking on your driveway and parking in the street. The results make interesting reading.

Quote Results

As you can see from this specific quote example, parking on the street actually gave the cheapest quote from the list of top three prices. Parking in your garage gave us a higher quote than the other cheapest options.

Swiftcover came out the cheapest on this particular quote for all three parking options with Axa second. Both of these companies rated parking on the street as the cheapest option.

Interestingly, the third lowest quote which came from Toyota Insurance (they insure other car makes as well), rated street parking as the most expensive option with driveway parking the cheapest. So, it goes to show that not all insurance underwriters think the same way.

Parking in the garage

From our analysis, it seems a number of providers, not all, now perceive parking in the garage as a higher risk. It maybe because insurers see more claims from people scraping the side of their car when driving into the garage. Anecdotally, it appears that more new build homes over the past number of years have garages that are built smaller than they were previously. This could be because land costs are expensive and housebuilding budgets are tighter.

In addition, insurers may also be seeing more claims from garage items, such as paint pots and cleaning items, falling onto the car while it is parked in the garage. Again, this could be because garages are smaller.

Another possible reason is that when a car is parked in the garage, thieves know they can access the car keys by breaking into the house. This makes stealing a car much easier.

Parking on the driveway

Again, by parking on the driveway, thieves will know that the car keys are likely to be in the same house, often in the hallway. This makes breaking into your property, stealing the keys and driving your car away a more tempting opportunity.

However, parking on the driveway means you are less likely to claim from falling garage items, which is perhaps why it is still perceived as a safer risk than garage parking.

Parking on the street

Parking on the street means that thieves do not know which house it belongs to in order to break in and steal the keys. This makes a quick get away with your car a less likely occurrence.

However, parking on the street is still high risk. When your car is stationary on the street, there is a higher chance it could get hit by a moving car at speed, get bumped by somebody else parking close to you or getting accidentally hit by a passer-by or cyclist.

Parking on the street also puts you at higher risk for your car getting broken into or your window being broken by passing thieves looking for a quick smash and grab.

So where should you park?

Whatever the difference in price from the parking options, you must always be honest on the quote form. This cannot be stressed enough.

If you park your car in the garage overnight then this is what you must declare. However, it's perfectly fine to decide you will start parking your car on the driveway or even on the street, as long as you actually do that.  What you must not do is to say you park on the street if in reality you don't. That would be dishonest and may be considered insurance fraud.

If you park your car in the garage then perhaps ensure you don't leave your car keys in the most obvious place in the house.

You should also consider the risks of parking on your driveway as opposed to your garage. Look out for potential issues of falling debris from your house or other buildings. There is also the weather to consider. Depending on where you live, bad weather can cause an erosion in your car's paintwork over time and may leave it more susceptible to rust.

The old-fashioned belief that parking your car on the street is the riskiest of all options may still be true. It depends where you live and the type of street e.g., is it a busy street, are there lots of people walking past your vehicle, is it a safe area, are there cameras around etc.

Standard risk data used:

• Main Driver Age: 40 years old
• Named Drivers: None
• Make & Model Car: Ford Fiesta 1.2 Studio
• Mileage: 5,000 Miles
• No Claims Bonus: 5 Years
• Voluntary Excess: £500
• Licence: Full UK Licence
• Convictions: None
• Previous Claims: None
• Postcode Location: City Suburb

Quote date: February 2023

Comparison Site: GeneralSure

Disclaimer:

This quote is just an example based on some standard basic risk information using the latest rates at the time of this post. There are many factors used in calculating a quote. Your exact quote may be higher or lower depending on your specific details, the date and time you do a quote and the comparison site used.