You’re paying too much for your parking

Picture the scene – it’s the morning, it’s cold, you set off to catch your train to work and park at the railway station, shuffling the remaining 20 meters to the platform. Perfectly normal, you might think?

Like many Britons, if your mornings go something like this then now is the time to reconsider your parking arrangements – it could save you up to £1,400 a year. Parking comparison website YourParkingSpace.co.uk has put in the research comparing parking prices at railway stations against convenient nearby alternatives from its website.

It’s found that, while consumers commonly compare insurance policies to save money, it’s not that often they’ll compare parking spaces to minimise their costs. Considering the annual cost of parking usually outweighs that of insurance, it’s surprising more consumers don’t look to save money in this way.

Unsurprisingly, those in London are both the most likely to be commuting to work by train and the worst-off when it comes to parking prices. In fact, the cost of parking at a railway station in London is around £3,240 on average – roughly the same annual price as a zone 6-1 rail card – effectively doubling the yearly cost for commuters.

YourParkingSpace.co.uk found if commuters compared prices for local alternatives instead of their normal station car park they stood to make vast savings. Drivers in Birmingham, Brighton and Bristol could save between £304 and £365 a year, those in Manchester could save £524 and, for those in London, a whopping £1,440.

With the price of parking so high, many people are looking to capitalise on the market for reasonably priced parking alternatives. Taking inspiration from room-letting service Airbnb, many homeowners are now letting out their driveways and parking spaces meaning there are plenty of other options rather then heading for your local station car park.

Drivers comparing their car insurance online stand to save around £280 per year on average but YourParkingSpace.co.uk suggests they could save £312 on average across the UK. This means that comparing parking spaces could save you at least as much as the meerkat or the singing welshman can on your car insurance.

Parking up the right tree

Now you know how to save money parking at the right destination, let carwow demystify the world of car insurance so you can save money there too. Then head over to our car configurator to see how much you could save on your next car.