Finding Parking With a Long Vehicle

[Awesome Street]

So I've been hunting for a vehicle for several months at this point and really haven't found anything I like as of yet, but I've been continuing to save beyond what I'd initially planned on spending. I was simply going to buy an extended length van, but I now have enough money that I could potentially afford to buy a decent sized box truck. My main concern is that I'm planning to live in the city and I don't want to get something that's so long and unruly that I can't find any publicly available parking for it.

Could you guys elaborate on the difficulties of finding parking with a 15-foot long vehicle? What about 18 feet?

 

[B and C]

My Roadtrek is 21' long (bumper to bumper) without the front spare tire on it. Without the front spare tire, I could easily fit in a standard parking space. I need a front to back parking space now. I just pull through, usually at the outer limits of the lot. Do they make a box truck that is only 15' bumper to bumper?

 

[travelaround]

I have a Ford Transit that is about 19' long and have no problems parking it just about anywhere. I will even use just one parking space if that's all I can find available. Of course in parking lots with plenty of empty spaces I'm likely to use two spaces. Right now I'm also towing a cargo trailer... which I think is 12 or 14 feet. I always use 2 parking spaces - park at the back of the lot usually. Easy enough to parallel park on a street. I've never had anyone tell me I was using too much room.

 

[Matlock]

I have a 21' one ton box truck that fits easily in a standard parking space. However, I don't park in residential areas. Ideally I look for end to end spaces and pull through so I'm driving forward to pull out. Also I might mention a backup camera is a huge asset.

 

[Awesome Street]

Thanks guys, really appreciate it!
Tell you what, let me go even a step further and show you guys a picture of a truck that caught my interest. How troublesome do you guys think it would be to reliably find street parking for it?

https://www.latruckguyonline.com/inventory-details/?iid=789311601574417

EDIT: oops, I actually realized upon closer inspection of this page that this is a WHOPPING 25 feet long!!! Tell you what, I'll just ask what you guys think of it anyways XD

Thanks!

 

[B and C]

I don't get any info on that page. No picture, nothing. Just a blank page with a picture placeholder and info about the dealer.

 

[abnorm]

.........It's sold

It was a 16' box on chassis with a walk-thru to the cab

 

[deadwood]

40' RV.. No problem. Just come out here to LA. Park on pretty much any street and never leave. No parking signs... No problem there either. Just ignore them and the cops will ignore you. Want to put your slide out and set up your BBQ. Go ahead.. I see people park for weeks on end where there is no parking at night but I have yet to see anyone so much as get a parking ticket let alone be told to move.

 

[Awesome Street]

Lol, I checked and it looks like the listing was removed; the dealer must have JUST sold it or something, Nvm on that.

But it looks like I need to rethink my calculations, I reasoned that I could approximate the bumper to bumper length of a truck by taking the box length and adding 3 feet to that number to account for the length of the cab (12 foot box + 3 Feet = 15 feet total; 15 foot box + 3 Feet = 18 feet total), but judging by the vehicle listing I just saw, I'm WAY off. The truck in the listing had a 15-foot box, but had a bumper to bumper length of 25 feet. I have no idea how it works out to that - it seems a bit long to me, but apparently that's what it is.

In my mind, a 15 foot box would provide me with PLENTY of room; anything much larger than that would be gratuitously large. That being said, would it be difficult to find city parking for a 25 foot vehicle, or could I make that work? Or, a better question, what would you say is the largest length of vehicle that I could get away with buying that would still allow me to find free city parking without too much difficulty?

And thank you guys so much, really appreciate your feedback!

 

[travelaround]

I'm no expert on free city boondocking so can't advise on that.

 

[nature lover]

Space in that kind of box truck would be all right but what kind of mileage does The thing get. My conversion van will get 16 on the highway if I’m careful about acceleration and speeding. Around town 13 is about as good as I get. You just keep paying and paying and paying for that extra space. I’ve Often thought that the most rule efficient rig would be a four-cylinder pick up truck with one of those lightweight little trailers behind it. On my income traveling 13 to 16 miles per gallon I can’t get very far. God bless the nomads and keep us from running out of gas.

 

[Awesome Street]

Space in that kind of box truck would be all right but what kind of mileage does The thing get.  My conversion van will get 16 on the highway if I’m careful about acceleration and speeding. Around town 13 is about as good as I get. You just keep paying and paying and paying for that extra space. I’ve Often thought that the most rule efficient rig would be a four-cylinder pick up truck with one of those lightweight little trailers behind it.  On my income traveling 13 to 16 miles per gallon I can’t get very far. God bless the nomads and keep us from running out of gas.

Yeah, to tell you the truth I really don't plan on being on the road all that much; I think I'm probably just going to stay localized in one city for an extended period of time. Anyways, I'm fine with that tradeoff, I'll pay more for gas so I can have a larger space.

 

[Awesome Street]

40' RV.. No problem. Just come out here to LA. Park on pretty much any street and never leave. No parking signs... No problem there either. Just ignore them and the cops will ignore you. Want to put your slide out and set up your BBQ. Go ahead.. I see people park for weeks on end where there is no parking at night but I have yet to see anyone so much as get a parking ticket let alone be told to move.

That honestly sounds great! I was honestly thinking of moving to LA after completing my build; Either LA or Phoenix. That being said, if anyone has any insight on finding parking for a large vehicle in Phoenix, I'd be very interested in hearing what you have to say on the matter.

 

[deadwood]

Awesome.. LA (and mostly S. California) is van paradise. The culture is pretty laid back towards van life. And the homeless problem is so bad now. I see new tents going up in parks, on sidewalks, on beaches, pretty much everywhere that living in a van on the street is pretty low key. The weather is perfect pretty much all year.

As for Phoenix. That is where I am from and where I built my van. Winters are great and summers are hell. No way to live in the summer without AC. Need to head north for better weather. As for parking. That is a lot tougher as well. The city is so spread out and most apartments have ample parking. So you rarely see a lot of overflow parking on the street to blend in with like I have in LA.

There are some places I have found in Tempe close to Arizona State University. Quite a few apartments where they park on the street and I can blend in. But I have a 19' van not a big RV. I don't know of any good places that you could stealth park an RV there and get away with it for very long. It would just stand out so much more than how it is in Socal.

 

[Awesome Street]

Thank you for the info deadwood, that's very helpful! Sounds like LA is my best bet!