The parking-space test: drive your own car into it

Bring the car you intend to park there.

A showing in someone else's small hatchback won't tell you much about living with your SUV, roof box or child's car seat. Arrange permission to use the garage and the particular space, then leave enough time to drive in, park, get everyone out and walk to the unit. This is part of viewing the home.

Read the posted clearance before entering. Compare it with your vehicle's height in the configuration you actually use, including any roof-mounted equipment. If the clearance is uncertain, don't make the test by driving until something touches.

Follow the whole route to the space. Notice the turn at the bottom of the ramp, the approach around a column and where another vehicle would wait if you needed a second attempt. A space can accommodate a parked car while its approach makes every arrival awkward.

Go slowly enough to judge whether you would be comfortable doing it regularly. You aren't demonstrating driving ability to the agent. You're deciding whether this garage suits you.

At the space, park within the markings rather than borrowing room from an empty neighbouring bay. Open the driver's door to the point you normally need. Test the passenger side too. If you use a child seat, check the room you need to load it safely; if a passenger needs extra space to get out, test that route with their needs in mind.

An empty adjacent space makes everything look generous. Consider where your neighbour's vehicle would sit before deciding that the arrangement works.

The boot matters as well. Can you reach it and handle bags without standing in a travel lane? Does the tailgate have room to open? An inconvenience you can tolerate on a viewing may be less appealing with groceries in bad weather.

Rad Realty · The parking-space test

Rehearse the space, not just the bay

Bring the car you’ll actually park there. A space can hold a parked car while the approach, the doors and the walk to the lift make every arrival awkward.

Conceptual illustration, not a real property, measured layout, legal minimum or swept-path study. Paths show what to test, not guaranteed safe routes.

Conceptual garage · invented layout · no dimensions or legal minimums

Read the visual description

Original conceptual overhead drawing of an underground garage, not a real property and without dimensions. A ramp from the street passes under a clearance bar into a drive aisle. Your car is parked nose-in inside the middle marked bay, between a neighbour’s car on the driver’s side and a column on the passenger side; the bay beyond is empty today and outlined as a car that may be there later. The driver’s door, opened to a normal angle, reaches towards the neighbour’s car; the rear passenger door with a child seat reaches the column. An open tailgate and a person loading bags extend behind the bay into the travel lane. A curved approach line turns from the ramp past a column into the bay, and a dotted walking route carries bags across the aisle through two doors with a fob reader to the lifts. Question marks show possible conflicts to test, not confirmed problems. A wall plaque marks where the level and space number are recorded.

Walk upstairs with something in your hands

You don't need to bring a week's shopping. Carry a bag and follow the route from the car to the home. Count the doors you must open, note where the fob is needed and look for stairs or changes in level. If you're buying partly for easier access, check the entire route rather than just the lift.

Find the locker too, if one is included. A distant locker may still be useful for seasonal storage. It may be a poor place for the bulky item you expect to fetch every morning.

These are observations about how you would use this property. They don't require a universal minimum width or a claim that one garage arrangement is best. A space that another buyer would happily accept may be wrong for your household.

Make sure you've tested the space you're buying

Before leaving the garage, note the level and painted space number. Give that information to the agent and lawyer so it can be reconciled with the purchase documents. If anyone refers to a different number, have the discrepancy explained rather than assuming both descriptions mean the same thing.

The legal arrangement needs its own attention. As Tierney Stauffer's Ontario condo-buying explanation describes, parking may be a separate legal unit, an exclusive-use arrangement, a rental or a licence. Those arrangements give you different rights. A rental the seller has been using isn't automatically a parking interest you will own after the sale.

Ask your lawyer to establish what is included, how the right to use it arises, and any restrictions on transfer or rental. The CAO's buyers' guide also notes that total common expenses may include parking and locker units as well as the residential unit. Make sure the monthly cost you've been shown includes everything you are purchasing.

Building rules can affect your intended use even when the ownership is clear. If you need to park a work vehicle, store a bicycle beside the car or let someone else use the space, confirm that particular use. Avoid relying on what another resident happens to be doing during the visit.

After the viewing, your notes should be concrete: the driver can get out comfortably; the child-seat side is tight; the roof box cannot remain on; the route to the lift works for your passenger. Those details will tell you more about living with the space than the words “parking included.”