-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
What to do about NYC public garage gougers?
- Thread starter Pkatz
- Start date
Hahaahah. Great idea!file the complaint or get this
2002-2006 "CAMRY" Rear Trunk Emblem Genuine Toyota Factory OEM 75442-AA020 | eBay
Allen St is the best Supercharger in Manhattan
Friendly, reasonable enough price, and know what they are doing with charging your car
Why not name and shame or at least give rough neighborhood descriptions?
Others might know better garages in your hood and be able to recommend.
Helps others and provides information instead of just venting
In NYC, businesses will milk the most money they can. It's the culture of the place. You want a bargain, go elsewhere.
EdisonFire
Member
For less than the costs/surcharges mentioned below you can drive through the Lincoln Tunnel to Jersey City, park and Supercharge at the Newport Mall, do some shopping and not pay sales tax on clothing. Still cheaper than the return tunnel toll.
There are a few superchargers in Manhattan. Some are reserved for monthly patrons (eg, Mott Street, lower East Side). Others will supercharge your car at the standard parking rate ( $36 for the first hour, Upper West Side 75th & Broadway) plus tip.
There are a few superchargers in Manhattan. Some are reserved for monthly patrons (eg, Mott Street, lower East Side). Others will supercharge your car at the standard parking rate ( $36 for the first hour, Upper West Side 75th & Broadway) plus tip.
Maybe you misread my initial post? No one is suggesting I am looking for a "bargain," just looking to be treated the same as the next guy at the very least. The reality is that those of us who work in big cities have to deal with this nonsense and there's no reason we should just roll over and permit ourselves to be financially raked over the coals when we can fight back.
Amen!
unfortunately the situation is getting worse rather than better. Finding a place to charge in NYC has always been a challenge. In the early days you could park your Model S at these garages for the standard monthly rate (often still exorbitant depending on the location., but there was no Tesla/exotic fee.) These days, you often have to pay an "exotic" rate in addition to the standard monthly parking rate. I suspect, but I cannot be sure of course, that this has to do with having to cover damages to some of these cars. I can tell you from personal experience that while the cost to repair a model S has come down since 2012, it is still more expensive than other non-luxury ICE cars and the garages have had to factor this into their calculation.
Icon Parking, which once upon a time was reasonably friendly and accommodating to Teslas recently advertised $450/month to park in my building on 61st and Broadway (where there is unfortunately no level 2 charger) and yet quoted me $880/month when I actually inquired about getting a monthly spot for my Model S there. It sounded like bate and switch to me and I was furious. This garage was run by QuickPark until recently but I believe the 2 companies have since merged. what's worse is that there are at least 10 Teslas that park monthly in this garage, but most of these are not daily drivers and I would often see an S or an X charging off a 120 V outlet while parked. My S is my daily driver so 120 V charging doesn't work for me.
however there is hope.
I recently secured a spot at the garage at Columbus Circle now run by MPG. Tesla had a pop-up shop at the Time Warner Center for a while and there were destination chargers installed there which are still functional. I used to park my car on the street overnight and would use these chargers once or twice a week before superchargers started popping up around the city, and then once in a blue after SCers became plentiful. They recently switched Management from Quick Park to MPG but the garage attendants are the same as I have been dealing with since I purchased my Model S, so they are still good about plugging me when I parked there overnight in even tho I was not a monthly customer.
Since September the meter maids have been very vigilant about ticketing those of us who enjoyed pretty liberal on-street parking in the neighborhood.. so i've had to bite the bullet and find a monthly spot after more than 6 years of parking on the street and only occasionally getting ticketed.
What I suspect happened (in my case at least) is that with the opening of Hudson Yards and the subsequent move of Time Warner offices there opened up a lot of parking spaces at the parking garage of the Time Warner Center. (sad times, time warner or spectrum or whatever they are called now not having offices at their namesake Time Warner Center.. but such is the cold hard math of NYC commercial real-estate)
The garage probably had to drop their rates to attract more cars. here's the interesting part:
My monthly spot is actually with a company called DropCar.
I have written extensively about them on TMC as for a long time they were in effect my monthly space -- they were basically a valet service that picks up your car from anywhere in Manhattan, parts of Brooklyn and LIC and would then park it in cheaper garages around the city. I used them at home, at work, around town and they would charge my car for free. Of course this service was too good to be true and ended at some point in 2018.
More recently they have partnered with local garages and offer to valet your car to one of these garages for a fee. They never had a garage that supported level 2 parking close enough to my home or my office so I was never able to take advantage of this service. Then at the end of October they sent me an email about a spot at the garage at the Time Warner Center. And the rate was around $355!!! (rates for garages in my neighborhood -- for regular cars, not exotics or Teslas etc, etc -- are around $650/month! So this was quite a deal)
i called my old friends at DropCar and asked them to find out if there was a hidden Tesla fee/charging fee/exotic fee and -- to my great surprise -- they came back and said the "tesla fee" which includes the extra liability coverage is (only) $87!!.. and this includes taxes and charging.
anyway. I've been a monthly customer at MPG Columbus Circle though DropCar since November 1st and I pay $442.10 per month. very, very good for NYC-land, particularly the Columbus Circle area.
I rarely use the Dropcar valet feature -- as it is rather expensive. ($10 flat fee + $10 per 15 minutes valet time. but i have never paid more than $20 for this when they have brought the car back to me from the garage.) I live less than 5 minutes walk from the garage and only use the service when it is freezing cold out or when I have to carry lots of things. in truth, I still park on the street several times a week b/c spots are plentiful and the meter maids are only really hyper vigilant on alternate side of the street days. the good old days of rarely getting ticketed are gone, unfortunately. Otherwise I drop off the car at the garage, ask the attendants to plug me in, and then I pick up the car in the morning with a full battery or otherwise when I need it. so far, it has worked very well.
I know it's hard for people from the suburbs to stomach NYC parking rates.. and I grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn so I promise you I sympathize. but these garages can charge as much as they do b/c there are generally many more cars than there are spaces. it is cold, hard supply and demand. and these companies are extremely sensitive to these market forces. ( which sucks for me b/c I know that eventually the price of a spot at this garage will rise to a level that I am not willing to pay) but for the time being I am enjoying reasonably priced (and dare I say a very good deal) that has also solved my charging issue which until now was a bit of a nuisance that I was contending with. sometimes I do miss my weekly forays to the William Vale to charge up my car at the SCer there while eating at Leuca or Westlight. but life goes on.
NYC is financially conscious. Everything has to cost an arm and leg to get done. There has to be a financial incentive for the government to do X and Y. There's no financial incentive to be environmentally conscious here unless they can make money off. If you don't recycle that's a fine the EPA will hand out. NYC has one of the highest ticket for not recycling properly.
If the garage doesn’t back down, I plan on taking the complaint to the NYS DEC, the NYC Dept of consumer affairs and the Mayor’s Office. While I’m a cynic like most and believe that politicians and political agencies may not truly have a heartfelt concern about the Enviornmental objectives that they claim to support and/or the Enviornmental damage that ICE vehicles represent, they have taken public positions and I find that if they are pushed in public, they can be forced to stand by their positions. For that reason, a little public pressure can go a long way to get them to get off of their proverbial rear ends and do the right thing. If I end up going that route, I will report back with results to the forum.
Wooloomooloo
Member
The problem I am having with your posts is this assignment of motive you are making based on this higher price. How many times does it have to be said that correlation does not equal causation? If you think Tesla is being specifically targeted, you need evidence and it can't be that a Tesla costs more to park than a Camry because the two cars don't have the same value or insurance costs. I suspect the latter is the primary reason for this.
Are there other reasons, like plugging in the car and having to move it more frequently so other cars can be charged? Do you come across as someone who sounds like they're going to be a problem?
Before filing a complaint, I would ask them outright what the rationale is before you waste your time, tax payers money and their time.
Fair point. Here are the facts. I started with a Chevy Volt and was quoted price “X.” I told them my lease was ending and I was looking at a Toyota Camry, and was told that it would remain price “X.” I then drove into the lot with my Tesla M3 and was told, “we cannot honor Price X.” Clear evidence. Tesla is the target. In this day and age a Tesla is not “Exotic,” just because it is powered by batteries. The Camry has just about the exact same external dimensions, so the excuse that it is “oversized” couldn’t even be used. The cost of a high end Camry and the Chevy Volt are just about the same as a base Model 3, so the cost of the car cannot serve as a good excuse for Tesla price discrimination. I’m left with the obvious conclusion that there is gouging directed towards Tesla owners. If it were just targeting Model Xs, or even Model Ss, there could be a possible argument that their expensive price tags make them Exotic, I suppose, but when they gouge model 3 owners, it’s obvious what is going on, and it’s discriminatory pricing.
I'm afraid the one point you have missed is the cost of repair, which is relevant in the event the garage damages the vehicle and is responsible for the cost of repair. I don't know whether Tesla's are more fragile than the cars you referenced, but they are certainly more expensive to repair and that distinction may well be the rational basis for the higher Tesla charge.
I've had my Highlander in an Icon garage for the last year and am planning to order a Model X this week. I've asked the manager of my garage (no charger) about the rate and he indicated he had to check with the main office.
I've had my Highlander in an Icon garage for the last year and am planning to order a Model X this week. I've asked the manager of my garage (no charger) about the rate and he indicated he had to check with the main office.
I checked out garages in the UES last year and didn't have any issue with discrepancies in price between my M3P and a basic econobox. There is a large range in garage prices. If you want to be able to plug in when parked then +$. If you want to be in a prime spot without 5 other cars blocking you in then +$. Roughly the price is $400-600/month and winter is the most expensive time to get a spot.
It's amusing to read the comments asserting that business isn't competitive in NYC. Yes, NJ is much cheaper but it's not because business there is more competitive.
...oh yes and the massive sprawl of highways that California calls a city is the guiding light of environmental consciousness.
lol
It's amusing to read the comments asserting that business isn't competitive in NYC. Yes, NJ is much cheaper but it's not because business there is more competitive.
...oh yes and the massive sprawl of highways that California calls a city is the guiding light of environmental consciousness.
lol
Hi Galve2000....
I just ordered a Tesla and need to find a space to park in near the Columbus Circle / UWS area... Are you happy with the place in Columbus Circle? And do you just leave the card with them?
Thanks!!
I just ordered a Tesla and need to find a space to park in near the Columbus Circle / UWS area... Are you happy with the place in Columbus Circle? And do you just leave the card with them?
Thanks!!
I walked around the eastern part of Murray Hill/Midtown East to all of the garages with L2 chargers to get quotes before taking delivery of a MY. The quotes ranged from $450/mo + $100/mo flat rate for charging to $1000/mo (Icon!). Except one: I went into the NYU iPark at 339 E 38th St who offered me $450 without a charging fee (since I only need a charge a week). Done and done. Great bunch of guys who work there too.
I support your vendetta against the Tesla tax, but I agree it will be hard to prove.
I support your vendetta against the Tesla tax, but I agree it will be hard to prove.
Similar threads
- Article
