No Stupid Questions

My car isn't the best and has refused more than once to start while in a parking lot. Parking so that I can always pull forward to leave means the tow truck also has much easier access to my car when I need it. :(

Everyone is saying it's so backing out is safer, which is true... but for me that's not the primary reason.

I drive an Isuzu D-Max. It's a "ute" (truck?) - not one of the obscenely big ones, but it's bigger than a hatch back or sedan.

In a narrow bay, or narrow approach, you can get lined up in the bay first go if you reverse in because you start with your ass in more or less the right place, and front of the car which is moving left and right to get lined up is not in the narrow bay until you're more than half way in.

If you drive in front first you often don't have enough lateral space to get your rear wheels lined up, so you end up parked akimbo first go, so you reverse out to straighten up and come in again.

Additionally, with a rear camera you can see exactly how much room you have so you can use every centimeter. Looking over the nose you can get to within 15cm or so, but you can always use all the space with the camera without any effort.

Reversing might not be easier than front first the first few times, but with a little bit of practice reversing in does take less effort than going front first.

I have a private parking spot off street in a city. I don’t like backing up towards the main road; since it has pedestrians and stuff. It’s a little harder to see.

So I back into the spot. It’s way easier than backing out - and pulling out is even easier. 

My work parking garage is already really tight. It’s another situation where backing in is easier than backing out - and driving forward our is even easier. So just some planning.

Because you're wrong.

Considering the process of parking in full, including leaving the space, reversing in is far safer.

And yes, you do need driving instruction.

To assert dominance.

Getting out quicker, matching other cars that did it for no reason, or I plan on sitting in my car and I like the view better that direction.

I had trouble pulling into a parking spot when I first started driving, because I couldn't judge how close the front of my car was to the car's bumper next to me (as I turned in)

So I started backing-in because I could see everything with my mirrors and could maneuver more easily. I still prefer backing-in, depending on the situation

You can see people walking in the path if the car much easier If a small child ran behind the car while reversing I don't think I'd see them even anywhere near as well as I would if they ran out in front of the car as i was pulling out of the space.

I find it easier to backwards park, especially in tighter spaces. Mostly because it's easier if you look properly and watch your mirrors and don't rush. It's also easier to leave because you've got better line of sight for oncoming traffic

1. I can do it as fast after years of valet as a teenager, and its easier to make sure I'm centered since I can see the lines in my mirrors.

2. It's easier and quicker to get out, you never know if reversing out of a spot is going to be feasible and the visibility might not be as good when trying to exit.

It's easier. You need enough room for the nose to swing around because the front wheels follow a wider trajectory than the rear wheels. The access road is usually much wider than the parking spots, so backing into the spot gives you much more room to maneuver.

You also have much better visibility overall. If you go in nose first, you can't see the front corners of your car, and you also have terrible visibility when backing out of the spot. If you back in, the mirrors show you exactly how close you are to the cars around you, and you have an unobstructed view when you leave.

Like most everyone here, I feel that I can see the parking space better when I arrive than the roadway when I'm leaving. Seems safer. But the best is pulling through. Win/win!

My backup cam makes it easy to know how far to go in. Much easier for me than figuring out the front distance.

my tags expired in 2021

I didn’t see anyone else mention this, but to add to other comments, I don’t want to risk hitting the curb with my front splitter in my low-clearance sports car. Obviously SUVs don’t have this issue…

Safety, driving out of a parking space is safe than reversing out. Also every company I've worked for has had a reverse parking only policy, also for safety reasons, so it's habit too.

My van is much easier to reverse into a bay (although most of the time I go near back and find a drive through).

Backing out in the van is nightmare safety wise.

Once you know the proper method, it's easy and efficient. Knowing the proper method is requested to get a licence so many people don't forget.

A big bonus is that you see where you go when leaving. So if a car comes on the street you see it.

Finally many companies have a back parking mandatory as it's safer in case of emergency evacuation. Not an issue in a supermarket but definitely a thing on a chemical factory

Beacuse sometimes you have to go somewhere where going out of the parking is going to be near immposible so its Just better to back out when there is not a lot of pepole and have better vivisbilty when going out of the parking.

Most cars have their battery on the front. Reverse parking ensures that you can reach the battery with jumper cables if it is empty

In some country (in France in some place for exemple), regulation law force to be park back i, in case of emergency (fire, or disaster) you can make out quicker

In addition to the ease with front wheel drives that other people have mentioned, it is also safer. When you back in to a space you have full awareness of what's around you in the car park, and are blocking the main driving route while backing into a place where no one is driving so are unlikely to have some speeding idiot hit your car. But when backing out of a space you lose vision on the driving route and are backing into it so you have a bigger chance of being hit by someone you can't see not stopping

While you can feel pressured by other drivers waiting while you backing into a space, it's far less pressure than when you back out of a space and don't know what's around you.

Similarly if you have a drive way at home, it's safer to back in to it as you have better awareness of pedestrians and other drivers versus if you are backing out of the space into a road.

I don't like starting my drive on a low-note of backing up out from a parking spot, anxious I will accidentally scrape a vehicle or bonk the curb or whatever may it be. Ending the drive by backing into the parking space means next time I leave I'll start by driving forward to pull out.

There are cities that still have laws on the books that state you cannot back out of your driveway. Obviously not enforced but the reasoning is there. At the grocery store, I don't back in because it becomes a pain in the ass to get to your trunk, everywhere else, yeah I back in. It's safer.