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6 Parking Apps That Save You Time and Money

This article is more than 9 years old.

Jokes about holiday parking lot wars abound. But time spent looking for someplace to put your car on crowded city streets or mall lots is a serious matter. One 2011  IBM  study found that 30 percent of a city's traffic is attributable to people hunting for parking -- with a third of New York City drivers reporting they search for 20 minutes on average.

Donald Shoup, a University of California, Los Angeles economist and author of The High Cost of Free Parking conducted a study in the Los Angeles area of Westwood, and calculated that each day, there were 3,600 vehicle miles each day -- or 36 trips around the Earth each year -- just in people parking hunting in a single, 15-block neighborhood.

When public transit, bikes, carpools or a personal helicopter do not deliver, there are fantastic apps that help motorists find and pay for public parking in most cities around the country. Here's a roundup:

ParkWhiz Allows you to shop for, reserve and pre-pay for a a parking spot near your destination. Even generates a scan code where available. Promises savings of up to 60 percent.

ParkingPanda This app sets itself apart by partnering with a slew of professional sports leagues, stadiums and family attractions so you can find a spot near your event. A referral program lets users earn free parking.

SpotHero Similar to the other apps, SpotHero lets you book and pay for your parking spot via your phone, but it also promotes its exclusive deals with parking facilities, and discounts of up to 50 percent passed on to the user.

Parker This app helps you find paid parking, or navigate local street parking rules by your destination. Includes a handy timer to help you avoid tickets and garage fees.

BestParking This app claims to have 850,000 monthly users, and originally focused on helping drivers find parking at off airport lots at 105 North American airports. Today BestParking is one of the largest sites for general parking garages in 110 cities around the country.

AirportParkingReservations As the name says, this app is all about airport parking in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom, promising discounts of up to 70 percent at partner facilities. The site also operates ParkSleepFly, a site devoted to said deals, where travelers pay for a single night's stay at an airport hotel in a package that allows them to leave their vehicle at the hotel's parking facilities until they return (usually includes a shuttle to the terminal).