Since the hike of parking fees in 2016, the cost of driving your favourite set of wheels in Singapore seems to get more expensive despite it being a miscellaneous cost amongst the hefty payments. Parking is probably the only item that costs money even when your vehicle is not in use. Despite the high prices, below is a guide to help you reduce the expensive parking fees that make our adrenaline rush whenever time passes.
1. HDB Car Parks
One of the true beauties of Heartland areas is the cheaper parking fees of HDB car parks. Not only is it cheaper, there are plenty of HDB car parks that have free parking weekends and public holidays. Should you be in the area for many hours, it is always recommended to park your car in a HDB lot and take a short walk to your destination. For example, if you are heading to Parkway Parade, and if the weather permits, you can opt to park your car in carparks around the Marine Parade HDB flats.
Check out this link for the HDB car parks that have free parking on weekends/public holidays:
https://www.hdb.gov.sg/cs/infoweb/car-parks/short-term-parking/free-parking
2. Nearby Building Parking Lots
Certainly, parking your car in the building you are heading to is the most convenient and accessible way. However, that may also mean higher parking charges if they are expensive in that building. The same logic as parking in HDB car parks, sometimes it is worth walking from one or two blocks to save on the parking fees. Before heading off to your destination, it is advisable to research parking rates of the buildings in the proximity that you will be heading to, to help save on the expensive fees.
One such website that you can get some of your research done is https://www.stcars.sg/carpark-rates
3. Drive Out and Drive In
If you are lucky enough to find a car park that has free parking for the first few hours, there is a way to extend these hours. A little hack is to drive your car out before hitting the time limit, and then driving back in back to the car park to enjoy the free parking for another “first” few hours. Definitely, this may not be the most convenient way to save parking fees, but a little hard work will bring about huge savings in the long run.
In Singapore, parking fees are expensive yet inevitable. Owning a car means that you will incur costs regardless of its usage such as petroleum costs or when it is placed stationery such as parking fees. Although these fees are not paid in a large amount at a go, a little of it daily amounts to a huge sum of money.
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