It’s no secret that parking is usually a daunting task in bigger cities. If you’re performing a self-move, make sure you have acquired a parking permit before arriving at your new house unless you’re willing to add a parking fine to you moving expenses. On the other hand, if you’ve hired the services of a professional moving company, the latter will most likely take care of this issue for you and later charge you as an additional relocation cost.
A moving truck permit reserves space at a specific time and location to park a vehicle while moving in and out of a building. Usually city staff will post signs at the requested location.
The Permit can give you permission to park on the street for a certain period of time (varying from a few hours to a few days). and it also lets the city know that the truck, trailer or container is approved to be there. Usually obtaining such a permit is optional. If you park on the street without having a permit, and the city needs that spot of street for construction, street sweeping, etc., they could ticket and tow the moving truck at your expense.
A parking permit can sometimes reserve space for your moving truck in advance. In some cities, the permit is actually a temporary “No Parking” sign that the city places where you plan to park the van. This will help you a lot if you are living on a street where you could hardly find a place to park. This is great if you want to reserve the closest spot to your front door to make the move faster. For local moves, having the moving truck parked as close as possible to both locations could save you a lot of money, because moves are usually calculated by the hour. Please note that these temporary signs are not available in all cities.
Most cities require a notice several days in advance for the permit to be issued and signs to be placed at the location. The city of Boston calls it a Street Occupancy Permit and it takes about 15 minutes to an hour to obtain. In Philadelphia it is called Temporary No Parking Application. The city of New York does not have a permitting system that protects moving companies and, therefore, you are most likely to incur tickets during the moving process. It is estimated that you might pay between $150 and $250 in parking fines.
Here is a full list of the cities that provide a parking permit for moving vehicles or an equivalent.
California
- San Francisco – Commercial Parking Lots and Parking Garages Application
- Pasadena – Temporary Daytime Parking Permit
- Manhattan Beach – Moving Van Permit
Illinois
- Chicago – Parking Moving Van Permit
Massachusetts
- Boston – Street Occupancy Permit
- Cambridge – Moving Van Permit
- Somerville – Moving Container/POD Permit
- Brookline – Resident Parking Permit
Metro Washington, DC / Virginia
- District of Columbia – Permit Applications for Use in Public Spaces
- Alexandria, VA – Temporary Reserved Parking
- Arlington, VA – Residential Parking Permits & Passes
New Jersey
- Hoboken – Temporary No Parking Signs
Oregon
- Portland – Temporary Parking, Sidewalk, Street Use Permits
Pennsylvania
- Philadelphia – Temporary No Parking Application
Washington State
- Seattle – Temporary No Parking Zone
