Parking your commercial vehicle overnight is a big deal. Aside from the fact that you want to keep the vehicle safe, you also want to be sure there are no legal implications to parking your commercial car in the wrong place.
So, where can I park my commercial vehicle overnight?
You can park commercial vehicles overnight in approved areas meant to park overnight or in a parking lot directly related to the business associated with the property and shall be limited to the rear of that property.
What Is A Commercial Car?
A commercial car is any vehicle whose main purpose is to transport goods or materials from one location to another.
A commercial car has the sole purpose to lift materials or transporting goods. The setting of most commercial cars is that, behind the sittings meant for the passengers, there’s a structured design meant to carry materials or tow cars.
For an easy understanding of what a commercial car is, it must meet up with at least one of the following criteria:
- It should weigh more than 10,000 pounds
- It should transport nine Or more people
- It can also be any vehicle that transports 15 people or more
A commercial car, like a shuttle for Christian outreach, or a shuttle for a school hangout, can have people up to 15, sitting to be transported. Payment involved or not, the vehicle is a commercial vehicle.
In summary, you can simply call a commercial vehicle any type of vehicle that is used to transport goods or materials from one place to another and either weighs about 10,000 pounds or have the tendency to transport 9-15 persons on a trip.
Where Can I Park My Commercial Vehicle Overnight?
As stated earlier, parking your commercial vehicle overnight is location specific, there are laws for different states, so the first move is to be sure of the rules that bind parking a commercial vehicle overnight in your state.
Therefore, there’s no better place to park your commercial vehicle than returning it back to where you initially picked it from, most especially when the vehicle is a long one.
If the commercial vehicle is a towing truck, you sure want to return it back to the car deport before it is late or you can search for approved areas by calling state advisors on the approved places for parking, but most likely, you might not find any around you to park overnight.
Some states in the US permit you to buy a limited ticket which allows you to park for about 2 hours but that doesn’t settle the case. Except you intend to buy as much that’s needed to last you the hours you need for parking through the night.
You cannot park a commercial vehicle in a residential area because according to state laws, most commercial vehicles if parked in residential areas overnight, can cause blind spots for other vehicles and may also be an obstruction to public use of the space.
In states like LA, you can’t park a vehicle that’s up to 22 feet long in a residential area. States like Nevada and many others don’t even permit any form of commercial parking in residential areas.
Nevertheless, the only time you are allowed to park a commercial vehicle in a residential area is if the vehicle is being used for work purposes such as the collection of wastes, emergency situations, and delivering goods, not overnight.
For those in New York, it is important to note that you cannot in any condition park a commercial vehicle in a residential area from 9 pm and 5 am except if the vehicle is being used for commercial purposes which should take place within the hour of 9 pm and 5 am and must be within 3 blocks of the area of parking.
Can I Park My Commercial Vehicle On My Driveway Overnight?
There are no direct legal rules that stop you from parking a commercial vehicle on your driveway.
However, since the parking of commercial vehicles is restricted in residential areas, you cannot park your commercial vehicle on your driveway overnight because the driveway is situated in a residential area.
There might be an exception to this. The best way to find out what the exemptions may be is to check what your state, municipal as well as the HOA laws say about the parking of a commercial vehicle in a residential area.
Can I Park My Commercial Vehicle On the Street?
You can park your commercial vehicles on the streets but not overnight, provided it doesn’t block traffic or causes pedestrians danger.
But in most cases, you might not find an available space that doesn’t in one way causes an obstruction to someone else. No person shall park a commercial vehicle on any public street in the township.
Is it Illegal to Park Commercial Vehicles in Residential Areas?
The law in most states does not permit commercial vehicles to be parked in a residential area overnight to ensure safety, therefore, it is illegal to park commercial vehicles in a residential area.
As stated earlier, different policies for different states. In Los Angeles, any commercial car that is up to 22ft is prohibited from any residential area, due to its size and because it is most likely to cause an obstruction to other motorists.
To be sure of the legality of your parking, you want to reach out to local municipalities; they make their parking laws, and so reaching out to them gives you the rules pertaining to the state you are in.
Is it Illegal to Park Commercial Vehicle in A Parking Lot?
Overnight parking of trucks, commercial vehicles, or trailers of any type is prohibited in parking lots held open for business use unless such vehicles are directly related to the business associated with the property.
Overnight parking of trucks, commercial vehicles, or trailers of any type, in parking lots held open for business use, shall be limited to the rear of that property.
You can only call anything illegal when it breaks a law right? Since there are also designated parking lots for commercial cars only, I assume that it isn’t illegal, since it was created for the sole purpose of temporarily housing commercial cars.
Temporary parking in just any parking lot you see will attract a fine, you sure want to find the best place for your commercial vehicle and use it.
Conclusion
Parking a commercial vehicle is not easy as it sounds. You can possibly drive an SUV and have a better spot to park it but a commercial vehicle is one known to be quite big in size and most cases can’t fit without causing an obstruction to pedestrians or other motorists.
There are laws that bind the commercial parking of each state and as well there are penalties if you want to bear the risk. The tip is that you find out the laws binding your state and adhere to them.
