Samuel

I worked for a brokerage house in Mass. and got "laid off" due to bank/brokerage mergers. I have an offer from a NYC bank but will have to garage my car near where I am thinking of living on the upper east side (my fiancee lives in the 80s). I hear that garages are so expensive. Is it cost prohibitive to have a car on the upper east side (assuming that the option that my fiancee gave me---circling for 45 minutes is not an option). Thank you.

Owen O'Neill

Price is all a function of where the garage is. Friends in the Battery Park City area tell me they pay over $400 per month for a garage. I work in the 34th Street area - in this part of the city the price is closer to $240 with a discount available (about 10%) for Manhattan residents. If you have some flexibility in where you park, it's conceivable that you could find something for $210-250 per month but it may not be convenient to where you're living. Also please note that city fee, taxes etc, add roughly 13-18% to the price.

howard

Unfortunately, for your car's sake, you are moving to any area with expensive garages! Is the cost prohibitive? Well, that depends on how much your new job is paying! I recommend you think about getting rid of the car.

charles

It also depends on how much you plan to use your car. You'll pay ridiculous prices on the Upper East Side, but if you're willing to take a cab/use public transportation to and from your car you can find reasonable deals on the West Side (Pier 40 in the West Village has really good deals). This obviously doesn't make a lot of sense if you're going to use the car frequently.

If you can find a way to keep the car I'd recommend it. It's great to know that you can escape for some R&R - even if only for an afternoon drive - with little notice.

Anthony

Samuel:
Charles has it right on the money. We park our car at pier 40 for $170/month for an outside spot ( there are no indoor spots available, we are on a waiting list, and it's only about $40 more)
I work in the Wall St area, so the garage is only several subway stops away from my office.
We do one of 2 things on Fridays: 1)If we are going away for the weekend starting Friday nite,we leave right from the lot, or 2) We pick-up the car Friday night, find on-the-street parking on the UWS where we live, and then we have it close by to use on Sat. Then we will either put it back on Sun nite, or again park it on the street on Sun and return it Monday morning. Finding overnignt parking on the Upper West Side can vary from 15 mins to 1 hr driving around and around.
As you may or may not know - you will NEVER need your car to drive anywhere in Manhattan

Anthony

Just want to correct one small fact- there is no waiting list for an indoor spot at Pier 40 - you just got to keep asking about availability.....

Chloe

Samuel,
I garage my car for $335 (just went up from $314 )per month in the Savoy garage on 86th st between park and lexington. That's about the average for the area, give or take a few dollars.