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Backing into a car space isn’t about showing off

Reversing into a parking spot isn’t just for the expertly skilled, and here’s why. Reversing accurately has become so much easier now that a lot of cars have reversing sensors and cameras. Heck, it’s often easier to centre your car in the parking space when reversing, especially with rear view mirrors and those handy reverse camera parking lines. Just imagine how impeccably tidy our car parks would be if more people reversed first!

Backing back is even easier in cars that are shorter in the back, like hatchbacks. And should you be surrounded by bulky 4WDs or vans by the time you get back to your car, it’s undeniably easier to drive forwards with good visibility.

People who back into car spaces get a zen departure after doing the trickier work first, so they can simply drive forwards and on with their day. It’s a bit like enjoying dessert all the more after you’ve eaten your veggies.

Backing out of a spot arguably takes more time

Sure, this might not be true in a quiet car park – in these cases, the two options are probably comparable time-wise. But when you’re in a peak-hour car park, reversing out of a bay delays pretty much everyone involved, from the driver, to the cars that have to stop, to pedestrians walking by. You might even need your passenger to stand outside and direct when things are particularly crazy.

In an ideal world, we’ll all just chill out no matter whether we’re waiting for a car driving out forwards or backwards. But this needs to be said: for every person saying reverse parkers take up people’s time, there’s another person waiting for someone to do a five-point reverse out of a bay.

There’s only one possible downside

Perhaps the only downside to reverse parking is that it’s tricker to load the boot from a trolley when the car is parked facing forward. Still, it’s worth considering reverse parking whenever you don’t need a trolley, for all the reasons above.

Best of all is the rare car park with single lanes where you can both pull in and drive through. That really is chef’s kiss enough to make anyone’s day.

Need better reversing cameras?

Well, then you’ll need a new car! Check out Carma, where you can browse, reserve and buy pre-checked second-hand cars without even leaving home. You can even filter by feature to find the perfect pre-owned car for sale, whether that’s a rear parking camera, rear sensors or something else entirely.