Are monthly parking garages in the city a scam? (Minneapolis: apartment complexes, rentals)

[blasian92]

Hello,

I'm moving up to your lovely city in the fall for school! I'm so excited. I'm from the south, only have lived in warm weather, and so I (well, more like my worried father) wanted to get heated, underground parking. (And I've already heard it's not needed, but I have a little extra saved so I'm going to go for it during the winter.) Unfortunately, the place I am renting does not offer anything but on street parking. (And no heat paid or any utilities. I don't really like the place, but that's neither here nor there.)

So I was looking into parking garages in the city that offer me to park my car there month to month. Something like this ad: Your Trusted Vehicle Storage Place in Downtown Minneapolis

I left just a few hours ago on the plane so I can't go and see if it's the real deal.

Are private parking garages like this a real thing? I was thinking they're only offered in apartment complexes for private tenants. I'm not sure if this is too good to be true or if I'm falling into a scam of some sort? Or if they're even safe?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

[rzzz]

There are legit garage rentals, however, I don't know if that one is legit. There isn't a parking garage at that intersection.

[blasian92]

Rzzz, thanks for the reply! How can I find these legit underground garage rentals other than craigslist and googling? Because that's all I got... Do you know of any?

Also, how did you find that there wasn't a parking garage there?

[rzzz]

Well, I go to the coffee shop on that corner all the time.
It might be a small lot under a building, but I am having a hard time picturing where it could be.

I'm not sure how to find a legit garage. Garaging your main car in a lot that isn't connected to where you live is not popular here like it is in NYC. I think it's more for people who are putting their sports car away for the winter. Most people without parking just deal with street parking.

[uptown_urbanist]

I've seen signs around that intersection somewhere (can't recall where; on the side of an autobody shop?). But I suspect that it's not the kind of parking garage you can drive yourself into and out of (although it may be) -- like rzzz says, more likely the kind of place you store your expensive sports car for the winter if only use it seasonally. But maybe they have some regular spots. I think it's legit, but whether or not it's what you need or are expecting might be a different question.

If you're living in Uptown, your best bet is going to be to rent a garage space in a regular house garage (our building rents out several of these -- none open, however, otherwise I'd PM you). It won't be heated, but it will be covered. You see signs for those sometimes, otherwise I assume you can most easily find them on Craigslist.

[MnMomma]

That's a legit vehicle storage--not a parking lot (i.e. you can't take your car in and out whenever you want). It's where you'd put your car if you were going away long-term, or had a summer car and winter car and always had one in storage.