Moving truck question (San Francisco, Richmond: renting, law, legally)

[debbie421]

My husband and I are moving to the Bay Area in the Fall. Instead of offering to pay for moving expenses, my company gave us a big chunk of money and we pay for things out of that. Of course we'd like to save as much of it as possible. That being said, we may move ourselves from Minneapolis to San Francisco.

If we do that, does anyone know the logistics of parking a moving truck in the street for several hours? I'm guessing our new place (which we don't have yet) will be in a busy part of San Francisco with no parking. We'd want to be as close to it as possible, so we may have to take up a lane in the road for several hours.

Another thought is we hiring a local San Francisco moving company to meet us and unload the truck. If anyone has experience with that, let us know.

[mayorhaggar]

Yes it can be hard to park in SF. I would try and do it on a Saturday or Sunday when you don't have to pay for meter parking, though I think SF passed some dumb law lately where they are charging for meter parking even on the weekend, you'd have to find out what the rules are on your block. If you're somewhere like Nob Hill or Hayes Valley then parking is really hard, it's easier in the Sunset or Richmond where there's not really going to be any meters.

If you are driving the truck then you'd probably have to figure out how to park it on the street at a time when you can get a space without breaking any laws. If you hire people to do it then they will be aggressive about finding a space, and might park somewhat illegally (like by a fire hydrant) but with cones out to show that they are doing moving work. They or you might have to park down the block or around the corner, it really can be a pain. Plus you have to be careful about not leaving the truck open and unsupervised because you never know who will walk up and steal something.

If you are moving to pretty much anywhere else in the Bay Area all of this goes out the window, you'll probably have a driveway or a parking lot to use, or at least a street with much more parking.

[Palmer Eldritch]

I've done it several times just moving within the city. It is not as difficult as it may seem. All you do is pop the truck up on the sidewalk leaving a small space for pedestrians to go around and the the rest of the truck takes up a street parking space. You can get a $100.00 dollar ticket for doing this but not if you have someone watch the truck or you are constantly checking the truck. The trickiest place I did this was on Pine between Taylor and Jones but we pulled it off without incident.

[mdwstrnkid]

Some moving companies will get a permit to allow them to park for an extended period of time. You might want to check with the company from which you will be renting the van to see if they can give you any information about this.

[illinidorry]

I believe SFPD will save you a parking spot in front of your address by putting "NO PARKING" this day etc, etc, for a fee of around $100 a day I believe.