What: ParqEx will help you rent your garage, driveway or parking space for pay
Expected pay: varies by location
Husl$core: $$$
Commissions & fees: 15%
Where: Illinois (downtown Chicago and near sports stadiums), Milwaukee, Madison, Boston, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia
Requirements: Smart phone with Adroid or Apple operating systems; have a spot and the legal right to rent it.
Review: ParqEx is one of a handful of smart phone applications that aim to help people with parking spots rent them to drivers who need them. This app appears to be established in Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin, but has sparse coverage in all the other cities where it operates. We found no difference in costs for renting a spot for a day vs. a few hours, which may indicate a short-coming in the software, which should give renters the ability to pay less for staying a short period.
Like Pavemint, ParqEx imposes a penalty if hosts cancel a parking reservation. However, ParqEx’s “penalties and consequences” are not clearly defined. In its terms and conditions, the site says “you will be notified of the situations in which a cancellation fee applies before you decide to cancel.” The penalties ranged from public shaming — “publishing an automated review on your listing indicating that a reservation was cancelled –to a whopping $50 fee. In all cases, however, the host would end up paying ParqEx’s lost commission of 15% of the rental amount.
On the bright side, ParqEx promises to pay you almost immediately by either Chase QuickPay, direct deposit or PayPal. If you use PayPal, you’ll also be subject to the site’s 3% fee.
Because ParqEx’ cancellation policy creates uncertainty and could result in an unexpected expense, we rate ParqEx less highly than the other two parking apps reviewed on SideHusl — CurbFlip and Pavemint, which we believe are both above-average opportunities.