ParqEx

ParqEx Review:

ParqEx is one of a handful of smart phone applications that help people rent out their parking spaces or driveways. It is not available everywhere, however. This app appears to be well-established in Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin, but has sparse coverage in all the other cities where it operates.

How it works

If you want to rent out your space, you register on the site. You can set the rates and availability of your parking space to the hour. However, when we tested the site, we found no difference in costs for renting a spot for a day vs. a few hours, which may indicate a shortcoming in the software, which should give space owners the ability to charge less for short periods.

Cancel fees

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 possible penalties ranged from public shaming — publishing an automated review saying you cancelled a reservation –to a whopping $50 fine. In all cases, however, the host would end up paying ParqEx’s lost commission of 15% of the rental amount.

Quick payment

On the bright side, ParqEx promises to pay you for rentals 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.)

Recommendations

ParqEx’ cancellation policy creates uncertainty and could result in an unexpected expense. As a result, 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.

CurbFlip is our top recommendation of the three, mainly because it charges the lowest commission — 5% of the booking amount.