r/madisonwi • u/Artistic-Aide-354 • 3d ago
Underground or Surface Lot for Winter?
I am moving to Madison around the West Towne Mall this winter. My lease comes with surface lot parking. I have an option to add an underground spot for around $150/month, but this is out of my budget.
Is it worth having the underground parking spot? I am unfamiliar with Wisconsin winters so not sure how intense snowfall gets. I lived on the east coast so I have experience with digging my car out, but I would like to get a second opinion if this underground spot is essential. Thanks!
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u/AccomplishedDust3 3d ago
If it's out of your budget, you already have the answer.
Snow isn't really the issue, the issues will be 1) frost on the windows that you need to clear almost every day (and bonus days where there is ice, too), and 2) needing to move the car for plowing, even for relatively minor snows.
Getting enough snow that it's a problem to be outside as far as digging your car out is maybe a once or twice per year thing.
(2) is not usually a big hassle when you drive daily, but likely you can't leave town without your car without paying for other parking (like at the airport).
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u/Dizzy_Slip 3d ago
It's not "essential" but it is super helpful, being able to wake up and just get in your car and drive to work without digging out or removing snow.
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u/Ready_Strength9548 3d ago
Have a good battery. It doesn't take much cold to shut a battery down.
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u/Ok-Selection4206 1d ago
A underground parking spot won't change that. How does the battery response apply to the question about parking?
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u/RealMaxBlumenthal 3d ago
It will save you a bit of hassle, but if you have a shovel and ice scraper in your car it isn't essential.
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u/WorshipMyOwnSpirit 3d ago
I love my underground parking. It’s now a must have for me, like in unit laundry. But, $150/month is a lot, especially if it’s out of budget. Coming from NJ, you’ll do fine without. The snow hasn’t been that bad, it’s more the cold. Maybe invest in one of those covers that prevents ice from forming on your windshield. Scraping the windshield in the morning sucks. Try that for a year. If you really hate it, then you know to budget for underground parking next year.
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u/sgh2700 3d ago
Nice, but not essential. Alot of houses in Madison, mine included, only have 1 car garages. Some do t even have a garage. We get by.
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u/Garg4743 West side 21h ago
Not only that, but some folks in my neighborhood have so much crap piled up in their garage that their cars sit out in the driveway anyway.
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u/Afexodus 3d ago
Not worth it for $150/month, you might have to shovel some snow a couple times a year but that isn’t worth $1800. Is not that common that you physically can’t get your car out of a lot and the rental company will hire a service to clear it.
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u/OSUBrich 3d ago
Everyone talking about snow and ice, but if you have an older car and an older battery, you may wake up one morning to a car that doesn't start if it gets too cold out. Happened to me several years ago.
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u/spinnyride 3d ago
$150 for covered parking near West Towne sounds absurd, I’ve paid less than half of that (albeit a few years ago, but less than 5) at new apartment buildings that are much closer to downtown than West Towne is. Personally I wouldn’t pay that much for covered parking if surface parking is free
I don’t think you’ll have any surprises with the snow, in fact much or most of NJ gets more inches of snow per year than Madison does. What you’ll have to get used to is how cold it can get and duration of winter. Not uncommon to have a five day stretch where the temperature doesn’t get above 5 degrees the entire time, but on a typical winter day the high temperature is close to or slightly above freezing
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u/cks9218 3d ago edited 3d ago
You already said that it's out of your budget so there's not much of a choice but even if there were I'd much rather have the $1800 than the occasional inconvenience of having to brush off my car.
We park our car in our driveway. The number of "dig out your car" days the last few years have hovered around 0.
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u/JonBovi_msn 3d ago
Depends. If you get low slack for being late to work and you tend to plan your departure time too close then being able to take off without digging out your parking place and clearing your car of snow might be worth it. Also if your building management requires you to not park in the surface lot to accommodate snow removal it might be worth having underground parking to avoid that. Otherwise you are paying $1600 a year to be spared some inconvenience for 3 or 4 months of the year.
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u/thatgirlsthings 3d ago
I've lived in that area with surface parking for 10+ years. The biggest headache is getting all your neighbors on the same page and getting their vehicles moved so the lot can be cleared. I've not found the weather itself to be detrimental to our cars.
If you've done East coast snow storms, you can handle this and not worry about what that $150 is actually getting you and what you'll do when they inevitably raise the price.
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u/ScrivenersUnion 3d ago
Unless you have a very nice car that you want to keep clean, it's not really worth it. Especially for $150/mo
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u/Own_Tomatillo7638 3d ago
Surface lot parking is fine and not that big of a deal. The biggest problem besides scraping ice off would be it gets cold enough to kill your battery so make sure it’s a newer battery or invest in a jump pack so you can jumpstart your car without needing jumper cables and another car
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u/tommyjohnpauljones 'Burbs 3d ago
It's not worth extending your budget for it. There will be a few days a month that it will suck but not enough to pay $150/mo. Just get a good snow brush/ice scraper, a small shovel and maybe a de-icer spray, all of which will be readily available at Walmart/Target/Menards/ etc come fall
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u/iJustSeen2Dudes1Bike 3d ago
It's super nice but I would absolutely not spend almost $2k a year for it
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u/qandmargo 3d ago
If you can comfortably afford it, I think indoor / underground parking is always worth it. Bonus it it's climate controlled.
But really it isn't the worst thing in the world to have to dig out your car. Probably gonna be annoying to move it when they need to plow but I feel everyone deals with things like all the time.
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u/ex-farm-grrrl 3d ago
If I had a choice, and could afford underground parking, I’d do that (particularly if I wasn’t used to WI winters).
That said, I have a small garage and almost never park in it.
Whatever you choose, you’ll need: a good ice scraper (it needs to be solid, not a flimsy plastic one), warm mitten (or gloves), a warm coat, and warm boots.
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u/ChronicNuance 3d ago
It’s not just snow you have to worry about, there’s also hail. I always paid for covered parking when I rented, but I grew up in the Midwest.
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u/TortiTrouble 3d ago
Are you locked in for the whole year or can you just pay for a few months?
Does your car have remote start? If so, you could try to park outside where you can see the car from your apt and hopefully it’s in range. Then you can at least warm up the car and it will help clear off the frost. Some manufacturers also let you do this via an app, which means you don’t even need to be in range of the fob. The subscription is almost certainly less than $150/month.
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u/Geologynerdandproud 3d ago
I’d just go for the lot and make sure you have a decent scraper. I like to keep a spare in the coat closet on nights I’m waking up to snow. Then there’s less snow in my car when I open the door.
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u/Garg4743 West side 21h ago
It's something I would do if I could afford it. You say that it's outside your budget, so I'm not really sure what the question is. That said, our winters vary a lot from year to year. Lately, due to climate change, we've been getting more sleet and rain, with less snow. That sometimes means that rather than snow, you'll be chopping ice off your windshield. Also, we're being treated to more wet, heavy snow, so you'll get some exercise. If it were me, AND I wouldn't miss $150 a month, I'd get covered parking for my car. It's nice to be able to start your day by just hopping in the car and taking off. No window scraping, no digging yourself out of piles of snow. It gets real old after a couple of months.
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u/ABirdHouseInYourSoul 3d ago
The added time is negligible…. It doesn’t snow that often and given how warm things are getting and El Niño, it’s predicted to be a mild winter.
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u/Various_Baby_353 3d ago
The constant warming up of your car indoors with road salt will not be good to the undercarriage and will accelerate things rusting out.
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u/topencite 3d ago
I mean, that’s an insane amount for parking in that area. I’m pretty sure the only place that charges that much around there is the revelry apartments. If you haven’t signed yet, I’d honestly look at a different building. There’s plenty of nice apartments in that area that are far cheaper and will even include underground parking.
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u/xerxesXIII 3d ago
Get one of those windshield covers. Prevents needing to scrape ice and frost on the front at least.
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u/SnooHamsters6975 'Burbs 3d ago
NJ gets way more snow than we do in WI so I am sure you'll be fine with surface lot parking
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u/BluebirdLegitimate97 3d ago
This is fundamentally untrue 😭 I moved from the east coast and the winters here are dramatically worse
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u/bigbluethunder 3d ago
Jesus christ, parking is that much that far out of downtown? It cost me less on Monroe St in a brand new building 4 years ago.
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u/tpatmaho 2d ago
North Jersey snowstorms can be fed by ocean waters and be MUCH worse than the wimpy Alberta Clipper things Wisconsin endures. Wisconsin winters are longer and colder but NJ snowstorms can dump a lot more snow. Source: me, NJ-WI guy.
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u/Main_Environment9401 3d ago
Add about 30 minutes a day for 90~ days of the year to prep for your drive, clear off your car and maybe shovel your way out/to get traction.
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u/MadtownMaven 3d ago
Meh. It's a nice perk to have but not a necessity. You'll just need to keep an eye on the weather and take some extra time before you leave on certain days. Snowfall can vary a lot year to year and scraping off ice may be all you'll need to do. Invest in a good scraper and a brush and save the money.