Parallel parking may be the skill that new drivers fear the most. Pulling your vehicle safely between two parked cars and positioning it correctly is certainly a challenge.

“Many drivers go to great lengths to avoid having to parallel park,” according to Driving-Tests.org, a website that helps student drivers practice for their written driving tests. “While parallel parking is a little tricky and takes some practice to master, there is no reason to be nervous about this driving skill.”

Here are some steps you can take to learn to parallel park without anxiety.

5 Steps to Parallel Park

• Choose the Right Space. Make sure the space you are pulling into has enough room for your car. If it is too small, or even tight, find another, more-realistic space.

• Do Not Rush. Avoid parallel parking in high-traffic conditions or other situations that would cause you to rush. You want plenty of time to park safely. Check your rear-view mirrors to make sure you can see everything around you clearly.

• Pull Ahead of Your Space. Pull beside the car you will park behind, so that you can back into the space at a proper angle. A common mistake for those new to parallel parking is to not pull up far enough. Keep all of your movement slow, with minimal acceleration.

• Back in Carefully. Put the car in reverse, turn the steering wheel and slowly guide the rear of your car into the space. Stop backing up when the back of your car is signed with the car behind you (and before you hit the curb). Then, cut the wheel the other pay and slowly back the rest of the way into the space. Driving-Test.org has some great animated graphics that show a successful parallel parking job in action.

• Check Your Position. Make sure that you are not too close to the car ahead or behind you. You may have to pull up a bit to center your car in the space. Check to make sure you are not too far from the curb. Before you and your passengers exit the car, make sure there is no traffic coming.

Practice is Vital

The key to successful parallel parking is practice. One safe way to do so is to head to an empty parking lot, using cones or other objects to mark off the space and simulate the cars in front and behind. Try to parallel park  until you can do so without hitting the cones.

Another good idea is to watch a parent or a friend parallel park. If you do so from both inside and outside the car, you will get a sense of how to turn the wheel and how a successful parallel parking job looks. Watch as many times as you need to understand how to execute it yourself.

Of course, parallel parking is easier if you are driving a smaller car. If you are a new driver in search of a new vehicle, start your search by getting pre-qualified for financing with Credit Acceptance. By filling out our simple web form, you can get information that will help you create a budget to purchase the right car for you.