Across the Pond, homeowners are turning to the latest trend in car parking: underground bays. British company Cardok (and by the way — can we, as a race, please stop purposefully misspelling things just for the sake of being cute? It doesn’t work) will install for you a hydraulic lift that raises and lowers your car into a hidden underground storage bay for a fee of £42,000 plus VAT, roughly $61,189.78 before tax.
In addition to the coolness factor this confers to just about any home, there are practical benefits to installing a Cardok as well. For one thing, it raises the value of one’s home, and allows the existing garage to be used as a room, which is almost like adding a new addition to the place. Also, more pavement means better rainwater drainage into soil, which helps to mitigate the deleterious effects of excessive rain.
The idea of building vertically is a welcome one, especially in our overcrowded age. Obviously, we’ve been building upward for decades, but it’s rare to see below-ground structures in development. And while this is a boon to car owners, the Cardok mechanism is slow. Imagine trying to rush off in a hurry, yet having to wait for your car to rise completely. What if the mechanism gets stuck halfway up? What if you don’t park exactly within the confines of the outline? I can’t wait for the first Cardok-related drunken injury to come over the wire: “Man Activates Underground Parking Space Prematurely, Crashes Car Into Open Pit”. Get me America’s Funniest Home Videos, stat!
Comments
Jason
March 26th, 2009 - 12:20:57 PM
i like the idea of underground parking, especially making it more accessible to high-density residential areas (like cities!). like a basement, but for your car.
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