The price of parking at big events in downtown Detroit easily shifts into $50, $60 and higher at some spots when there’s a concert or game going on — and some prices will soar even more for the Detroit Lions playoff opener against the Washington Commanders on Saturday night.
Taking a quick look online, I found parking passes up for sale in advance via Vivid Seats for the NFC divisional round at a variety of parking lots in Detroit ranging from $71 at the Comerica Garage to $579 at the 61 E. Elizabeth St. parking lot. Those were the prices Monday, five days before the big game.
We’re talking a hot Saturday in January when people will be downtown for an 8 p.m. NFL divisional matchup as Detroit’s wildly popular Lions make a push to the Super Bowl, the Detroit Pistons go up against the Phoenix Suns at Little Caesars Arena at 4 p.m. and the Detroit Auto Show continues to be in town. All on the same day.
Where are you going to park? Do your research early, as the odds are good that the parking scammers could be selling a few spots that they don’t have any business selling.
Or you even could get hit with other scams that you would never imagine, such as a fake parking ticket or invoice.
The city of Detroit saw fake text messages being sent to drivers last year about phony unpaid parking invoices. The text looked like it was coming from the city of Detroit, but it wasn’t.
The red flags of the scam? The web address in the bogus text message listed Detroit-mi.com. The real address would have detroitmi.gov. “Gov” is key.
The phone number from fake texts in the past was 438-402-1962 — which is definitely not the 313.
The biggest red flag of all: The city of Detroit sends drivers with unpaid parking fees a notice from the municipal parking department through the regular mail, not through text message. Detroit’s municipal parking department does not send text messages about parking violations.
One such fake text read: “This is a notice from the city of Detroit. Your vehicle has an unpaid parking invoice of $4.35. To avoid a late fee of 35$ (yes, the dollar symbol is in the wrong spot), please settle your balance promptly.”
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel issued an alert in January to warn of potential parking scams, which could lead to cars being “ticketed, towed, or even worse, stolen.”
“Planning your parking ahead of time and being cautious can help you avoid scammers,” Nessel said in a statement.
One tip: Make sure that slip of paper on your windshield really is a ticket.
Some crooks will slap fake parking tickets on cars or trucks that include a QR code directing you to their website, not one run by the city. The piece of paper might look somewhat real, but if you’re not familiar with what a local parking ticket looks like, well, you could fall for it. Cars and trucks with out of state plates are often targeted as part of this sort of scam.
The Better Business Bureau warns that scammers use high-tech, hand-held printers to make fake tickets. The parking ticket scammers usually ask you to pay online or via PayPal.
Before you pay, take a close look at the parking ticket. Remember, the BBB warns, scammers can imitate logos and city office names. But they might have a harder time re-creating a website. Do an internet search for the city’s official parking ticket websites. The website should end in “.gov.”
The city of Detroit “Pay Parking Ticket” website notes that you can click the “Parking Ticket Search” link and search by ticket number and/or license plate and state/province.
“When filling out the Parking Ticket Search form, make sure the information is exactly how it appears on the ticket,” according to the official website.
Make sure that any payment page has a secure connection.
Don’t park somewhere that could lead to a ticket — which will substantially drive up your costs.
A parking ticket in Detroit is $45 per violation, but you’d pay $150 per incident for handicap and commercial violations. The registered vehicle owner has 30 days to pay for a parking violation before additional penalties occur.
Nessel recommends visiting that municipality’s website directly or calling the court to verify the existence of the ticket before following the web or QR code directions.
In Detroit, the customer service number for parking issues is 313-963-9630. You can pay the parking citation by phone or get information. The number also is listed on the parking violation.
Here’s a sample copy of what a City of Detroit parking ticket should look like, front and back. The number for parking issues in Detroit is 313-963-9630. You can pay the parking citation by phone or get information. The number also is listed on the parking violation.
Never hand over your car key, according to Nessel, unless you see valet signs posted, and you’ve confirmed that the valet service is one that’s being offered at the location.
In the past, some scammers offered parking spots on privately owned vacant lots and began charging people to park there. They might even wear an orange vest to play the part and display a fairly professional sign. But they’re making money selling space in a lot they don’t own.
In the worst case, someone could pay to park on one of these renegade lots and then the real owner has the cars and trucks parked there towed. Don’t hand over cash unless you know who you’re dealing with — and get a receipt. Some recommend paying by credit card.
In other cases, you might see someone “holding” metered street parking spaces and trying to wave people in and charge them $20 or more to park at a meter.
Be on guard for bogus QR codes. Con artists can slap a sticker of their own barcode on top of a legitimate QR code at some parking lots, so you want to look for signs of tampering.
Victims in these cases think they’re paying for parking, but the crooks now have access to your credit card information. Some consumers elsewhere reported being charged $39.95 to $49.99 a month for some subscription service after such incidents. These huge monthly fees cropped up later.
Some consumers in Detroit say signs on some lots can change quickly as you try to park to attend some events. One father recalled an incident this summer where one surface lot near Ford Field had a sign for $20 parking. The driver took a picture of the sign from his car while waiting in line.
The car entered the lot, the driver was ready to pay, and then a parking lot attendant ran to the entrance and changed the price sign to $40. And the driver suddenly was told he had to pay $40 now to park.
Fortunately, the driver negotiated a $20 rate with the manager after showing a picture of the $20 sign taken moments ago on his phone.
I had one situation recently where the sign said $10 when I pulled into a lot downtown after 1 p.m. on a weekday, but the attendant said I’d have to pay $20 to park if I wanted to stay longer than an hour. Didn’t see that one coming.
The Michigan Attorney General’s Office has received a handful of parking-related complaints in Detroit, including some related to Lions and Tigers games, and another pertaining to a non-Lions event at Ford Field, according to Danny Wimmer, a press secretary for the AG.
The consumers said they were charged a higher price for parking than the posted price or charged more than the price they initially paid to book the parking spot through an app.
Wimmer said the office had not received complaints of outright scams involving fake parking tickets and the like. “Though the absence of reports to our office does not necessarily mean the absence of scam activity,” he said.
The AG’s office, he said, first issued its parking scam alert last spring before Detroit hosted the NFL draft April 25-27 because previous host cities had issues and put out alerts.
The objective, he said, is often to highlight potential scam tactics to prevent consumers from losing money.
Parking is such a hassle for big events that many people research options online ahead of time. Longtime Lions season ticket holders have their spots. Some have no trouble handing over cash to people they’ve been parking with for years. But newbies probably don’t want to take that chance.
Some online ticket sellers, like Vivid Seats and StubHub, offered parking passes for sale for the Jan. 18 playoff game, but they’re not exactly inexpensive options.
On Monday, for example, Vivid Seats had parking listed starting at $71 in the Comerica Garage and $95 at the Grand Circus Underground Garage.
On Monday, you could book online at the Grand Circus Underground Garage for a total of $104.40 — $90 for parking plus a $14.40 service fee via ParkWhiz by Flash.
The StubHub site has parking passes for sale in advance at various sites for the playoff game on Saturday in Detroit, too.
A StubHub spokesperson said the seller does not get paid for a ticket or parking pass sold on StubHub unless the buyer is able to get in with the parking pass or ticket, as the seller promised. Orders on StubHub are backed by a FanProtect Guarantee.
The spokesperson noted that parking passes for Saturday’s Commanders-Lions matchup were as low as $11 on StubHub on Tuesday. But prices go up significantly for lots closer to Ford Field.
On Tuesday, I spotted an $11 offer at the 6001 Cass Lot, for example, and separate offers for $78 and $86 at the Z Garage for the Lions game; $103 and $117 at Grand Circus Garage — and $375 at the Ford Field Parking Deck.
Listing prices can fluctuate and are subject to change.
“Prices, in general, tend to spike during the postseason and as game day approaches,” according to StubHub.
“Sellers set the prices and it is heavily influenced by supply and demand. If more parking passes become available, prices might decrease, and vice versa.”
Parking passes can be delivered via mobile delivery with a barcode, PDFs and even by regular mail. Look at the offer before buying. You can buy parking passes without buying a ticket to an event on StubHub.
Those going to the Detroit Auto Show might have a better shot at finding lower cost parking, if they come early and find spots within the city-operated Ford Underground Garage at 30 E. Jefferson, which is charging $15 for parking each day, including Saturday, Jan. 18.
Sometimes, parking prices can feel like a gamble in Detroit, never knowing how high a price might go for a given game or event.
David Bell, director of the city of Detroit’s building safety, engineering and environmental department, which oversees compliance and enforcement on parking lots, said via an email response that daily and hourly parking rates can vary depending on the day of the week or hours of the day, within a price range currently on file with the city.
Parking lots licensed by the city at all times must visibly display what rate is currently in effect, he said. If a rate changes at any point in the day, say at 6 p.m., then each rate and the hours they are in effect must be displayed.
Can a parking lot charge higher rates at some point? Unfortunately, the answer is yes.
If a lot wishes to charge an amount that exceeds the maximum rate it has on file with the city of Detroit, the lot must submit a rate sheet to the city at least 30 days in advance of when they plan to charge that higher rate, Bell said.
The parking lot also must visibly post that higher rate.
“We encourage visitors to pay close attention to the rate signage before parking,” Bell said.
The city’s investigators currently do a visual inspection of parking lot prices every Lions home game to ensure that citizens are not being taken advantage of, he said. Inspectors have been out at other big events, such as the Taylor Swift concerts in June 2023 in Detroit. Violators are ticketed.
Anyone suspecting that a lot may be improperly charging higher rates can call 313-224-3179 or email Detroit’s building safety, engineering and environmental department at BLCstaff@detroitmi.gov.
Contact personal finance columnist Susan Tompor: stompor@freepress.com. Follow her on X @tompor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions and Commanders fans warned about bogus parking tickets, scams