Does labeling a parking space as &quot;Compact&quot; have any legal significance?
<p>I have an assigned parking space, which is labeled &quot;Compact.&quot; There is another parking space immediately to the right of mine, which is also labeled &quot;Compact.&quot; I have a compact car, but the person in the next space over uses it to park a large SUV. Due to the geometry of the parking garage, this makes it VERY hard for me to get my car out.</p>
<p>But there's a problem (or lack of a problem, depending on how you look at it). Although the person next to me frequently parks a very large vehicle in a very small space, I would have to concede that they have always kept their vehicle inside the lines. So it seems to me that the only way I could argue that they are doing something wrong is by saying that they shouldn't be parking a large vehicle in a compact spot.</p>
<p>Is labeling a spot &quot;Compact&quot; a suggestion? A mandate? Something else? Does it have any enforceability?</p>
<p>Edit: The garage is owned by my employer, which is a non-profit organization.</p>

<p>TLDR: &quot;Compact&quot; is a legal fiction to get the right to build a building.  It's pretty much useless.</p>
<p>The &quot;compact car parking space&quot; is about <em>entitlements</em> aka the right to build, which is decided <strong>at the local</strong> level.  Cities <em>often</em> require a minimum number of parking spaces for a development. This then requires defining a minimum space size and aisle size. And builders pressure cities to allow a percentage of &quot;compact&quot; spots with smaller space and sometimes aisle size.  An example of code in Pinole, California (exurban San Francisco, and the kind of place you need a car to get by).</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A.   Up to twenty-five percent (25%) of the required number of parking spaces may be sized for compact cars.<br />
B.   Compact car parking spaces shall be at least eight (8) feet in width and sixteen (16) feet in length, and shall be clearly marked, “COMPACT CARS ONLY,” “COMPACT,” or “C.”<br />
C.   Compact car spaces shall be distributed throughout the parking lot.<br />
D.   Where a section of the parking lot is restricted to compact parking with an angle of 90 degrees, the aisle width may be reduced from the standard twenty-three (23) feet to twenty- one (21) feet. Such compact sections should be located so as to minimize the distance from the section to the appropriate building or activity.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>Note absence of state-level standard, even in California.</em>  The takeaway here is this a <em>local</em> matter and will be subject to <em>local</em> enforcement if any.</p>
<p><strong>Police do not (by default) have standing to enforce on private property</strong>.  Some departments are willing to sign contracts with (larger) parking lot owners to enforce on their property - this will be the case at a large mall, typically. Such consent is a double-edged sword, and smaller entities will think twice about doing it.</p>
<p>Even when they do, &quot;Is a car a compact car?&quot; is too vague and slippery a question, because again <em>it is defined on a local level</em>.  This is <a href="https://www.seattlepi.com/local/transportation/article/Getting-There-An-SUV-is-a-compact-if-it-fits-1185241.php" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a vexation</a> to people who find Tacomas and Dodge Chargers parked in the compact spots.</p>
<p>Your best bet is to appeal to the private property owner. <strong>The host makes the rules, and they can make ANY rule they want</strong>.  And yeah, they can enforce it with towing, as long as the parker has a reasonable opportunity to know those rules, and the rule is sane enough that a judge doesn't call it a predatory tow.  Penalty tows HURT - they are many times the cost of regular old rescue tows.  They can say &quot;your vehicle may only park in the Designated Loser Spot for the next month as punishment&quot;, or &quot;pay a $60 fine <em>or don't bring the vehicle back here</em>&quot; or just &quot;banned for a month&quot;, with towing-on-sight being the penalty for noncompliance.  So it really depends on the righteousness of the property owner.</p>
<p>Remember though - the property owner only created those spots to get a license to build. So now that they have their entitlement, they're not emotionally invested in the principle.</p>

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