Renting a garage spot: how to find and book a garage

Garage spots in AntPark

AntPark is a marketplace in Sweden where private individuals rent out parking spots they are not using, for example a spot in a heated garage (varmgarage), an unheated garage (kallgarage) or a carport. You rent from the owner, and AntPark arranges the booking and the payment and takes a service fee for it.

A garage spot can be rented in three ways, depending on what the owner offers:

• By the hour, for a visit or a working day. An hourly booking can be at most 24 hours.
• By the day, for one or several days.
• By the month, as a running agreement for anyone who needs the same spot every week.

AntPark is new, and there are still few spots to rent. You can see what is available where you are looking on the map, at antpark.app in your browser. The Android app is on Google Play. The iPhone app is not in the App Store yet.

Finding a garage

1. Search where you are going and choose a time. The map shows the spots in the area with the price for the time you picked.
2. Filter by type. The filters Heated garage and Unheated garage show garages only. There are also filters for Carport and Outdoors, for Monthly, for Instant (spots that can be booked without the owner approving first) and for Charging.
3. Sort. By default, the spot that is cheapest for your time comes first. You can sort by distance or rating instead. Nobody can pay to be higher up in the list.

If nothing is free in the area, you can ask the app to tell you when something opens up there. The watch lasts for at most 30 days.

What the listing shows

• Type of spot: heated garage, unheated garage, carport or outdoors.
• Largest car: the length, and the height when the owner has given it. Width is not given as a measurement of its own, so look at the photos and the description if your car is wide.
• Whether your car fits. Add your car with its length and height, and the app tells you whether it fits. If it is too long or too tall for the ceiling, the app says so when you choose a time.
• Which vehicles the spot takes. A spot can take cars, motorcycles, motorhomes, caravans, trailers or trucks, and the price can differ between them.
• The opening hours, meaning the days and times when the spot can be booked.
• The cancellation rule chosen by the owner: free cancellation up to 2, 12 or 24 hours before the start.
• Charging, if the garage has an EV charger that the owner has connected to the app.
• Photos, a description and reviews from those who have rented the spot before.

The map shows the spot inside a circle, at most 180 metres from its centre. You get the exact address as soon as you have booked.

Booking and paying

Before you book for the first time, you sign in with Apple or Google and verify your mobile number with a code by text message. Then you choose a time and a vehicle and see the full price before you confirm.

• Instant booking or a request. The owner has chosen one of them. A request is answered within 24 hours, or by the start of the booking if that comes sooner. Otherwise it is declined automatically, and nothing is charged.
• The price is the price of the spot plus AntPark’s 10% service fee, at least SEK 5 per payment. The fee is shown separately in the price breakdown.
• The payment is reserved on your card when you book and charged when the booking begins. If the start is far ahead, the amount may be charged when you book, and the checkout says so before you pay. The card is handled by Stripe, and AntPark never sees the card number.
• Extending. You can extend an hourly booking in the app if the spot is free afterwards. The extension is a payment of its own with its own service fee.

The address, the gate code and the way in

A garage often has a gate, a code and a spot number. AntPark hands them out in two steps:

• You get the street address and the exact point on the map as soon as the booking is confirmed.
• The gate code, the spot number and the owner’s directions appear in the app fifteen minutes before the start. You can also check in from then.

If you cannot get in, or someone is parked in the spot, write to the owner straight away in the booking’s thread. Neither of you sees the other’s phone number.

Garages with charging

If the garage has an EV charger that the owner has connected to AntPark, you can add charging when you book. The app then shows the charger’s power, the price per kWh and whether there is a cable on site or you bring your own.

• The charger is locked outside bookings. You start charging in the app once you have checked in.
• When you start, an amount is reserved on your card for the most the charging can cost during the booking, at most SEK 500. You pay for the electricity actually metered.
• The electricity is sold by the owner, at the price the owner has set. AntPark takes no fee on the electricity.

By the month, and winter storage

If you need the garage every week, you can rent it by the month, if the owner has set a monthly price. It is a running agreement that the owner always approves personally, with 30 days’ notice for both. How it works is in the guide to renting a parking spot by the month.

An unheated or heated garage can also be rented out as winter storage (vinterförvaring), by the season. The vehicle then stays there day and night for the whole season, which the owner has set. A season is as a rule paid in two parts and can be cancelled free of charge up to 30 days before the first day of the season. If you are looking for winter storage for a boat, read the guide to renting a boat berth and winter storage.

Cancelling, and if something goes wrong

• If you cancel in time under the listing’s rule, you get the full amount back, including the service fee. If you cancel later, the owner keeps the payment.
• If the owner cancels, you always get the full amount back.
• If something goes wrong that you cannot solve in the thread, you can open a case on the booking in the app, at the latest three days after the booking ended. The owner has two days to respond, and then AntPark decides what is refunded.
• Damage to the car or the garage is not compensated by AntPark, which has no insurance for the bookings. It is a matter between you, the owner and your insurers.

You are responsible for making sure that the vehicle fits within the dimensions in the listing, that you park there only during the time you have booked, and that you leave the spot as you found it. It is all in the terms, and there are more answers under support and FAQ.

Do you have a garage of your own that sometimes stands empty? Read the guide to renting out parking.