How do you cope with a tandem driveway?

Mutton_Geoff

My neighbour has one of these and three cars between two of them. The continual shuffling around running the engine for just a couple of minutes must be doing untold long term damage to the engines and exhausts of those cars!

Ditzy_Mitzy

We've got one.  It was irritating in the days when, as a family, we had three cars and all of us had hectic schedules as, most evenings, we'd have to shuffle the cars around.  Sometimes we had to alter the positions of all three!  It really doesn't matter very much if, as is our situation now, you have two cars and one of those is seldom used.  A double width drive would have been better for us years ago, granted.

RelievedSheff

mr_stripey said:

We used to have this. Most of the time not a big problem but occasionally a bit of a pain. My wife works shifts and has to leave early for work. Sometimes when the cars were parked in the wrong order it can be a pain especially if you have to defrost both cars in order to drive the "right" car!

Otherwise just a case of me reversing off the drive she she can leave and then parking back on the drive (admittedly a pain if you have to get out of bed to this of course!)

We had a double width drive in our last house and we still had to shuffle cars around as one of the spaces was in front of the garage where the third car lived. 

SharkMoney

mr_stripey said:

We used to have this. Most of the time not a big problem but occasionally a bit of a pain. My wife works shifts and has to leave early for work. Sometimes when the cars were parked in the wrong order it can be a pain especially if you have to defrost both cars in order to drive the "right" car!

Otherwise just a case of me reversing off the drive she she can leave and then parking back on the drive (admittedly a pain if you have to get out of bed to this of course!)

Interesting! I never thought of having to de-ice both cars - now that really would take the biscuit!

SharkMoney

Loved reading the replies this morning all!
I wonder though would it put you off moving to a 2nd house with the same problem if you already had the issue in current house??

mr_stripey

SharkMoney said:

mr_stripey said:

We used to have this. Most of the time not a big problem but occasionally a bit of a pain. My wife works shifts and has to leave early for work. Sometimes when the cars were parked in the wrong order it can be a pain especially if you have to defrost both cars in order to drive the "right" car!

Otherwise just a case of me reversing off the drive she she can leave and then parking back on the drive (admittedly a pain if you have to get out of bed to this of course!)

Interesting! I never thought of having to de-ice both cars - now that really would take the biscuit!

ha ha, yes. that was my job whilst the wife sits in the kitchen eating her cornflakes!

UnderOffer

I replied earlier saying we had a tandem which didn’t cause issues, however, our search criteria for a new property involved searching for double garage side by side properties only, plus parking for at least 1 other car (ie 3 spaces)  this was to accommodate our son who was learning to drive during our move and eventual purchase of new property. We would not have accepted another tandem. Luckily he can park in street so we are still enjoying the freedom of entering and exiting the drive with no issues, but our daughter will now be starting lessons so it’s short lived. 

RelievedSheff

SharkMoney said:

Loved reading the replies this morning all!
I wonder though would it put you off moving to a 2nd house with the same problem if you already had the issue in current house??

Having lived with both side by side and tandem driveways, if we ever decided to move again, which is unlikely, then we would consider either. Our only criteria are a garage and two off road parking spaces. Any arrangement of those will suffice.

Davesnave

greatcrested said:

I have a 2nd hand bike for sale if you're interested.....?

Only if it's not a tandem.

pinkteapot

Having been spoilt by having double-width drives ever since we've been in houses with drives, I wouldn't buy a house with a tandem drive if there wasn't an option to add more paving to widen it. With us it varies who leaves first and who gets home first and it would drive us loopy having to get the other to move so we can leave. 

I'm trying to think if there could be a house so absolutely perfect in every other way that I'd consider it and.... nope!