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Forgot Where You Parked? Try These 12 Smart Tricks
Try these tech tools and simple strategies to locate your vehicle in a lot, garage or neighborhood
7-minute read
When every row starts to look the same, a little technology and a good landmark can point you in the right direction.
Samuel Hansen
Key takeaways
- Use your phone, smartwatch, key fob or car’s app to help locate your vehicle.
- A distinctive magnet, sticker or other visual marker can help your car stand out in a crowded lot.
- If you still can’t find your car, search row by row or ask the parking or security staff for help.
We’ve all had that sinking feeling: looking around a crowded garage and not remembering where we parked.
Don’t beat yourself up. You’ve been running around all day and have a million things on your mind. Perhaps you were distracted while locking your car, talking on the phone and walking to a building’s front door, without taking note of where to return across a vast parking lot.
Take a deep breath. Here are some ways to get back behind the wheel.
Use your car’s key fob
Once you’re in the general vicinity where you think you parked, press your vehicle’s key fob’s door lock button twice. Many vehicles will flash their lights, honk or otherwise respond when you press the lock or panic button.
Feel as if you’re close but nothing’s happening? This trick is worth a shot: Hold the key fob under your chin or beside your head, temporarily turning your skull into an antenna that will boost the signal by up to several car lengths.
This is said to work because people, including their heads, are mostly water, which can safely extend the fob’s radio waves. If you happen to be carrying a jug of water, you can use that to the same effect, according to Roger Bowley, emeritus professor at the University of Nottingham’s School of Physics and Astronomy in England, who made a YouTube video on the subject.
Park near an identifying landmark
Leave your vehicle near an easily identifiable landmark, such as a cart return, specific sign, building or anything else that can be seen from far away. If you go someplace regularly, try to park in a similar location each time.
Airports, shopping malls and theme park lots often have signs posted with letters or numbers to help you remember whether you’re in Lot G or Row 4.
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Make your car stand out
White, black, gray and silver, considered grayscale colors, together make up 80 percent of cars on the road in 2025, according to iSeeCars, an auto research company based in Boston. If yours is one of them, you need to find a way to make it stand out, much like decorating your black suitcase so you can spot it quickly at an airport’s baggage claim area.
A few ways to do so: Add a large magnet or bumper sticker on the rear bumper or stick a see-through graphic to the rear window. Or, for those with a sense of humor, clip bunny ears, decorative flags or reindeer antlers to side windows. Or consider vinyl wrapping your car, which is cheaper than a new paint job, though it can still run between $1,500 and $6,000, depending on your vehicle's size and the type of wrap you choose.
When shopping for a new vehicle, yellow is the least common, according to iSeeCars, followed closely by orange and beige, which together account for fewer than 1 percent of cars on the road.
Getty Images
Park away from everyone else
If you’re feeling up to it and want a longer walk to your destination, park at the farthest fringes of a lot. Bonus: Fewer vehicles at the edges of a parking lot reduces the odds of someone dinging your car’s door or bumper. Plus, it may help you avoid congestion when exiting a packed parking lot at a sold-out sporting event or concert venue.
Go row by row
Start at the nearest entrance or escalator you remember using. Walk up and down the rows of cars, starting at one row and methodically going through each one until you find yours. This is better than walking aimlessly in circles, which will only frustrate you further.
Snap a photo or shoot a video
When you exit your vehicle, pull out your smartphone and take a photo of it — perhaps with a sign or landmark in the same shot — so you can easily find it later. Or shoot a short video that gives you a “you are here” sense of where you parked.
Use your car’s app
Many newer vehicles come with built-in connected-car systems that are controlled via an app on your phone. Vehicle location help may be among the app’s perks. It allows you to reference a map showing your vehicle’s location relative to your current location. Some apps can also activate the vehicle’s horn and/or lights.
Note that underground or enclosed garages can interfere with cellular connectivity and therefore these functions. And app services typically require a monthly or annual subscription fee, though some offer free trials.
Use your smartwatch
Today’s smartwatches, including the Apple Watch, Wear OS watches and some Garmin models, can help find your car. Some require you to save the vehicle’s location within a downloaded app on the watch upon parking, while others save it automatically as a built-in function. Check with your smartwatch’s manufacturer for its specific — and typically straightforward — instructions.
Add a tracker to your car
Perhaps you’re aware of Bluetooth trackers, such as AirTag, Tile or Chipolo, for keeping track of items like keys, purses and luggage. That use extends to vehicles too. Simply leave the tracker in your car. Pick a spot that’s as unobstructed by metal as possible, like the glove compartment, seat pocket or inside the plastic bumper. Use the tracker’s connected app to locate your car.
Note that your passengers’ phones may alert them to the presence of a tracker. This is a security feature, since tracking people without consent or items that aren’t yours is typically illegal.
Seek assistance
While you probably prefer to avoid asking for help, know that you aren’t the first person in this predicament. Find an airport agent, office receptionist, security guard or facility worker who can lend a hand.
Some parking lots and garages have emergency call stations that link directly to the security office. Explain your situation calmly. Often, security guards have a golf cart or other security vehicle to help, so you won’t have to keep walking.
Use a parking app
Several free and moderately priced apps can mark your vehicle’s location and then give you directions back to it later. Among them: Parked Car Locator, Find My Parked Car and Parkify. Experiment to find the one that works best for you.
Use your existing mapping app
You don’t necessarily have to download a new parking app. You could instead use your smartphone’s built-in map app on your Apple iPhone or Google Maps on Android devices.
To use Apple’s Maps app: If you connect your iPhone to your vehicle via wireless Bluetooth or use Apple CarPlay, the app automatically drops a parked car marker on its map when you exit the vehicle.
This feature should be enabled by default. If it’s not, ensure that location services are enabled. Go to Settings, Privacy & Security and Location Services, then toggle these services to “on.” Also turn on Show Parked Location in Maps. In Settings, tap Apps, then Maps. Scroll down to toggle on Show Parked Location.
To find your car later, open the Maps app on your iPhone and choose Parked Car. Tap Directions, then follow the walking route to your car. If your iPhone isn’t connected to your vehicle, you can manually drop a pin.
Open Apple’s Maps app to see a map of your location, with a blue dot showing where you are. Press and hold the spot on the screen that shows your location until a pin marker appears. Tap the small version of the map that pops up, select Mark My Location and then scroll down to select Pin.
Open Maps again later when you need to get to your vehicle. Look for the dropped pin under Places, then tap the pin to follow instructions to return to it.
To use Google Maps: Open the app and tap the blue dot on the map that pinpoints your location. Tap Save Parking. To navigate back to your vehicle, tap the search bar to display the parking location you saved. Tap the listed location and, at the bottom of the screen, tap Directions, then follow the directions back to your vehicle.
Bonus tip: Both mapping apps can also help if you’re lost or stranded. In Apple Maps, press and hold the spot with your blue dot and then choose Send My Location. That allows you to text or email your location to family and friends. In Google Maps, tap your current location, then tap Share location.
This story, originally published Nov. 7, 2022, has been updated with new statistics and car models.
The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.
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