Our favourite people, parking inspectors, have just been given more power to make our lives miserable. As well as a hefty fine, some parking violations will now come with demerit points, so be careful where you park in NSW. Here's everything you need to know about the new demerit point laws.

Finding a parking spot is hard enough as it is without barely intelligible signs that take multiple reads to be sure the spot is legal. That doesn't stop local councils from putting up a forest of signage that tells you as little helpful information as possible by overwhelming you with all the different restrictions in place.

Some drivers can reverse parallel park their cars without even thinking about it. For the rest of us, it's a prolonged nightmare of white-knuckled mortification where every turn of the wheel does the opposite of what you were expecting. Meanwhile, multiple bystanders are watching your attempts in a mixture of amusement and pity. Fun times.

Fortunately, it's possible to correct your arse-backwards parking by following a few simple tips. This infographic explains how to pull off three types of parking on your first attempt, every time.

Parking in the city can cost a lot of money, especially if you’re doing it five days a week. Not all urban centres have great on-street parking, but for those that do, there is a relatively straightforward way to get around those parking fees and you only need a scanner and some image manipulation software.

Making your own parking ticket.

There are two reasons you might find to sleep in your car. One: ROAD TRIP! Two: You've had a bigger night than you expected and now you can't drive home. Cabs are expensive. You're not a fan of Uber. It's too late to catch any form of public transport. You could walk, you think, but a four hour walk in the dark isn't a great plan. So you decide that you need to have a little kip in your automobile and you lay down across the back seat and start to snooze.

But is it actually legal to punch some Z's in your vehicle? Let's find out.

Google has introduced a new feature to make sure Android users never forget where they park their cars. The beta of v9.49 ushers in a bunch of useful new tools - including a manual parking location tracker. Kramer would be pleased.

Sydney airport is changing where drivers can pick up passengers for free at the domestic terminal in September, turning the current 10-minute parking zone between the T2/T3 terminals into a “priority” pick-up that will cost a minimum of $4 for 15 minutes, charged to your eTag. The new free pick-up zone will move east, a 500m, 8-minute walk to the P3 car park.

Motorcycles and scooters are becoming increasingly popular and one of the reasons is they're easy to park. More designated motorcycle parking spots have cropped up around metropolitan areas but some riders will still try to fit their vehicles into any nook they can find (never mind the legalities around that). But if a motorcycle or scooter parks you in, is it okay to move it?

Is there a more dangerous profession than "parent taxi" when it's school pickup time? Here's what not to do when you're dropping the kids off to learn.

When you're trying to find a parking spot, a common tactic is to spend a lot of time and energy to find the closest spot to the entrance. It's more likely that taking the first spot you see is really the most efficient approach.

Dear Lifehacker, I regularly use Wilson Parking's Book A Bay service on its site. However, while the site offers special deals, the prices quoted aren't what you actually end up paying.

Parkhound is an app-based service that lets you hire out your driveway, garage or other parking space to other motorists when you're not using it. It's like AirBnB for the motorist set.

Dear Lifehacker, I rode my motorbike down to Bondi Beach yesterday, and after riding around for a while, found a gap in a row of parked cars, just in front of a parking meter, so slipped my bike in between them. When I returned after a couple of hours, well within the four hour limit indicated by the nearby 4P sign, I found a fine for $236 for parking in a bus zone.

Adolf Hitler. Idi Amin. Bad parkers. There is a special space in hell reversed for all three. Here are ten of the world's most heinous parking crimes, from boxing other cars in to deliberately parking over the lines. We've also included photographic evidence of culprits in the act. How many are you guilty of?

Most large shopping centres offer free indoor parking for the first two to three hours, followed by a gradually rising fee. If you've just spent a bunch of money in their complex and don't particularly want to fork out a gratuity for the privilege, here's a simple hack that will raise the boom gate for free.

In the Seinfeld episode The Parking Garage, Jerry and the gang spend hours fruitlessly searching for their car in a huge, labyrinthine parking lot (for a taste, click on the above clip). I used to think this episode used exaggeration for comedic effect. On the weekend, I discovered it was pretty damn close to reality...

How many times have you parked your car and forgotten where it is? Some of us just don't have the necessary skills to locate our own vehicle a few hours later. If you suffer from this affliction, we have the help you need.

Hi Lifehacker, Is it legal to park a vehicle on the wrong side of the street? It's customary to park your car so that its left side is closer to the kerb (since we drive on the left-hand side of the road), yet I see so many cars parked pointed the wrong way. I was once told that this was illegal since you have to drive on the wrong side of the road to park it, and then drive on the wrong side of the road again when you leave. Is that the case? Thanks, Nosey Parker

Hey Lifehacker, Today my mother in law's car was vandalised while she had parked it in the car park of the shopping centre where she works. I'm wondering whether the centre management has any responsibility to cover the cost of the damage?