Driveway on a downward slope

[Haggled]

Viewing a house tomorrow, we took a drive past it earlier for a nosey and the driveway is short and also on quite a steep slope downwards towards the house. I am shit at parking at the best of times and the thought of either reversing onto the drive going backwards AND down, or driving down and having to really rev to get off the driveway fills me with dread. Anyone else got a drive like this or had one before? Do you just get used to it or is it the bane on your life?

Hi OP.
We live on a road where on one side drives slope up to the house. They generally have cars on the drives.
The other side, slope down to the house.they tend to park on the road.
The road is quiet, residential , so no one’s causing difficulties parking on the road.
One of those houses with the ‘slope down to house’ drives has built up the drive , not quite level but almost , and added steps down to the house.
Is that something you can do?

My mum's house has one of those drives. I always prefer to drive on and reverse out (revving feels less of an issue in reverse) but her road is really quiet and so not a problem.

I always panic my brakes will fail and my car will end up in her front window

My Aunt and Uncle had a drive like that in Scotland and during a bad icy winter the car slid down their drive into the neighbours house opposite! Sure that’s rare though.

Completely different scenario but I once lived in a flat with underground parking. My space was the narrowest, trickiest space you could ever imagine needing to park in. Plus a bollard on either side. For the first couple weeks, I had a slight meltdown everytime I got home 😂🙈 but slowly, I got used to it & by the end i was a complete pro!

I do think it’s something you’d just get used too. Might freak you out a bit a first but eventually, like most things with driving, it becomes second nature!

Ours is really steep and narrow and runs the full length of the house. Passengers have to get out then I reverse down.

You get used to it 🤷🏽‍♀️

YY the trickiest of parking situations become second nature very quickly when you're doing them all the time. The only thing that would put me off would be the icy/ snowy weather scenario, that could be a pain.

I’d reverse in but I’d probably screw in a bit of wood across the drive at the point I needed to stop so I didn’t worry about reversing into my home.

Build it up slightly ( retaining wall ) so it’s less of a slope ?

My drive is like that - I'm also a shit Parker (and driver) but I have no issues with the drive. I reverse on and find it safer as you can just freewheel down the slope once you're over the pavement.

Had two drives like that... well, one sloping to the canal (eek) and one sloping towards the road. House bricks wedged under my tyres save my sanity and signal when to stop reversing (into the canal).

I don’t have that, but I do have “difficult” driveway. After a few times it’s just not an issue.

Wouldn't be an issue on my current car as I have an automatic handbrake and auto emergency collision intervention, but on an older car with a manual handbrake I would certainly have rolled into the house. How "bad" at parking are you? I'm sure you would get used to it pretty quickly if you did it every day.

I rejected several houses with steep driveways because DH always forgets to put his parking break on, and the last thing anyone needs is a 4 by 4 crashing through their living room. If your issue is just confidenxe then you probably will get used to it - how nice is the house?

We had a drive like that at our old house. It was on a really busy road meaning reversing onto it was the only option. You quickly learn how to assertively and accurately reverse on. If there's pavement between the end of the drive and the road then pulling onto the road is easier than you think.

Never mind the parking, does heavy rain flow down the drive and into the house?

Thanks all... haven’t seen the house inside yet - waiting for our viewing later.
Good point @senua about rain water flowing down, I hadn’t considered that! The property is empty so no owners will be around to ask annoyingly. If I love the house inside I’ll see if the agent can find out...

There should be a gully drain at the base of the driveway slope to collect rainwater, like this.

There was at our old house. The garage was at the bottom of the drive.

Our old house was like this, as @senua the thing to be wary of is rain water; in a really heavy storm the drain couldn't cope and the garage would flood.

You'll learn to do it fine but you may need to police other people visiting you who may attempt it. (and yes I speak from personal experience 🙄)

If it's exactly the same length as your car, bear in mind it's hard to open the boot when your close to the garage with a sloping drive. I have to pull forward a bit, or the boot hits the garage door.

Viewed the house - I don’t like it Problematic driveway averted! Was funny when the agent turned up to show us round and even they didn’t attempt it