A car guard is an informally employed person in charge of finding parking spots for cars and ensuring the safety of those cars until their owners return. These self-employed individuals often charge a nominal fee. They may euphemistically be called parking assistants, parking attendants or car valets.
Contents
Background
Car guarding can occur in any area where a lack of formal employment opportunities gives rise to an informal economy. While the process occurs most commonly in South African cities, it is commonplace throughout [Southern Africa]. Car guards deter crime by raising the probability of detection, deterring potential criminals, and inducing potential criminals to move elsewhere.
Background
South Africa has high unemployment rates and high crime rates, both violent and nonviolent - especially motor theft. Formal unemployment in South Africa is around 25%, and is expected to rise as the number of immigrants into South Africa vastly outweighs the opportunities in the formal sector. Individuals unable to find formal employment turn to car guarding as an alternative source of income. Except for the occasional article in the daily press, very little research has been done on the car guard industry in South Africa, and even less in other countries.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, self-employed car guards began to expand into sporting events, concerts, and other venues on an ad hoc basis. Several private businesses were set up that hire out vests and equipment to car guards for these events - however, they do not employ or regulate the car guards. Due to the fact that the job requires little overhead cost, this employment opportunity draws many of the 16% of South Africans employed in the informal sector.
Demographics
The majority of car guards are black or coloured men, with a median age of late twenties to early thirties. Many have been previously employed in the formal sector. However, they earn lower wages on average than low-income jobs in the formal sector (e.g. domestic workers or waiters). Most car guards have not completed secondary education, and find it difficult to find jobs in the formal sector due to a lack of skills or formal education. Studies find that a large proportion of car guards are immigrants from outside of South Africa, who have even more barriers to formal employment than low-income South Africans.
Issues
Because this process is almost completely unregulated, when one parks their car in an area with car guards, they have no guarantee of the guard's reliability. Many South Africans report being threatened by their car guards, or that the guards have often been old or infirm people who would have been unable to provide effective protection. Conversely, people working as car guards have no way of guaranteeing that they will get paid - many guards reporting being promised payment that they never receive. In this transaction, neither customer nor guard has any way of holding the other accountable. While the customer could put themselves at risk, the position is also dangerous for the guard, with some guards reporting receiving threats from car thieves and vagrants. Some car guards report that they prefer to go to "white events" over "black events," saying that they make more money at white events.
Future
In Cape Town, the car guarding industry is becoming increasingly formalised, with the municipality increasingly employing people to collect money for parking instead of utilizing parking meters. McEwen and Leiman argue that the nature of the industry has changed from "a survival activity of the local homeless and unemployed to one often typified by relatively capable and qualified local and regional migrants."
Mozambique
In Mozambique, car guards work in groups to prevent thieves from stealing items such as mirrors from parked vehicles. Each group is run by a chefe, or boss, who divides parking areas into zones and assigns guards to each zone. The chefe also serves as a liaison between the guards and the police.
Namibia
In Namibia, car guards that work in semi-private parking areas, such as malls or shopping centers, must actually pay the shopping center to work there. Consumer tipping of car guards is also not compulsory, minimizing the profits earned by the car guards themselves.
United States
In some places, such as New York State, guards accompanying armored cars may be allowed, after reasonable checks, to carry weapons.