Look for a space you can safely get your car into without hitting another car. You should seek out a space that's a few feet longer than your car.
Check your rearview mirror and driver-side mirror as you approach the space to make sure that another car is not close behind you.
Signal toward the space as you approach it, slow down, and stop. If another car comes behind you while you are trying to park, stay where you are and keep signaling. You might even need to roll down your window and wave the other driver so that they know to go around you.
Line up your vehicle with the parked car directly in front of your desired spot. Position your vehicle parallel to the parked car, aligning your bumpers, or wheel-to-wheel.
Don't get too close on the side, or you might scrape the other car while you are moving. But you also shouldn’t be too far away (two or three feet is a good approximation).
Shift your vehicle into reverse.
Check the driver-side mirror to make sure the street behind you is clear of traffic before you begin to back up.
Look over your other shoulder at the space to assess the gap.
Turn the steering wheel hard right.
Drivers in countries that use left lanes will turn hard left.
Release the brakes and slowly begin backing into the turn.
While backing into the space often check in front of and around your car. Make sure you remain far enough away from the rear bumper of the vehicle in front of you as you are backing in.
Some people like to adjust their passenger side mirror to see the curb. Simply shift the mirror down a decent amount so you can see the curb. A rule of thumb is that if the curb disappears in the mirror when they are pointed down, you are probably too close to the curb.
If your rear tire hits the curb, you've gone too far; if this happens just simply shift the gear back into drive and pull forward a few feet and try it again.
Turn the steering wheel to the left once the rear of your vehicle is mostly in the space, still going backward. This is the last half of the turn, where you maneuver your way completely into the space and straighten out your car at the same time.
Continue in reverse as far back as you can without hitting the bumper of the vehicle behind you.
Shift the gear back into drive and turn the steering wheel to the right again, and move forward gently toward the curb while centering your vehicle in the space.
At this point, if all went well, you should be tucked in nicely and parallel parked. If you aren't, do not worry. Just signal that you're about to leave the curb, pull out alongside the car in front of you, signal toward the curb again, and start over.