Have you ever fallen asleep in your car? If so, hopefully you weren’t driving at the time, or perhaps you were and decided that you needed to pull over and sleep before continuing on your way.

Why is there a stigma around sleeping in your car? Perhaps people assume that if you’re sleeping in a car you’re homeless and don’t have anywhere else to sleep. That could be the case in some instances, but it’s not always true. It could be that you’re having a fight with your spouse, remodeling your home, or on a long road trip and don’t feel like paying for a hotel. Whatever the reason, not everyone thinks that it’s a bad thing to sleep in your car.

Reddit users discussed whether or not it should be legal to sleep in your car. Most seem to feel that it should be legal to sleep in your car, but some brought up real problems that sleeping in your car presents. Scroll down to see the arguments.

1. Encouraged When You’re Driving and Tired

   Reddit user jontss wrote:

   In my country you’re encouraged to pull over for a nap rather than risk falling asleep at the wheel but I’m also pretty sure it’s technically not allowed in many places.

2. Skip the Hotel

   ElectWarriorZ added:

   It’s liability issues, but tbh I agree with you. If I was traveling around the country I’d hate to have to pay for a bunch of hotels when I could just chill in my car for a couple nights.

3. Legal In Many Places for One Night

   Emtreidy answered:

   There are tons of places in the US where you can, but most only allow you to stay for a night. Cracker Barrel, Walmart, Home Depot, etc., you just have to check for signs prohibiting overnight stays. I’ve parked my RV overnight in all of those places. Rest stops as well. In smaller cities without big box stores, simply asking the local police if its OK always worked, especially when I mentioned getting a little too tired to drive.

4. The Police Were Understanding

   mr_sweetandawful shared:

   I slept in my car for 5 months. I also had a job delivering sandwiches so it worked out. I usually slept in walmart parking lots and never got bothered unless i parked literally anywhere else. Ive never had more run ins with the cops than when i lived out of my car, but on the flipside, they were all very understanding and never wrote me any tickets.

5. Hotels Want Their Money

   stef_me explained:

   I’m convinced the money hotels make from sleeping in a car being illegal is a contributing factor to why it’s still illegal. Also the general hatred of poor and homeless people in this country.

6. Police Might Jump to Conclusions

   HoldMyPooWithUrLuv wrote:

   Most people don’t care, but cops might assume you’ve been drinking/doing drugs and slept in your car instead of try to go home. Speaking from experience

7. Motivation to Get to the Gym

   Fray-Lay answered:

   I’ve slept in my car countless times in my gym’s parking lot after work (because I work long hours and get off in the early morning, and it helps me get up for my workout), and I’ve never been bothered once. I just park in the corner and recline my seat all the way. Can’t even tell I’m in there.

8. Upper Middle Class Neighborhood

   Unblued shared:

   This was actually a big thing where I grew up. It was a very safe, upper middle class area with very little crime to pursue. Police spent a lot of their energy trying to hand out DUIs, but also fined people for sleeping in cars or leaving their car overnight. It created a no win scenario of either driving illegally or parking illegally.

9. An Easy Way to Find Where Sleeping in Your Car Is OK

   micktorious explained:

   For anyone who needs it, iOverlander is a great app that has tons of spots where you can stay overnight. Its community curated and pretty great with different filters of where you want to stay, including free and paid campsites or just boondocking somewhere all the way to rest stops and Walmart parking lots.

10. Look for a Walmart

    shadowgattler wrote:

    Fun fact: Walmart openly allows you to live in your car in their lots for (usually) an unlimited amount of time. There’s been 2 rvs parked in the one near me for over 2 years

11. On Private Property

    DeathRowLemon answered:

    It is legal on private property with permission. At least here it is.

12. No Restroom

    vanfeihong explained:

    I think one major problem is that people have nowhere to go to the restroom and some will just shit in the bushes. Littering is also another problem. As someone who lived in a van for 6 months, this is what I’ve observed from my fellow van/car dwellers.

13. We Sense Sarcasm

    BigDaddySwagLord wrote:

    But then how will landlords and banks make money!! Y-You can’t just make an option where people don’t go into massive debt or spend all of their paycheck just to live!!! It will destroy the economy