Most ADA parking violations aren't hidden in code books — they're visible from the driver's seat, which is exactly how serial plaintiffs find them. A photo of a missing sign, a faded access aisle, or a ramp that ends at a curb is enough to start a demand letter, and settlements routinely run into five figures for conditions that would have cost a few thousand dollars to fix. Here's the ten-minute walk-through worth doing before someone else does it.
Count the accessible stalls. The baseline is roughly one accessible space per 25 total stalls, and at least one of every six accessible spaces must be van-accessible with the wider aisle. Count your lot's total, count the blue, and check the math — undersupply is the most common violation and the fastest to spot.
Look at the access aisles. The striped aisle beside each accessible stall is the part that makes it usable — it's where ramps deploy and doors swing. If the aisle striping is faded to a ghost, blocked by a cart corral, or being used as parking, the space fails in practice regardless of what the paint once said.
Check the signs. Every accessible space needs a vertical sign — paint on the ground alone doesn't qualify — mounted high enough to stay visible over a parked vehicle, with van-accessible spaces labeled as such. Missing and knocked-down signs are the most photographed violation there is.
Feel the slope. Accessible stalls and aisles must be nearly flat — under about 2% in every direction. You don't need a level to screen it: if a shopping cart rolls on its own, the stall almost certainly fails, and slope violations are the ones that usually require concrete or asphalt correction rather than paint.
Walk the route. From the accessible stalls to the entrance, there must be a continuous accessible path: curb ramps where the route crosses a curb, detectable warning surfaces where it crosses vehicle lanes, no steps, no gaps, no vertical lips over a quarter inch. A perfect stall that ends at a six-inch curb is still a violation.
If the walk-through turns anything up, the fixes stack neatly: striping and signage are quick and inexpensive; ramps, slope corrections, and detectable warnings are targeted concrete work, not a lot rebuild. A documented audit with an itemized fix list — and photos of the completed work — is both the cheapest path to compliance and your best defense on file. Ten minutes now beats a demand letter later.