What I will say, however, where I lived in California it was built up around the car, for better or worse, so it was easier than here IMHO. I never once had a problem parking and never once had to pay to park.
I get the impression that most of our local councils don't like cars very much. They'd prefer us to use buses, bicycles or walk so, to deter motorists, they paint yellow lines everywhere or charge through the nose for the limited parking spaces that are available.
Having said that, my local town centre is very good. Parking costs 20p for two hours and there are usually adequate spaces. You still get the selfish bu**ers parking on yellow lines, though, ever since the council decided not to bother with parking wardens.