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Parking Lot Ritual

14K views 105 replies 68 participants last post by  JoePistone 
#1 ·
This isn't necessarily related to only WK2 vehicles but I'm curious what everyone's parking lot ritual is like. I know when I go to park, I'm always looking for a 'ding friendly' situation. So I size it up and usually go for a corner spot or one that is far away. Are most of you this concerned about dings?
 
#2 · (Edited)
I shouldn't even say this because my luck may end, but I'm in my forties and have driven fairly new cars my entire adult life without even a hint of a door ding. In my opinion the best thing to do is to park carefully, but not like an idiot that just pisses people off by taking up multiple spots. I'll also choose a big spot between two cars over one with open spots on both sides, less chance of a ding that way.
 
#27 ·
Exactly what I do.

Never take two spots as this an invitation for someone to park next to you leaving a 1/2" inch of space. Most likely it will be a large rusted pick-up truck or van.

What bothers me is when I take the furthest (single) spot with acres of empty spots and yet time later there's one vehicle parked next to me. I sometimes feel that it's not worth having a nice vehicle.




Regards,
NHman
 
#6 ·
I think most people don't care about 1) their cars and 2) they care even less about other peoples property (they aren't down with O.P.P)

I park as far away as possible in any situation, even at Chruch, and we have a 4-month old and a 5-yr old. I am fully capable of walking from the end of the parking lot and I don't need the aggravation of being in the first ten spots. If its raining I don't go out or I drop off the wife and wait in the car and listen to the Orioles lose or get on Jeep Garage on my phone :)

If I must pick a spot near another car I try to park next to the other "nice" cars; the 'vettes, 'stangs, 7-series BMWs, S-class Benz's, etc.

The hardest part was converting my wife. Her old Honda was in terrible shape! For a 2007 it looked like a 1997. But she has since seen the need to park far away, not out of fear for door dings but out of necessity - the rear doors on her R-Class are at least 3-ft long. She HAS to have open spots on each side of her in order to get the doors open for the kids to get out.
 
#8 ·
OK, so it sounds like I'm not alone. I don't mind parking far away so I decrease chance of a dink and it's some forced exercise. I never take two spots, as mentioned that just pisses people off and your asking for something IMO. I do the parking between two nice car thing to, but of course when you come back to your car, there might be two pieces of crap next to you. What's the protocol anyway. Suppose you come out of the store and you see someone hit your car and it leaves a dink? Besides "you are a $%^#." What can you do?
 
#11 ·
I just park where I think I can get out quickly. Old habits die hard I guess. I really don't worry about door dings. I rarely keep a car or truck more than about 3 years anyways...and besides the Jeep isn't like a Rolls Royce or something. I don't really consider a 45k car to be all that expensive.
 
#12 ·
I've gotten a scuff on my car while parking in assigned school parking. I have pics of the matching scuff on the other car (driven by a girl) and on mine. I've reported it to the school, brought it up with the other person, and they still won't pay or apologize. Because of this, I avoid all other cars. So pissed still.
 
#13 ·
my kids use the Jeep as a backstop for roller hockey(not on purpose but it does happen sometimes) so a stray shopping cart or door doesn't bother me too much anymore. All of my cars have dings of some sort. My oldest son forgot to hit the brakes when learning how to ride his dirt bike and stuck it under the bumper of my old Taurus SHO. He got off the bike and it stayed upright, it was pretty funny.

So no, I park in the closest spot. It's just a car IMO.
 
#15 ·
i usually select parking spaces far away from the business i'm visiting. Mostly because I don't have time to fuss with people fighting over close spots, but also because i don't like door dings. I take good care of my things, and wish others would be respectful of others'.
 
#18 ·
I park away from the entrance of businesses and away from renegade shopping carts. Down here in So. Fla. people have no clue to put the shopping carts into the cart thing...and a lot of businesses don't even have them! Very odd especially with all the nice cars around these parts.

Lazy people usually don't put in the effort to keep their property well cared for so a lot of people who park close to entrances I avoid. Moreover the closest parking spaces get the most use so odds are higher there will be stray shopping carts and more people in and out of those spaces.

I do like to park next to nice cars. Avoid vans with swing out doors...sometimes mini vans too if the spaces are tight even if they have sliding doors.... But the stray shopping carts are my biggest concern.

I'm not anal about it but want to avoid the obvious dangers. A few extra steps is good for you...
 
#20 ·
I do the same as most people listed. However, if I have no choice and there is just no where to park but close to someone else I lift mine to Off Road II. This way worst case the dent would be down low out of the normal eye level view. You would be surprised how high up you are when parked next to a regular car...:0)
 
#21 ·
I used a paintless dent removal guy on an ex highway patrol car I brought a few years ago and the results were amazing, police don't seem too worried about where they park... nothing major just lotsa little ones where the paint wasn't broken, after about an hour with the aid of a fluro light he had it looking straight as new....
 
#23 ·
I will usually go for the back forty. If that doesn't work out I try to look for Minivans. Sliding doors are your friend since kids are usually the corporates. Parking by large SUVs is almost a gimme a door ding. Parking by smaller cars is a bit better but can still happen. Parking by expensive cars won't always help since most of them don't care about your car. Short story about that. We had just recieved a new work truck. Went to dinner and at that time the diner wasn't busy. Parked are new work truck in a spot that didn't have a cars around. When we had come out the lot was full and we noticed a ding in the door. It didn't take much investigation that the Mercedes next to us did the damage. Since it had paint from are truck still on it's door. As always it was on its rear door (kids). The guys were pissed about this and returned the favor to them. They did take it a little to far, but just a reminder that people that drive nice vehcles are some times the worst to park next to. Really its all about luck. I had a car for 8 years and only had one ding in it. I've had my Jeep for 8 months and some idiot opened his door and forgot the wind had been blowing 20 mph all day and his door hit my Jeep. Didn't do any damage but at least the guy seen me in my Jeep and said sorry. Probably scared that he would come back and see baseball bat sized hail on his car.
 
#26 ·
A mate of mine parks as far away as possible from whatever store he's going to. It's irritating as hell! We may as well have walked. He's done this for years, yet he still gets hit with trolleys.

He reminds me of an advert we have over here, where a guy parks his car far away from all the others, gets out and a satellite falls out of the sky and crushes his car:lol:
 
#33 ·
A mate of mine parks as far away as possible from whatever store he's going to. It's irritating as hell! We may as well have walked. He's done this for years, yet he still gets hit with trolleys.
LMAO x2!
 
#28 ·
At shopping centers, I try to find a spot on the end of a row that has an island and park near the curb by the island. If it's close to shrubbery or a tree I can just be careful.

Other option is to park next to other newer vehicles.

At work we have spots where I can parallel park. Not sure of the situation where my spouse works (the Jeep's her daily driver) but whatever she's done she's had no problems either.

So far this has all worked out well for me...my 2YO car has no signs of any parking lot bumps and the only one on my Jeep is one from nudging the concrete wall in my home garage. Need to get some touch-up paint...:(
 
#29 ·
Love this convo - my wife makes fun of my parking habits all the time. I will frequently park farther away so there are no other cars around (as she calls it, "as far away as humanly possible"), but I think what draws her laughter the most is my seemingly obsessive-compulsive need to park in the dead center of whatever space I have chosen. I mean, we all hate those people who park diagonal and over the line, barely but effectively taking up two spots, but I take it to the next level. I like to be not to far to either side, not too far up, not too far back. DEAD CENTER.

If I had to park on one side of another car or the other, statistically speaking, I would prefer a space adjacent to another car's passenger door (every time another car is driven away, the driver's door must be opened, but not every car carries an additional passenger). However, watch for child car seats in the rear passenger-side seat (sometimes it's hard to get kids situated and buckled in without opening the door as wide as possible). Staying away from coupes (with their long and wide front doors) if possible is also a rule of thumb.

Be careful, it's a minefield out there!
 
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