Preventing parking dents

StereoSound

Is it possible to avoid them ? Why are people so stupid and cannot park without hitting someone ? I've had paintless dent removal 4 times since December to remove parking dents. Today, once again I come back to my car to find a lovely nasty parking dent on drivers door . I'm going to rig up my dash cam to run off a power bank to try and catch someone when I'm parked in future.. I might install multiple dash cameras on all sides of the car and hammer the next person that hits me and drives off!

mikeecho

StereoSound wrote: »

Is it possible to avoid them ? Why are people so stupid and cannot park without hitting someone ? I've had paintless dent removal 4 times since December to remove parking dents. Today, once again I come back to my car to find a lovely nasty parking dent on drivers door . I'm going to rig up my dash cam to run off a power bank to try and catch someone when I'm parked in future.. I might install multiple dash cameras on all sides of the car and hammer the next person that hits me and drives off!

The only way that works for me is parking at the far end of the car park, and take up the last two spaces.

Now, I do run the risk of being photographed by a busybody with feic all else to be doing...but I can live with that.

Having said that, you could also try and park next to a car belonging to a member of staff at the supermarket you're at.

I know what staff drive what car, as they always park in the same spot.. and their cars always there whenever I go there.

Or if using a multistorey car park, park on the very top floor, away from the elevators, people are too lazy to walk, and always want a spot on the first floor, or near the elevators.

Pops_20

The vast majority of people in my experience treat a car as an appliance and don't care how it looks. Therefore they can't understand why you would care how it looks.

The best course of action I find is to park at the edge of a row so you only have one other car to contend with, and park as close to the edge as possible. It also helps to park next to another car that looks well looked after. The owner of that is likely to be an conscientious as you.

It's just as bad when parallel parking in a row. The amount of people is see who bump the car in front or behind them when trying to get out of a space, and then proceed to drive off, is unreal.

Henry Ford III

Park away from the entrance. People are like lemmings when parking.

Aglomerado

mikeecho wrote: »

The only way that works for me is parking at the far end of the car park, and take up the last two spaces.

Now, I do run the risk of being photographed by a busybody with feic all else to be doing...but I can live with that.

Having said that, you could also try and park next to a car belonging to a member of staff at the supermarket you're at.

I know what staff drive what car, as they always park in the same spot.. and their cars always there whenever I go there.

Or if using a multistorey car park, park on the very top floor, away from the elevators, people are too lazy to walk, and always want a spot on the first floor, or near the elevators.

+1. I always park as far as possible away from supermarket doors. The lazy able bodied people who do park near the doors tend to be the ones most likely to be spatially unaware.

StereoSound

I always park out of the way, never at the entrance. I still get some idiot slamming their door into mine. No camera around to see who did it. I'm stuck to pay another €80+ euro to get this dent removed by paintless dent removal. Fecking feckers !

kingtut

I'd park well away from anyone else (as others have pointed out) and also perhaps somewhere that the cameras have a view of just in case someone still parks beside you.

Wouldn't be a fan of taking up 2 parking spaces though!

Del2005

Gardai are the only people who can access CCTV footage and they aren't going to do that for a car park dint.

The only way to avoid car park dints is not to use car parks, as no matter where you park someone will be able to park beside you, and that's not very practical.

s7ryf3925pivug

only happened to me once and the person left a note and paid for its repair. I did have the little vw hubcap things stolen though. I generally park away from the mob.

bazz26

Parking far away from the entrance doesn't always work either due to lonely car syndrome. You could park it in a remote corner and still come back to find a dimwit parked nearly on top of you.

theteal

In 12 years of driving, apart from some pr!ck actually swiping the front corner of my car in a car park up in Bangor, I've never had a parking dent like you describe. That's some proper bad luck you've got there OP.

biko

I park away from the crowd and have been blessed so far.

Depending on style and colour of your car you can consider strips

bazz26

Some people are just plain ignorant and don't give a **** about their own property never mind someone else's parked next to them.

I always do my utmost to park away from other cars but still come back to find someone parked right next to me despite there being plenty of free spaces elsewhere and closer to the door. Some people need another car as a point of reference for parking, white lines just doesn't cut it.

rex-x

Buy a Citroen Cactus

Wildly Boaring

I had a woman pull into the space beside me a whack my door while she sat there.

I got out inspected the dent and photographed her insurance disk. She went mental!!!!

Turns out her husband worked with me. He very sheepishly came over to me next morning offering to pay and apologising. Left him off fair play to him.

I also had a friend one time belt my door with his , outside his house. Could not see the issue whatsoever. He brought it up at a something a few months after and was genuinely shocked when the whole place told him he was a knob. Mark was still on the car when I sold it.



I too park well away from door and try to park at end of row so only one fool can hit one side. Not adverse to taking 2 spaces

_Kaiser_

I've noticed 2 new dings on the back doors lately that can only be from ignorant asshats in car parks

Really annoys me but nothing much you can do. Can't have nice things in this country.

_Kaiser_

bazz26 wrote: »

Parking far away from the entrance doesn't always work either due to lonely car syndrome. You could park it in a remote corner and still come back to find a dimwit parked nearly on top of you.

Yea I've had that happen too. Really don't get the logic

Rubberchikken

always park.down.the back well away from others but still someone wil have parked beside me when i get back*sigh*

people in their new compact suvs can be the most careless - loans must be cheap nowadays

JaCrispy

mikeecho wrote: »

The only way that works for me is parking at the far end of the car park, and take up the last two spaces.

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

I too park well away from door and try to park at end of row so only one fool can hit one side. Not adverse to taking 2 spaces

Every dent you receive is karma for taking up two spaces :cool:

lawred2

biko wrote: »

I park away from the crowd and have been blessed so far.

Depending on style and colour of your car you can consider strips

Some shoite parking right there

artanevilla

Has anyone ever successfully persued an insurance company for this kind of carry on?

el Fenomeno

A few rules I follow:

- Park far away from the entrance.
- Park beside a pillar or an end-of-row space. Halves your chances of being dinged.
- Park beside newer cars. Their owner is far more likely to still be in their honeymoon phase and taking every precaution to protect their own car.
- Goes without saying, but don't park beside cars covered in scratches or dents.
- Don't park beside a car with a baby seat. Ever.
- Try keep to other cars' passenger sides. Good for you if they don't have any passengers. Also peek in to the passenger seat - if it's a mess, odds are they're travelling solo and no one will be getting in/out of that side of the car.
- Avoid parking anywhere near a trolley bay.
- In multi-stories, park on floors that don't have an entrance on their level. Usually less cars on these.
- If you know which vans have sliding doors instead of swinging doors, park beside them.

Four Phucs Ache

No photo but I returned to my car this evening to find a car crooked beside me tight, lovely big mark on my drivers door and my mirror facing the bonnet. My car is worth about 500 quid.

Did I retaliate with a sneaky whack ? No I didn't but sometimes I wonder wtf ....they could have fixed my mirror.

Duke O Smiley

Jaysus Christ lads, I don't know what kind of world you all live in but some of the suggestions in this thread are a bit excessive.

When I'm looking for somewhere to park I don't get out of my car and start inspecting other cars around me for baby seats or dings on the bodywork. If another car parking beside you in Aldi or somewhere is enough to ruin your day I'd say you have very little to be worrying about in the first place.

And I don't think the majority of motorists go around looking for cars to slam their door into, similarly I don't believe that the average motorist sees nothing wrong with doing so. I've never in my life experienced anything like it.

I'm driving a relatively new and ubiquitous to every Aldi/Lidl/Tesco carpark, 07 Civic saloon. It is covered in suncream hand marks and scratches etc from years of neglect from its 1 previous owner. However the black paint hides all of this really well and it takes proper scrutinising to suss anything...some posters on here are really going to say they'd park beside that quicker than they would my last car, an immaculate 97 Corolla, just because its newer?

Still waters

I did this once, I put a nice ding with my door in a 161 avensis, lucky enough for me I did no damage to my own so I pulled out and parked well away, no cameras either so all was good

sunnysoutheast

Park as far as possible from the door/stairs/exit etc.

Avoid parking next to family wagons.

Avoid parking next to junkers.

Avoid parking next to trolley return bays.

Always amazed when I see people parking 60k+ cars in spots near the entrance to a supermarket etc.

ShadowHearth

mikeecho wrote: »

The only way that works for me is parking at the far end of the car park, and take up the last two spaces.

Now, I do run the risk of being photographed by a busybody with feic all else to be doing...but I can live with that.

Having said that, you could also try and park next to a car belonging to a member of staff at the supermarket you're at.

I know what staff drive what car, as they always park in the same spot.. and their cars always there whenever I go there.

Or if using a multistorey car park, park on the very top floor, away from the elevators, people are too lazy to walk, and always want a spot on the first floor, or near the elevators.

Actually spot on and to sun it all up: take advantage of lazy ass pancakes.

My car will be 2 years old now and so far not a dent. *Touches wood and prays to petrol God's.

I Park in the back of car park, away from everyone. If it's not busy carpark I take up two spots just in case. Enough places for lazy bastards to park almost inside the Tesco or other establishment, so they don't even miss that extra spot taken.
At work same. I Park behind hotel in carpark parallel style. There is no markings so no way anyone park next to me.

Never park next to soccer mom SUVs too. It's a big no no if you like your car. Usually try to park next to nicest car in parking lot. Big chance is that person likes his car too, so he won't go Hulk on his own door too.

Pkiernan

Pickup truck with running boards.

Car doors just bounce off my running boards without hitting my doors!
Winner winner.

StereoSound

I remember parking in Stillorgan center one sunday in the cornor, car park was empty. Then along comes a little old lady in a blue micra and she parked so fckn close to me that I could not exit my vehicle. I would have had to use the passenger side to get out. I started up and drove to the other end of the car park, another woman in another little contraption full of dents pulled right up beside me again ! For the second time I relocated my car, this time to the center of the car park. i felt reasonably confident and left the car there for 30 mins to get a coffee. Came back out to find a big scruffy old builders lorry nailed up beside my passanger side. You can't win...... I think on occasions you may make your car a target by parking out of the way to.

BarryD2

Fact is, that the standard of parking and general close control of a car has gone sh*te in past decade or so. Time was when you had to be able to parallel park/ reverse into a space during your driving test. Look around your average car park these days and you'll see 7 out of 10 numpties drive forward into parking spaces - then watch them try to reverse out, windows all steamed up in winter, can't see feck. People just don't have the basic skills/ patience to park a car competently these days.

StereoSound

Dunno how people with brand new cars can tolerate parking in the middle of a tight car park, sometimes arse ways.. Or those with higher end vehicles and not giving a sh!t if it gets dented or not. See a lot of young familes hoping in and out of new or relatively new BMW or Merc estate cars not really giving a sh!t where or how they park it.

Donald Trump

StereoSound wrote: »

Is it possible to avoid them ? Why are people so stupid and cannot park without hitting someone ? I've had paintless dent removal 4 times since December to remove parking dents. Today, once again I come back to my car to find a lovely nasty parking dent on drivers door . I'm going to rig up my dash cam to run off a power bank to try and catch someone when I'm parked in future.. I might install multiple dash cameras on all sides of the car and hammer the next person that hits me and drives off!

You could always try parking properly between the lines yourself so that the next fella isn't squeezed into a tight sandwich beside you

Tikki Wang Wang

mikeecho wrote: »

The only way that works for me is parking at the far end of the car park, and take up the last two spaces.

Now, I do run the risk of being photographed by a busybody with feic all else to be doing...but I can live with that.

Having said that, you could also try and park next to a car belonging to a member of staff at the supermarket you're at.

I know what staff drive what car, as they always park in the same spot.. and their cars always there whenever I go there.

Or if using a multistorey car park, park on the very top floor, away from the elevators, people are too lazy to walk, and always want a spot on the first floor, or near the elevators.

I know a lad who snips tyre valves with a wire cutters if the selfish motorist is taking 2 spaces. A just punishment ?

artanevilla

Tikki Wang Wang wrote: »

I know a lad who snips tyre valves with a wire cutters if the selfish motorist is taking 2 spaces. A just punishment ?

That's criminal damage. Parking in two spaces is just a bit ignorant (depending on the size of the carpark)

Also I've been forced into two spaces due to the guy beside being in two, then he drives off making you look like a bum. I would not like to come back to missing valves then.

Tikki Wang Wang

artanevilla wrote: »

That's criminal damage. Parking in two spaces is just a bit ignorant (depending on the size of the carpark)

Also I've been forced into two spaces due to the guy beside being in two, then he drives off making you look like a bum. I would not like to come back to missing valves then.

It’s just one. So all that is required is a tyre change. I have seen him do it at least 5 or 6 times.

Hardtochoose

Tikki Wang Wang wrote: »

I know a lad who snips tyre valves with a wire cutters if the selfish motorist is taking 2 spaces. A just punishment ?

That’s scumbag behaviour.

artanevilla

Tikki Wang Wang wrote: »

It’s just one. So all that is required is a tyre change. I have seen him do it at least 5 or 6 times.

Is that all that's required? Well that's fine then. Did you not say something the first time?

corks finest

StereoSound wrote: »

Is it possible to avoid them ? Why are people so stupid and cannot park without hitting someone ? I've had paintless dent removal 4 times since December to remove parking dents. Today, once again I come back to my car to find a lovely nasty parking dent on drivers door . I'm going to rig up my dash cam to run off a power bank to try and catch someone when I'm parked in future.. I might install multiple dash cameras on all sides of the car and hammer the next person that hits me and drives off!

It's virtually impossible to avoid, today came back to my car ,guy casually leaning his large bulk against it,I shouted"off the car bud" took him a few seconds to understand what I was on a bout I mean FFS

Hardtochoose

Tikki Wang Wang wrote: »

It’s just one. So all that is required is a tyre change. I have seen him do it at least 5 or 6 times.

It’s really you isn’t it?

Tikki Wang Wang

artanevilla wrote: »

Is that all that's required? Well that's fine then. Did you not say something the first time?

The first time I saw him do it I was getting a lift with him and asked him what he was doing and he told me he’s been doing it for years as the taking 2 spaces lark really annoys him.

theguzman

What sort of miserable pricks design and paint car park spaces anyway? The average car is massive now compared to 20 years ago and the spaces are still designed for cars built back in the 1960's. I have genuine sympathy for eldery people trying to squueze in and out. I got a much newer, larger and more valuable car last year and since then I routinely park across two spots in places where parking is free because the spaces should be at least one foot or 1.5 feet wider.

Victor

Wrap your car like this.

Dr_Colossus

Tikki Wang Wang wrote: »

I know a lad who snips tyre valves with a wire cutters if the selfish motorist is taking 2 spaces. A just punishment ?

Tikki Wang Wang wrote: »

It’s just one. So all that is required is a tyre change. I have seen him do it at least 5 or 6 times.

As said, scumbag behavior and will get him in serious trouble either physically or criminally some day. What about all the cars that don't carry a spare wheel, what about the cost of having to bring the damaged wheel to a garage to replace the valve. Why not deflate the tyre somewhat so it's noticeable but still derivable and leave a note explaining the reasoning if he's that's annoyed.

Not condoning double parking and would never drive a brand new car as a result of other people's inconsideration and lack of respect or jealousy of others people property.

Tikki Wang Wang

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

As said, scumbag behavior and will get him in serious trouble either physically or criminally some day. What about all the cars that don't carry a spare wheel, what about the cost of having to bring the damaged wheel to a garage to replace the valve. Why not deflate the tyre somewhat so it's noticeable but still derivable and leave a note explaining the reasoning if he's that's annoyed.

Not condoning double parking and would never drive a brand new car as a result of other people's inconsideration and lack of respect or jealousy of others people property.

Well I believe he thinks deflating the tyre may not send the message as in the offender may think it’s just a regular flat and not linked to their parking

Hardtochoose

Tikki Wang Wang wrote: »

Well I believe he thinks deflating the tyre may not send the message as in the offender may think it’s just a regular flat and not linked to their parking

You seem to know an awful lot about “his” thought process. Having seen him do it 5 or 6 times as you say, would you not either tell him to cop on or stop hanging out with him?
If he’s caught on cctv doing that , you’ll be an accomplice to the crime.
If someone I knew did that 5 or 6 times I was with them I’d be telling them if they did it again id be reporting them.
My car has no spare tyre. What if someone I was with had a medical emergency and I needed to get them somewhere ASAP and your mate had cut my tyre valve.

Tikki Wang Wang

Hardtochoose wrote: »

You seem to know an awful lot about “his” thought process. Having seen him do it 5 or 6 times as you say, would you not either tell him to cop on or stop hanging out with him?
If he’s caught on cctv doing that , you’ll be an accomplice to the crime.
If someone I knew did that 5 or 6 times I was with them I’d be telling them if they did it again id be reporting them.
My car has no spare tyre. What if someone I was with had a medical emergency and I needed to get them somewhere ASAP and your mate had cut my tyre valve.

Well as long as you haven’t parked in 2 spaces you’re safe.

HBC08

Tikki Wang Wang wrote: »

Well as long as you haven’t parked in 2 spaces you’re safe.

Your "mate" is a coward and a knack.

Discodog

Tikki Wang Wang wrote: »

Well as long as you haven’t parked in 2 spaces you’re safe.

I often have to park badly because the other people around me already have. Once one driver parks over the line it affects the whole row. They then move & you are left as the badly parked car.

Tikki Wang Wang

Discodog wrote: »

I often have to park badly because the other people around me already have. Once one driver parks over the line it affects the whole row. They then move & you are left as the badly parked car.

I’m talking about lads who when they see 3 empty spaces park so a white line runs down the middle of their car.

Hardtochoose

Tikki Wang Wang wrote: »

Well as long as you haven’t parked in 2 spaces you’re safe.

Better hope that while cowardly skulking over a wheel cutting the valve stem your face doesn’t run into the boot of the owner of said car.

Hardtochoose

Tikki Wang Wang wrote: »

I’m talking about lads who when they see 3 empty spaces park so a white line runs down the middle of their car.

Stop trying to justify criminal damage. Because that’s what that is. There is no justification for it.