Has it ever happened to you. When you go to a store or a large parking lot and park as far away in hopes to keep other people away from you vehicle and come back out to find another car right next to you or a shopping cart that has ran into your vehicle. I have 4 spots on my new ranger where shopping carts and other peoples car doors have made marks on the paint some pretty sever. To the point that i could not wax or polish the out. Never used rubbing compund it can damage the paint. what are some of the things that have happened to you. And what are some of the ways to avoid this problem.

Oh hello from good warm Florida......

 

Happens too often, the more I try to avoid it the more it seems to occur. Especially with my older Mustangs and trucks. Some people have no concept of a pride and joy vehicle. They don`t seem have a clue as to why we want to keep them looking good without dents and paint chips. Some don`t have a clue period. I can`t think of any way to avoid it other then like you say to park farther away from the main doors. I do get more exercise this way. I guess I should buy an old beater. Never had trouble with rubbing compound, works good buffing out older paint. There are alot of other types paint restoration products besides rubbing compound made for the newer paint finishes.

 

happens way to much. so i just take up 2 spots most of the time.

 

my solution is simple, I dont drive a shiny truck, mine is already scratched and dented, so I could care less. not like I'm gonna worry bout a few more little scuffs in the paint, I mean, I'm paintin the cab 686 desert tan soon, and the bed is comin off for a flatbed.

 

I'm with JD717, If I want pretty, I'll drive the Mustang. I will never buy a brand new truck.

 

The trouble is....when you care about your vehicle and go those extra steps to keep it clean/nice and park in the far reaches of a parking lot or WORSE...take up two places, it's like putting a homing beacon out for those who are jealous or just no good...they see it and think..."hmmm...NICE vehicle...better than mine....so I'll just make it a little less nice. There...that key mark down the side makes it look quite distinguished!"

I firmly believe what a friend told me years ago...(for the most part)..."People are NO GOOD!!!"

 

You guys are all lucky...you don't have the Philly Bump. It doesn't matter where you are, the majority of parking is parallel parking. When I lived up at college, forget about it...no one was able to park up there. Luckily, while I love my Bronco, she isn't too much of a looker, so I wasn't too worried. I've actually had people back into me HARD while I was still in it. I'm thinking about staying in the city for awhile, which will basically equate to no-new-car for awhile.

 

You should try working at a grocery store! I worked a grocery stores for 11 years and my cars have had so many buggys run into them and people opening doors on them! The Rodeo that is my daily driver has so many dents down the side its ashame!! People just don't care, they put the grocerys in their car then give the buggy a push in the direction of the return coral (if they don't just leave it where it is) and walk off, they don't care where it goes! And too, I have seen wind pushing buggies all over the parking lots! Part of that problem is the new plastic buggiess they have, the old metal wire buggies the wind would go straight through no problem, but the new ones take off like a wind racer! I'm glad I don't work at the grocery store anymore!! Now I just have to deal with people that can't park their Tahoe or Sequoia in one space!

Jason
77 f 100

 

i got 1 red scratch on my new truck happend at walmart, i to like to find far away spots. but on this day i walked up to my truck a red ford focus was pulled up so frickin close i could not believe it. and there was a nice red scratch on my green truck. so needless to say i flung my door open without a care, and the pretty little red focus got a nice big green scratch in return. i would recommend investing in a good bottle of scratch remover and a decent buffing pad.

 

i was in the Lowe's last week with the diesel. i came out, and there was a little car parked 6 inches from the driver side. nothing else within 20 spaces on the driver side. and a van less that 14 inches on the passenger side.
i did the natural thing and called the police. the officer went into the store and had the owners paged. 5 minutes later, no one showed up. as the cop (my nephew) was writing the tickets, i said "well bob i have to get out of here" and climbed onto the hood of the car, unlocked the door of the pickup, and opened it, climbed in and left. 4 big dents in the hood, a big scratch on the hood from opening and closing the door, and a dent on the roof from my 285 lb fat butt. later that day, my nephew called and said as he was finishing writing the improper parking ticket for the van, the driver of the jap car came out. he saw the 2 tickets on his windshield, one for improper parking, and one for failure to maintain a lane, because he was over the line in the space where i was parked, and freaked. his excuse for not coming out when paged was that he was not done shopping. and to make sure they both get convicted, i took pictures with the truck digital camera to use as evidence in court, and my nephew has how close they were on his in car video and audio system also.

 

Before my first PSD, I had a Nissan Ext Cab 4x4 with a small lift kit. I came out of Wal Mart one night and found a Honda Civic 2dr stuck up under the drop hitch. I just let the air out of the tires and set the bolt on the bottom of the ball right down into the hood. Just drove off and around the corner to get some air. Looked horrible when I left but I was pissed and didnt care.

 

Hey guys...good news. I'm never parking near ANY of your trucks...EVER. Footprints, receiver hitches, green paint...I'll be the guy who WALKS to the store from now on.

 

I currently drive a 2000 350 Crewcab Longbed. I have tried that two parking spaces. At WallyWorld I can get away with this. We went to a mall about an hour away and parked in the middle of nowhere and angle parked (2 spaces), when we came out a rent a cop had ticketed me for it. I could understand if the parking lot was full at Christmas time but it was summer and half the places were empty. I called the mall office and cussed them out and never heard anything else about it.

 

i have literally parked in the last row and the last spot in a parking lot, and someone parked next to me...

i gave up on the parking at the end of the lot thing, but I will park next to a curb, right on the curb, and if someone parks next to me too close I will leave a nice little note that lets them know that they need to learn to park...

BTW, I was at Garden Ridge with My Mom (Looking at Lawn Furniture) and when we went back out into the lot, two Acuras were hit by buggies, c'mon people...

 

I have a friend who always reminds me that half the people out ther have an IQ of less than 100. Add to them the arrogant, self important jerks who can't seem to park. There is no cure but I carry a floor jack in the back of my truck. (It's a beater so scratches are no worry.) When I can't open my driver's door I jack them up and drag them out of the space. No harm done, but I think it's a pretty good wake-up call.