if at a mall - i park on an end, or in a corner, farther away but not too far. as long as the spot is beside a decent car (or no car) and i hug the outside of the spot i feel OK. never park beside a minivan (kids, moms) or a coupe (big doors). never beside handicap (wheelchairs, invalids).

if on the street - i park in the last or first in a row. never crowd the vehicle in front/behind you.

if at work - park beside other car guys.

 

hmm I might think in doing that, but its a small dent and a piece of paints missing :O

 

Park next to curb as close as possible without curbing rims so the other side has more room.

Or park as close as pillars/wall as possible in underground parking lots to also leave room.

If no curb or parking lot, look for the widest spot possible, not neccessarily the farthest.

 

great feedback.. awesome.... Now how do you park your car? ... since we all now have an idea of WHERE you guys park your cars

i think my note might've thrown off my main question from the first post about me parking beside the handicap spot... my main concern was HOW do you guys park your cars? .. I park diagonally for wider spots, right in the middle or to the closest end on normal spots....

thanks..

and regarding WHERE i park my car.. i would have to agree with most of you.. i just park as far as i can and walk it.. or the closest curb.

 

Same here!

 

Me too.

 

This morning I parked beside a black Pontiac G8 GT with 20" chromies, that should be safe, right?

 

^ have you seen who drives pontiacs? lol.

t7n7 - as far as HOW i park, i'm not a fan of the diagonal parking. it attracts attention from people who either think the driver is a moron and can't park straight or people who get annoyed when drivers park on an angle. plus it leaves one front & rear corner close to the car next door. i'd just park in the middle if i was you, furthest away from either side. the best scenario is to park on an end and hug the outside though...

 

Yep, only reason I parked there is it's been a while since I've seen a really good mullet. j/k, despite the bad taste, it does look well taken care of so I'm hoping the 'one nice car beside another' theory will protect me for one day.

 

i never park diagonally. that **** will get you keyed!

 

Hug the outer edge curbs, and I look for cars and SUV's that have an extra large Rubber door bumper down the middle. It's your best bet that if they do smoke your car you can just buff out the rubber scuff... If they practically throw the door off of it's hinges well, you've tried your best.

I also used the "notes" app in my blackberry to write down the plate number of the car beside me. Then when I come back I do a quick once over. I havn't had to use it yet.

 

Same here. Or I try to parallel park on the street.

My biggest problem is my own family. My 5 yo doesn't pay attention as he opens my wife's door in our garage. He put 3 more small dents in my door AFTER I had them all removed last year.

 

Duct tape his nintendo DS to the outside of the door and see how fast he opens it then!!

 

At work, try to hook up with another guy that takes car of his car. Here, there are two other guys that part at an end spot(no curb) and straddles the line. The next guy parks over and almost straddles his line. Sorta like the picture but both cars park close. Since we both understand, we won't ding each other's car. We assume the car "exposed" will park within the lines and give a wide berth in case they open their door wide.

At the mall, store etc.. it's a crap shoot. Either park away or find an end spot with the other side being free (ie.. it's too small to make another spot so it's left empty) and straddle that line.

Parking like the picture above(guy on the left) means the next person will park w/in the lines and be REAL close to the G when they open their door. It would have been better if the two G, parked real close to each other. ie.. one guy parks normal and the other backs in. Both having their passenger doors close.

 

+1... haha thats fo' sho!