If I need to park up close, I park to the right side of a handicap spot. Most likely, there will not be a passenger in the vehicle or even a car there.

Limited Edition Twilight Blue / Premium / Graphite / Xenons

 

Guess I'm getting pretty **** here...but I don't park next to handicapped spots in populated places...cause think...the elderly can be just as bad as the little kids getting out cause they have no clue what's going on, and most of them difficulty getting out...I'm not a horrible person for thinking this...just looking out for my baby :-)

 

I feel everybody's pain. This issue of dinged doors is one of my pet peeves. I have some additional thoughts on this:

Don't park next to coupes. The doors are usually longer and therefore will swing out wider.

If you're parking in a parking garage at work or in a garage of an office tower, park as close as possible to the passenger side of the car on your left, leaving yourself room to get out without dinging his door, of course. In this environment, the chances of there being a passenger in the car next to you are slim.

In other types of parking environments, I think it's better to park closer to the driver's side of the car on your right. It seems that the driver of the car is more likely to be careful than the passenger.

DO NOT park next to a car if it has those plastic door protectors. Chances are the person who owns the car is trying to protect the edge of his/her doors becauset he/she knows that they slam them open all the time.

Minivans aren't always bad. At least the rear side doors will slide, so they aren't such a threat. You still don't know what the kids will do once they get out of the car, however.

Definitely try to get next to a handicapped spot. Yes, the occupants of the car probably have difficulty getting in and out, but there is always a large buffer space next to the handicapped spot to minimize the problem. Sometimes you can cheat and take some of that space.

Stay away from old, beat up cars, SUV's and pick-up trucks.

 

Hi,

Good tips. I always park way away from the crowd, and If I know it's going to be real busy, I take my 99 Chevy Prism, who cares! In Los Angeles It pays to a have a car you do not care about. I drive the I-5 100 miles a day and I am always running over something or something hits me that is thrown up by a truck.
My Prism had so many windshield cracks I stopped counting, but like I said who cares!

 

Good point Timsuper, I was being presumptous that if they have a nice car maybe they will shop longer ? LOL

Theres always somebody that has throw a bone in the soup.(just joking Timsuper actually I did not think about that...good point...

 

smcallis
ha ha ha what a funny post! You have me cracking up.
The DINGED door madness continues!
Well hopefully we can use this info to preserve our precious automobiles. In addition, we feel a little better knowing we are trying to take care of our mobile investments.

By the way, do you have an extra pocket protector? I want to put six more pens in my other shirt pocket. I only wear shirts that have two pockets. Cool right!!

(I am joking guys! ) LOL

dknibb

 

Try parking next to a pillar or column, usually there is extra space that allows you to have the extra room for those uncaring folks. I usually angle my vehicle (5degrees or so) as well. This along with the undesirable spot 1/4 mile from the Elevator (kidding) has preserved my doors. If I should happen to get a small ding - I know some one who's in the dent removal business flip him a 20 and it's like nothing happened. BTW: he makes a killing on average the charge is like $75-$100 a panel!

"03.5" G35-S Ivory Pearl Sport/Prem/Aerodym-RS
"02" MBZ C-320 Sport Wagon Brilliant Silv/C-2 pac<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by AeroG on 04/03/03 09:07 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

Worse than the minivan:

A fat person in a two door Coupe de Ville, Coupe de Barge, etc...

Not only does the 6-ft door have to swing wide for egress, but the resulting bouncing of the car upon exit of said fat person causes what would have been a door ding to become a vertical door scratch and ding.

YMMV.

Gerald C

 

Where I work there are a few parking spaces with pillars on both sides or a pillar on one side and a wall on the other. It's almost impossible to get dinged in one of those. If they're unavailable, I go for a spot next to a high end car in great condition (passenger's side preferred) or an end spot.

 

I ONLY, EVER (and I do mean ALWAYS) park my G35 sedan in the exact center of my Living Room( I MEAN IT!!!)

 

And I though GSM was sick, sleeping with his in the garage. like in the IS300 commercial......[img]/w3timages/icons/laugh.gif[/img]
And now he has those fuzzy dice to keep him warm.[img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img][img]/w3timages/icons/blush.gif[/img]

<font color=blue>Merlin</font color=blue>

 

You guys seem to have left out a couple of the basic rules of the parking lot, door ding, roulette game:

-If the lot is not flat, park with the nose of you car pointed uphill. Gravity will help prevent, rather than cause dings (unless they have suicide doors or park in the spot backwards.)

-If it is windy, park with the nose of your car pointed into the wind. The wind will help prevent, rather than cause dings (same disclaimers)

-If all else fails, carry a set of orange traffic cones and block off the adjacent spots. :-)

 

hahahaha... Yep I always carry orange cones with me...


..pestilence..