Door dings

[bobtail4x4]

Grebby said:

Rock Sliders

I would be laughing my bits off if someone opened their door onto my "car".

Not very helpful for a normal car though.

I did laugh when junior scrote damaged mummy scroates door on mine.

[xjay1337]

I try to park at the "end" of a row so I only have 1 vehicle next to me , or I will park miles and miles away if possible, usually right in the corner, so out of the way, and across 2 spaces, as taking up 2 prime spaces is selfish.

[culpz]

As said, public car parks, especially supermarket ones, are a car-enthusiast's worst nightmare.

I try and park as far away as i can, which seems to ps off anyone who is in the car with me. But, as much as i explain it, they just don't get it. This doesn't always work and you can get some smart-arse who parks next to you on purpose to piss you off.

You could also do the double-space maneuver, which i generally don't as it seems to get you famous on social-networking sites for being inconsiderate. You may also get a note of displeasure or even damage/vandalism worst-case.

In the end, try and avoid car-parks in general. I think i've been lucky over the years not not really had any issues, to my knowledge at least. Also, parking on the road doesn't exactly exempt you from potential damage either.

[Slow]

You have 3 choices here as they are unavoidable unless you wrap your car in bubble wrap.

1. Ignore them
2. Pay to have them fixed
3. Drive a Defender with big rock sliders which leave one hell of a dent in someones door when they open into the side of you

[Hoofy]

Am tempted to buy those side bars for my 4x4 just to "punish" people who don't care. Well, they'd be punishing themselves IYSWIM.

[LaDS3arri]

Used to park as far away as possible in car parks out of the way of everyone. I came back one time and some little **** had knicked my valve caps. I purchased some posh ones specific to the car (still cheap though really) and someone knicked off with 3 of them. ****head left me with 1 of my caps and then 3 uncapped tyres.

I look out for nice cars and park next to them now. Price of getting these scratches repaired, it's not worth the risk parking next to a human penis.

[Muddle238]

Durzel said:

I normally try and park miles away from the entrance, where no one else can usually be bothered to park. To add to the above, where possible, I'll park over hatched areas that don't inconvenience anyone. Even doing that I've got moaned about online so.. you can't win really.

I never park across two spaces though - that's inviting damage.

That is what I call defensive/safe/intelligent parking, I do exactly the same. As far from the entrance as possible, and if there are hatchings, utilise them if appropriate. Most hatchings at the end of rows are deadspace anyway, only there to improve visibility for traffic in the car park. I will use it enough to protect my doors, but not so far as to block the view for other drivers.

We are told in the advanced driving world to make the most of the available roadspace, why shouldn't that extend to parking? Making the most of the available parking space to maintain a "safety bubble" around the car, but without inconveniencing others.

[Mammasaid]

Muddle238 said:

That is what I call defensive/safe/intelligent parking, I do exactly the same. As far from the entrance as possible, and if there are hatchings, utilise them if appropriate. Most hatchings at the end of rows are deadspace anyway, only there to improve visibility for traffic in the car park. I will use it enough to protect my doors, but not so far as to block the view for other drivers.

We are told in the advanced driving world to make the most of the available roadspace, why shouldn't that extend to parking? Making the most of the available parking space to maintain a "safety bubble" around the car, but without inconveniencing others.

[Zetec-S]

I always park out the way, in the corner of the car park, and if possible away from any main pedestrian routes to try to avoid any spiteful scratches (my thoughts being that people are lazy, so will scratch a car they're passing, but not walk halfway across a car park specifically to do so)

Our local Tesco is next to an old cattle market, at the weekends they often open up the gates to allow access to an extended parking area. Not that many people use it (unless it's a really busy day) as they adopt the blinkered 'get as close to the entrance as possible' approach to parking. This means a nice big empty area, and no markings so people tend to leave a decent gap when they do park next to you

How about investing in a couple of traffic cones and keeping them in the boot? When you park up stick them in the spaces either side of your car. Doesn't look like you've done it so (hopefully) no retaliation against your car, and would deter all but the most bloody minded from parking there

[scherzkeks]

Pan Pan Pan said:

It is possible that quite a few people here, care more about their cars, than the `average' driver, and this brings me to the issue of avoiding door dings.
I have seen quite a few really nice cars even Astons and other exotics, spoiled with tell tale vertical dents in their sides, caused by some clot who has opened their door without thinking, taking care, or taking no steps to prevent their car door from striking the vehicle parked next to them.(In some cases it may even be deliberately caused by individuals, jealous that some one else has a better car than they do?)
It seems as though the only protection against this, is to park as far away as possible from other cars in a car park (and even this does not seem to work, as one can park as far away from other cars as possible, only to come back to find an isolated cluster of cars parked around your vehicle, even in a largely empty car park)
Another option is to try to park next to nice / well kept vehicles, as then there is a reasonable chance that their owners will be equally as careful with their car, as you will be about yours, but these are not always in evidence.

I wondered if it would be possible to have a quickly inflatable fender that could be inflated and then hung from the tops of the door windows used when forced to park in less than ideal situations, But even this may be counter productive, encouraging adjacent drivers to take even less care when parking/getting outing out of their cars?

Attaching bizzare contraptions to your vehicle is likely to rather encourage mouthbreathers to damage it.

Just accept that you will get dings if you leave your vehicle in public.

[Pan Pan Pan]

scherzkeks said:

Pan Pan Pan said:

It is possible that quite a few people here, care more about their cars, than the `average' driver, and this brings me to the issue of avoiding door dings.
I have seen quite a few really nice cars even Astons and other exotics, spoiled with tell tale vertical dents in their sides, caused by some clot who has opened their door without thinking, taking care, or taking no steps to prevent their car door from striking the vehicle parked next to them.(In some cases it may even be deliberately caused by individuals, jealous that some one else has a better car than they do?)
It seems as though the only protection against this, is to park as far away as possible from other cars in a car park (and even this does not seem to work, as one can park as far away from other cars as possible, only to come back to find an isolated cluster of cars parked around your vehicle, even in a largely empty car park)
Another option is to try to park next to nice / well kept vehicles, as then there is a reasonable chance that their owners will be equally as careful with their car, as you will be about yours, but these are not always in evidence.

I wondered if it would be possible to have a quickly inflatable fender that could be inflated and then hung from the tops of the door windows used when forced to park in less than ideal situations, But even this may be counter productive, encouraging adjacent drivers to take even less care when parking/getting outing out of their cars?

Attaching bizzare contraptions to your vehicle is likely to rather encourage mouthbreathers to damage it.

Just accept that you will get dings if you leave your vehicle in public.

I would agree with you, it seems that this country does have its fair share of jealous t*rds who cant stand the idea of someone else having a better car than they have got. Like the t*rd caught on a dash cam, who didn't even have a car, and was just walking past with his child in a push chair who keyed the Aston Martin the camera was mounted in.
I never use my high day and holiday car for going to the supermarket, but even so I would prefer my everyday supermarket clunker to be in the same condition I left it in once I got back to it. On holiday one often has little choice but to park in some kind of mass car park for various attractions, or in town centres, hotel car parks etc. The underlying problem could be that for many their car is just an extension of their white goods line up, and they really don't care about them much, if at all.

[Jaguar steve]

Have a car that already has so many dents, dings and scratches that a few more make no difference. If that troubles you then simply don't wash it and eventually they'll all be hidden under a layer of road grime.

Freedom from being affected by mouthbreathing cretins thoughtless stupidity is incredibly liberating.

[Speed addicted]

I run two cars. One is a car I really like, It doesn't generally get taken into car parks but if it does it gets parked as far away as possible.
The other is a utility car, used for tip runs and taking the dog out. I'm not too concerned about it and it has nice short doors to allow getting back in when some cretin parks too close. That's the one that get's taken shopping.

[vmackie]

Make all manufacturers fit the Ford door edge protector thing as standard.

[vmackie]

As that's never going to happen and the type of person that specs them on a new car is probably not going to 'ding' your door anyway, I resort to pissing the wife off by parking in the far corner of car parks.

[j80jpw]

I prefer the look without but I fitted steps to our last 2 Discos for this very reason, so far so good, Have to a avoid parking next to other Discos though!

[margerison]

Pity these didn't make it into production:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAtkoje4-eM

I can only assume they didin't do too well in crash tests.

[Slow]

margerison said:

Pity these didn't make it into production:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAtkoje4-eM

I can only assume they didin't do too well in crash tests.

Sort of like what Bmw did with the z1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLGMQ6WG9Kc

[Pan Pan Pan]

I may be that getting door dings is something that happens mainly in the UK, Having driven all over Europe for work, and holidays, I have found that generally people on the other side of the channel, are a `bit' more careful about their cars, and how they get out of them (with the exception of Paris, and some other major cities) It could also be down to the fact that in many European countries there is much more parking space available than in the overcrowded UK.

[Dog Star]

Another good one for me is our local Asda - the entire parking area is on a slope, so if you park on the end space at the top of the slope then one side of the car is protected by the kerb at the top and anyone parking next to you has to make a bigger effort to actually hit your car.

Whenever I park my brain is going like mad, little cogs spinning, working out shopping trolley trajectories, is the car parked on a direct line between the shop entrance/exit and a footpath/bus stop etc that may mean scrotes walking past?