Strange parking habits

[Thin White Duke]

I was parking on a busy multi-story car park last weekend. I didn't even bother looking for a space on the ground level so started to ascend to see how busy/full the upper levels were.

I got to the second level (3rd above ground) and there were a few spaces available in between other cars. I saw one driver struggling to park in such a space and holding myself and about 4 other cars up.

I looked up and could see the next level was only about half full. Why not continue to that level or beyond as I did and park with relative ease? I always try to find a spot I can easily reverse into even if this means going right to the top.

I'm not saying the driver struggling was in the wrong, he can park where he likes but it just seems odd. Do people like this not park higher up because they will have more steps to walk down/up if they don't want to wait for the lift?

The very top level of this car park which has no cover is never more than a quarter full even on busy days leading up to Christmas.

What strange parking habits do you see or participate in?

[V8forweekends]

Not strictly parking, but I was in a busy multi storey once and the woman in front stopped at the foot of each ramp until the top was clear - it took me a minute to work out what she was doing. It seems she wanted to avoid hill starts for some reason.

As for why people fart about holding everyone up - I suspect most people don't analyse what they are doing in any depth.

[surveyor]

I hate too many empty spaces. Decisiveness is not my best feature when parking.

[poing]

Park in an empty area of the car park with 10 spaces either side of the car, come back to car and at least 1 person will be parked right next to me. I find that to be very odd behaviour.

[lufbramatt]

My wife finds it amusing that I take the "go up a bit higher" thing on multi storey car parks to the extreme and always have to park right on the top floor. I think it's the strange feeling of being on top of a building in a car that I find fun in a childish way.

Wasn't there a BMW advert out a few years back that had a stunt driver on top of a building? E46 3-series era maybe?

[V8forweekends]

poing said:

Park in an empty area of the car park with 10 spaces either side of the car, come back to car and at least 1 person will be parked right next to me. I find that to be very odd behaviour.

This ^^^^ WTF?

[richs2891]

poing said:

Park in an empty area of the car park with 10 spaces either side of the car, come back to car and at least 1 person will be parked right next to me. I find that to be very odd behaviour.

I find that if I say take the car to the local shopping centre, I always park as far away as possible to try and reduce car park dents from doors or errant trolleys etc, an every single time get back and some pos parked next to me. Yet there are other spaces. Take the 4x4 which is normally covered in mud and often smelling a bit and nothing parked close ! Weird.

I do get told off from parking as far from the door by the other half.

[anonymous-user]

lufbramatt said:

My wife finds it amusing that I take the "go up a bit higher" thing on multi storey car parks to the extreme and always have to park right on the top floor. I think it's the strange feeling of being on top of a building in a car that I find fun in a childish way.

Wasn't there a BMW advert out a few years back that had a stunt driver on top of a building? E46 3-series era maybe?

Are you thinking about the Continental advert?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzDMboFjgl8

[Chaz9950]

I too am an advocate of 'park on the top level'. Nine times out of ten it's virtually empty, and I can get a space with empty slots both sides. If not for saving my doors from dings, I can open my doors fully and not have to snake out to save someone else's doors!

I guess, however, that I have a weird habit - I can't bring myself to 'drive' into spaces. I have to reverse park everywhere. I really don't like the herringbone-esque angled spaces on one-way roads, as you have to drive face-first into them, ha!

[0a]

V8forweekends said:

poing said:

Park in an empty area of the car park with 10 spaces either side of the car, come back to car and at least 1 person will be parked right next to me. I find that to be very odd behaviour.

This ^^^^ WTF?

It's me.

I do it as I am considerate, so my car can 'protect' one side of your car from dings.

[NotStig]

V8forweekends said:

Not strictly parking, but I was in a busy multi storey once and the woman in front stopped at the foot of each ramp until the top was clear - it took me a minute to work out what she was doing. It seems she wanted to avoid hill starts for some reason.

A friend of mine used to do this, after the guy in front of him managed to totally bugger up a hill start, stall and then back into his car. I always leave room, just in case. Once bitten... even if someone else was bitten :-)

[ToothbrushMan]

I dare say if my car had big neon signs and flashing lights saying "park right next to me" they wouldnt do it then!
This is one of motorings greatest mysteries.
i hate parking close to other cars in the big supermarket or retail parks unless its rammed and i can spot an expensive car to park next to.if its half full i will park right over the far side on my own.even if i am only nipping into the shop for 3 mins i come out and there is a pos parked right next to me.
the other mystery is nobody parks next to you yet you have a shopping trolley resting against your car! WTF!!!!

[nails1979]

I had to speak to a witness the other day about an accident and 2 women in a carpark. He told me what happened. And I have to ask to ask at the end so who do you hold at fault to make sure there is no misunderstanding. He said " both of them. If they'd both parked properly and reversed into the spots in the first place it wouldn't have happened".
I laughed. Hes right.

[iva cosworth]

V8forweekends said:

It seems she wanted to avoid hill starts for some reasonh.

I might have done the same as her,until my handbrake cables were replaced as it struggled to hold

on a slope.

[Shaoxter]

V8forweekends said:

Not strictly parking, but I was in a busy multi storey once and the woman in front stopped at the foot of each ramp until the top was clear - it took me a minute to work out what she was doing. It seems she wanted to avoid hill starts for some reason.

Well that's totally justifiable, safer, burns out your clutch less and probably don't lose any time either.

[sunnydude959]

I used to be at university, and the parking there is a complete nightmare. You'd have to give about half an hour to find a space across about 5 main car parks (all roads were double yellow lined), and I've once spent 50 minutes looking for a space.

This, of course, led to a lot of competition to get each space. Strategic waiting when someones walking towards a car (blocking everyone behind you), asking people before they get in the car park where they're parked, and even moving cones about in cordoned off areas to make it look as if all the spaces *apart* from the one I've parked in are cordoned off.

I never bothered with parking in disabled spaces though as 1) unfair to disabled people, 2) get a parking ticket straight away

[Cotty]

Thin White Duke said:

What strange parking habits do you see or participate in?

There is a multi-story car park near me where you drive into it on the first floor. Monday to Friday the ground floor is reserved for workers in the local offices, at the weekends you can park where you like. If you use it on a Saturday and drive down the down ramp to the ground floor you are guaranteed a space.

[Laser Sag]

Think you will find that for most people taking the first available space is down to the laziness of not wanting to climb a few more stairs even though they are about to spend several hours walikng round a town.
See the same thing at the local gym people have to park next to the door even though they are about to exercise for an hour.

[Leins]

poing said:

Park in an empty area of the car park with 10 spaces either side of the car, come back to car and at least 1 person will be parked right next to me. I find that to be very odd behaviour.

99% of the time it's women who do this. Men are good at spacing due to urinal etiquette!

[lufbramatt]

DR10 said:

lufbramatt said:

My wife finds it amusing that I take the "go up a bit higher" thing on multi storey car parks to the extreme and always have to park right on the top floor. I think it's the strange feeling of being on top of a building in a car that I find fun in a childish way.

Wasn't there a BMW advert out a few years back that had a stunt driver on top of a building? E46 3-series era maybe?

Are you thinking about the Continental advert?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzDMboFjgl8

Possibly that one- I'm sure it was a Beemer though for some reason. Remember seeing it on one of "how do they do that" programs with des lynam when I was about 8 and thinking it was amazing :-)