Why do people keep denting my car?

[mario64]

What do PH'ers do to stop parking dents?

I came out of my house this morning to see someone parking their mpv by repeatedly bumping into my Alfa. Luckily the damage was minor, but my previous MR2 needed a new front wing after being parked overnight near my house. I know that central London is a bad place to keep a car, but it's being damaged nearly on a weekly basis. What can I do to try and stop this?

Options I'm considering:
- A really loud alarm that goes off when the car gets touched (and keeps me awake at night)
- CCTV to pursue more serous repair costs
- Rent a garage (£5k a year!)
- Cover the car in duct tape
- Proximity flame-throwers?

This gets me really angry, how can people be so careless with other people's stuff?

[Penny-lope]

In the last month I have had 3 new dents from sods opening their doors too bloody quickly in supermarket car parks

[Merlot]

1/ Don't park where you're likely to get people bumping into you. Move house so you can have off road parking or a garage. If you can't do that, move to a better area where all the other cars are high value and the owners will (often) take better care over parking!

2/ Don't go to supermarkets, or if you do, park away from the rest. Go at off peak times.

[pacman1]

How about one of those proximity alarms that give out a cross between a bleep and a squawk when it senses movement close by. I've seen it on motorcycles too. I think to myself, best not get too close in case I set the alarm off. Well, it might work.

[anonymous-user]

Merlot said:

2/ Don't go to supermarkets, or if you do, park away from the rest. Go at off peak times.

This is the golden rule. I once broke it in the local shopping centre's muti-story car park on a hot summer's Saturday and was greeted by a MASSIVE dent in my NS/F wing. Never, ever again.

[mattman]

buy a big old defender, weld some RSJ's as bumpers, spray the whole thing matt black - then see how many people want to bump you!

[Timberwolf]

After watching the flanks of my Vauxhall Omega get gradually turned into a relief map of a particularly complicated volcanic atoll by the kind folks at work, I was exceptionally pleased to find that the door skins on the Volvo are thick enough to shrug off most attempts at casual door inflictment.

This feeling of pleasure lasted about a week into ownership, when someone decided to "christen" my car by reversing into it instead.

(And is it just me that has no problem in public car parks or on the road, but has to put the car in the furthest corner of the workplace car park to avoid coming home looking like I've competed in the banger world championship?)

Edited by Timberwolf on Sunday 16th May 11:50

[discoman]

Simps said:

Merlot said:

2/ Don't go to supermarkets, or if you do, park away from the rest. Go at off peak times.

This is the golden rule. I once broke it in the local shopping centre's muti-story car park on a hot summer's Saturday and was greeted by a MASSIVE dent in my NS/F wing. Never, ever again.

I've noticed if you park in a quiet area where there aren't many cars around, you return to find several cars parked around you

[Deva Link]

Simps said:

Merlot said:

2/ Don't go to supermarkets, or if you do, park away from the rest. Go at off peak times.

This is the golden rule. I once broke it in the local shopping centre's muti-story car park on a hot summer's Saturday and was greeted by a MASSIVE dent in my NS/F wing. Never, ever again.

You can end up paranoid about it though - I'm terrified of taking my Merc out now. It goes on the odd trip to Costco, where it relaxes in the American size spaces.
I hardly use it all, and use wifey's supermini for running around in.

[croyde]

I have had new cars and worried myself sick about where to park them so now I'm glad that I have my 12 year old BMW which is covered in war wounds. I can leave it anywhere.

As long as I spend my money on the bits that go and stop and keep the interior nice, I'm not to bothered about dents, scrapes and keyings anymore.

[Penny-lope]

discoman said:

Simps said:

Merlot said:

2/ Don't go to supermarkets, or if you do, park away from the rest. Go at off peak times.

This is the golden rule. I once broke it in the local shopping centre's muti-story car park on a hot summer's Saturday and was greeted by a MASSIVE dent in my NS/F wing. Never, ever again.

I've noticed if you park in a quiet area where there aren't many cars around, you return to find several cars parked around you

Yep, happens all the time....I tend to park as far away from the doors as poss, and I still come out to cars surrounding my car

[Merlot]

Penny-lope said:

discoman said:

Simps said:

Merlot said:

2/ Don't go to supermarkets, or if you do, park away from the rest. Go at off peak times.

This is the golden rule. I once broke it in the local shopping centre's muti-story car park on a hot summer's Saturday and was greeted by a MASSIVE dent in my NS/F wing. Never, ever again.

I've noticed if you park in a quiet area where there aren't many cars around, you return to find several cars parked around you

Yep, happens all the time....I tend to park as far away from the doors as poss, and I still come out to cars surrounding my car

The trick is not to park right at the very end of the car park where there are no other cars parked. Park in a quietish area where there are still other cars but not that busy.

[P9]

I always park alone and far away from the shops; people are lazy ... thankfully!

Street parking is tricky!

Not much you can do but move!

I had to visit someone a while ago when I had a nice dent free BMW until some plonker in a new Clio flung his door open into the side of mine (maximum door opening position & no need for him to have flung it open that wide), it made a hell of a bang!

He came back later whilst I was still visiting and when I left I could not help but bounce my door off his rear wing.

I still see it around now and being the soft metalled french car that it is, it now sports rather a large and ugly dent in the rear wing.

Edited by P9 on Sunday 16th May 12:57

[boobles]

I use to park the Elise as far away from the supermarket as i possibly could but i would always come back to find some people carrier full of child seats or great big rusty transit vans parked right close to my drivers door! I don't park in "mother & child" spaces for obvious reasons, yet some of these people ignore these spaces & park elsewhere. I once walked past the "mother & child" spaces only to find this guy absoultely distraught because he had parked his Porsche & left the roof down in one of these spaces because he had a young child with him, somebody had obviously not seen him with a child & thought he was probably some twa* who couldn't be bothered to park elsewhere so they emptied the contents of there childs nappy all over the seats of this Porsche!
To this day i hope who ever done this got there comeuppance!

[undred orse]

Yep stay away from supermarkets.

It can happen anywhere.Last year I parked in a beach side car park at the end of a row giving loads of space to a new clio next to me.I returned after surfing for an hour to find a big deep dent in the middle of the door including an area down to metal.Luckily the cretin responsible was still sitting in his car.After opening the door to prove he'd done it and not backing down when he started to get arsey I had his address,insurance and bank details.

It ended up going through his insurance with a bill of £2,500 including hire car charges. I hope the renewal cost reminded him not to be an inconsiderate moron again.

[Baffled Spoon]

Get a Door Defender. Looks very discreet to boot

[NiceCupOfTea]

What can you do?

Have had problems at one of the schools I teach at. Used to park in a quiet area around the back. Came back to the Saab to find dents and scratches all over the rear hatch from where kids had been climbing on it (according to the powers that be that reviewed the CCTV - no idea if anything else happened because I wasn't allowed to view it. Apparently the kids got a "talking to" and they asked me to get quotes to repair. Can't get any of the chips away type places to come out to quote at the mo...)

Since then I take the Mazda and park around the front - but as the kids brush past the car it has loads of new scratches and I have had to wash it twice in two weeks, once due to sticky fingerprint marks, and another time due to it having been sprayed with a fizzy drink of some kind.

There's nowhere to park nearby and I'm now considering getting the train despite a half hour walk at the other end with a load of gear

[ShadownINja]

There's a reason I like my stbox Golf... when people brush past it, it is cleaner.

Some people just don't give a st about other peoples' property.

Edited by ShadownINja on Sunday 16th May 17:13

[NiceCupOfTea]

Not sure I can justify a 3rd car - tempting though...

But then, £200 on a stter, tax, insurance (no ncb for a third car), mot, servicing, inevitable breakdowns etc. Something like a boggo 106 would be good I suppose but would be useful to have something good for long journeys as well, a bargain barge really. But I can't see £200 barge lasting long

[ShadownINja]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Not sure I can justify a 3rd car - tempting though...

But then, £200 on a stter, tax, insurance (no ncb for a third car), mot, servicing, inevitable breakdowns etc. Something like a boggo 106 would be good I suppose but would be useful to have something good for long journeys as well, a bargain barge really. But I can't see £200 barge lasting long

Doesn't have to be a £200 car... just something you don't care about or something that looks a state on the outside and is fine under the bonnet with the dodgy exterior already being taken into account in the sale price.