Parking Lot Perils

Too late for me unfortunately, after touchless car wash, I found these three scratches on the driver door (could have been from a week or two ago at a market...?), one of them is real nasty... had to be intentional

I’m on iPhone and can’t figure out how to crop the part of the picture worth keeping, so, the scratches appear small and faint in the photo

 

I learned not to park in the spot next to the cart corral. I had my 2018 PP less than 3 months when someone must have aimed for the corral, but missed! When I got back to my car, cart was against my car with a big ding above the driver side tire. I generally now park as far as necessary from other cars. But dings can't be avoided.....

 

I work at a grocery store, and believe me, the place you want to park your car is as far away from the cart usage area as possible. On very windy days, the carts not returned into the corrals and are usually left where the customer had parked and will become missiles. Their target is always your car. My old Gen3 Prius had many body and paint dings. I then got "dinged" on the trade-in price because of indiscriminate parking when I was late to work. I am far more careful these days.

 

I can confirm this. Had my previous a car (a honda civic hybrid) in Seattle for 10 years and no damage (except for the stuff I did by driving it on gravel/dirt roads in the mountains). Less than a year after moving to the East Coast, got my first cracked windshield.....while the car was parked overnight in my driveway.

My neighbor has two cars: The nice car he drives out of state and the beater he drives in-state.

 

When I park in a parking lot and I have driven alone, I look for a spot that has me at the end (so only one side is exposed to another car). I also park far.............yes, that means I have to walk a little more. But what I have noticed is that people with large families with lots of little ones ready to jump out the car as soon as it stops is more likely to happen in closer spots to the entrances. Also, it seems on average, that people who park closer either have mobility concerns, driver larger vehicles, or, or larger in size as people. They will need a wider berth when opening car doors. So, since I can still walk, I do it. Also keep in mind that if you are in a parking lot that the stores provide shopping carts, PARK AT THE TOP OF THE INCLINE. shopping carts always roll down hill.

 

Wife parked her car in the back 40 at Petco, came out and a BA SUV parked right next to her. Of course door ding. She came home to tell me and forgot to get the license plate number of the BA SUV. $100 paintless dent repair.