My family are always whining because I refuse to park close to other cars. Some lots I refuse to park at all. When asked at work why I park so far I lied and said I need the exercise. (I once saw my boss open a car door into a brand new BMW 325). Parallel parking is generally to dangerous, but even regular parking I risk my bumper being hit by some idiot.

 

I park away from other cars at all expense. If somebody asks, I simply say I don't want door dings. Usually those who scough at this are those sporting multiple dings on their doors. To each his own...

 

i usually park in deep six, but always take up two spots. its gotten to be quite the joke at work.

 

Where do I park? Another zipcode.

 

Way the hell out in the back of the parking lot where all the BMW's and boxsters park

 

way out and my wife alway's give me a look . But she's gotten used to it. And i still worry about people cutting across the parking lots.

 

I usually park in the biggest widest space i can find, no go if anyone next to me is over my line or close to it, I make sure there's enough room to open the door at least 3/4 way and I try my best to park next to bimmers and benz's

 

at my apartment I park in the back so no one will mess with my car. i can set off the remote easily from the 4th floor

in other areas i park in a secluded area

 

You are just asking to get your car keyed when you take two spots. It doesn't take much to get someone pissed off.

 

Martinf, you must be psychic. I was going ask exactly the same question this morning but didn't get around to it. I was thinking about this because on Saturday I parked in a deserted area of the parking lot at the local grocery store and came back to find a grocery cart had run into my front fender leaving a nice dent . I can't help thinking that someone steered the cart in my car's direction .

Despite my best efforts to avoid door dings at the local train station (I commute to work on the train) some moron got a little too close to the back of my car and left a nice imprint of their license plate holder on my bumper.....my poor car. These people make me sooooo mad. Either they have no respect for other people's property or they're just jealous that we have nice cars .

Venting makes me feel a little better.

 

Hey, at my last job I scoped out the local parking lots and got a reserved spot between 2 posts so that I knew no one could park close to me.

If I have no choice I also go looking for other Maximas (Maximae?) I really love finding a white one!

 

Siberia. No if's, and's or but's about it. My biggest fear is having an early model two-door GM/Ford product park next to me with those big-@ss doors that swing wide-n-heavy.

 

I park away from cars, but if I don't have a choice, then I only can hope my car doesn't get dinged.

 

finding a spot at my school is tough enough, but i try and look for a spot by another semi-hooked up car, or maybe a car that's backed into a spot, cause cool kids back in and i appease myself by thinking they appreciate their car and wouldn't ding someone elses..

 

and I always look for a corner spot, that way I can at least get close to the curb and give the other side more room. I get alot of crap for it, but at 18+ months the only scratches I have came from the factory (under the clear coat).

 

:b why are there so many free spaces everywhere else? :surpise

I live in Miami and I am happy when I find a space at all. After reading everyone's responses, I think most of you would go crazy worrying about your car if you had to park in some of the narrow spaces that I am forced to take. The situation

 

Park as far away from other people as possible. People here just are so absent minded - already got a scratch on the passenger side door from some idiot that hit my car.

 

At home: on the street (no other choice)
At work: in a garage all day
At stores: anywhere I can find one and pray, otherwise I try to get one next to the handicap spaces cuz they're extra wide and I can hog the space (don't worry, I don't take away the handicap's space)

 

why would anyone get pissed that i'm taking up two sopts out in the back of the lot?

 

The lot's overcrowded here - I can't hope to
get a spot that is not next to another car.
I just try not to think about it too much.

 

I have a reserved spot right in front of my apartment. You can kinda see it in my sig. The only person who's allowed to park next to me is someone from my apartment or next door. So if my car is dinged, I know who to viciously beat.

 

I park right next to trucks or cars with baby seats in them. Hell no... Those are what I look for. I had a friend in my other car (jeep grand cherokee) open up the do right into another car. I went ballistick on him!!! There are just too many people out there that think that they need to open their car door all the way and if they hit another car, they could care less. They probably just say "oops." Well as you know I park in BFE away from other cars. I don't let my wife drive the car, because she probably rub my rims against the curb or park right next to a truck or something. Oh well...

 

Another good tip is to park next to a nice, expensive car that's well cared for. Chances are the driver, who wants his/her property respected, would do the same to others.

 

As far away as possible. Seems like in my part of town everybody drives old beaters and they don't give two hoots about dinging my door. My Max was less than two weeks old when some mental midget put a nice little chip in the passenger door molding.

 

In my parking garage at work I park next to a pillar so there is only a slight chance that some idiot will ding my door on the other side. Except last month while backing out of my spot I ripped the driver side mirror off with the pillar that was supposed to protect me. Who's the idiot now? That was $275 down the drain...

 

I'm exactly the same way - I always try to find an end spot where at most one car is next to me and I can park as close to the curb as possible to give the other door as much room as it needs. We always have to leave for the movies 10 minutes earlier than normal so I can find that 'key' spot.

 

My thoughts on this are similar to the other posts with the only difference being I also look for a space next to a handicapped parking space since they are usually empty and hopefully no one will park there, also leaving adequate space for the space next to me so their door won't ding me when it is opened.

 

In parking lots I walk as far as necessary just to be able to park all alone. I already have 2 scratches on my driver side door from idiots that dont care about other peoples cars. If thats not available, I try to park next to expensive cars like Mercedes, BMW's and Lexus' assuming that they at least would try to preserve their cars as well. At home I have no choice but to parallel park on my narrow a$$ block. It kills me but what can I do?

 

same here...kinda hard to find 'safe' parking spots in UCI campus but i pray to god(even though i don't go to church) that nobody dings my car...
i try to park it in a safe spot(as in next to nice cars and never next to a VOLVO...)
if i get door dings after the kind of day i had today, i'll probably start slashing car tires!!