How anal are you about parking spots and door dings?

[CliffG]

I always stress over it. My number one target is an open space next to the end with handicap parking on the other side.

I used to do this, too, until I got nailed a few times by one or more vans with wheelchair lifts. YMMV. (this was to an earlier car, NOT to my Model S, thankyouverymuch)

Next is an end spot with extra room for people to walk by but not park. Last resort is an end spot next to a curb and far away from my target destination. At supermarkets I stress over carts being push at the car.

This is it for me now: find an end spot and squeeze as far away from the next spot as I can.

I think I need XPEL and a shrink.

I'm right there with ya.

 

[CliffG]

Um... no. I'm not sure what part of "I've never had a single door ding in any of my 30+ cars" was unclear. Sorry you are unable to park without receiving door dings, but it's never been a problem for me and I don't cherry pick parking spaces. Just whatever is convenient and/or the closest to where I'm going. Maybe you should move somewhere that doesn't have a bunch of assholes living there.

I envy your good fortune, but I just can't think of anyplace that meets your criterion... at least not where I can bring my Model S.

 

[lklundin]

My experience from living in Bavaria is so different that I will share it:

Here you do not _ever_ allow your vehicle to touch another car.

Actually doing so to the extent that _any_ mark is visible and then just leaving legally qualifies as a hit and run, 'Unfallflucht'.

I know a couple of ex-pats here who have learned the hard way that if you do so, mr. random pedestrian will write down your license number and notify the police. In that case the best approach is to state that you did not realize that you had damaged the other vehicle, and then just get a minor fine for not paying attention in the traffic. If instead you deny, your vehicle may very well undergo forensic analysis and the fine can then run into several k€.

For this reason people are reasonably disciplined in parking, since they don't want to get involved in disputes over whose fault it was that someone's car got dinged. And for the same reason people generally just fill up the parking lot starting from the point nearest to where ever they typically need to walk to. Once at 8 in morning at a 95% empty parking lot at a hiking trail head I sat with my door open so I could put on my hiking boots. So because the next spot (out of like 100 free spots) is not free, the next hiker complains that I am (momentarily) occupying two slots. Talk about orderly conduct...

So I think it is about every 5 years that I get my car slightly scratched while parked.

Contrast that with Paris. There you parallel park and then leave your car in gear without pulling the handbrake. That way, when others push their car against yours to make space, they at least won't damage your brakes. My wife lived there some years. She can parallel park (without touching the other cars) in a space so tight that it has happened on more than one occasion that people come when she steps out and ask if she could not get her car out...

 

[Mark Z]

I have parked in far away locations for years. The vehicle is saved from countless amounts of damage and the driver gets more exercise.

Time can be saved. How often do you drive, park and walk in the same time that others sit, idle and wait for a car to leave a spot?

However, with Model S or X, the far away spots can still be damaging. Be careful opening the hatch and/or falcon wing doors with low clearance. Here is an recent example from Disneyland in California. This parking spot is far away from other cars. Be sure to open the hatch or falcon wing doors from the outside and be ready to manually stop the hatch/door movement while watching what's above you.

 

[jerry33]

It might be wishful thinking. Here's what XPEL claims it will do.

"Paint protection films are clear or colored polyurethane films that are applied to vehicles to protect them from scratches, dents, or swirls caused by road debris, rocks, bug droppings, and other environmental elements."

I have Suntek rather than Xpel, but it really helps. Paint "rubs" from the other cars just clean off with tar and bug remover.

 

[JMG]

I find it hilarious that Naonak is insinuating that door dings are the fault of the one who has gotten dinged!

Perhaps you have the best luck in the entire world, or you have some 6th sense that is able to detect which vehicles would ding your car that you avoid subconsciously, or you live in a utopia that is devoid of inconsiderate people.

To answer the OP's question, YES, I'm paranoid about it. Especially when my car was backed into after only being 6 days old in the Costco parking lot last year. I even parked away from the other vehicles, but apparently school must have let out or something while I was inside and so everyone was surrounding me by the time I came out. $20k in damages and 5 weeks without my car when it was a week old...not cool. But, apparently it was my fault....

I annoyed my wife royally a few months ago when we had to stay at a hotel for a few days for a conference. The parking was in a parking garage. I kept going up floors until the occupied spaces were about less than 10%. Needless to say, we could've parked on level 2, but my Model S was happy in her own secluded corner on level 10.

And just this last weekend, I had two encounters with door dings. We took the kids to the Dallas Arboretum. 72 degrees and sunny on a Saturday and it was busy. So I took the closest parking spot I could find (We were in my wife's SUV, thank goodness). When we came out, someone had scraped the rear quarter panel while backing out. (Our fault, of course).

Then, we went to a family-fun center type of place (laser tag, bowling, etc.). Again, it was PACKED and we had to drive around just waiting on someone to back out so we could claim their spot. When we first got in, I didn't know it would be that packed and I saw an empty space that I almost backed in to but it was so tight I decided to keep looking. A few minutes later we saw a SUV back into that very spot and I sat there and watched the passenger (who was a girl about 10 years old) just blatantly open the door into the adjacent truck, and hard. Of course, it was the pickup trucks' owners fault........

 

[Naonak]

I find it hilarious that Naonak is insinuating that door dings are the fault of the one who has gotten dinged!

Perhaps you have the best luck in the entire world, or you have some 6th sense that is able to detect which vehicles would ding your car that you avoid subconsciously, or you live in a utopia that is devoid of inconsiderate people.

To answer the OP's question, YES, I'm paranoid about it. Especially when my car was backed into after only being 6 days old in the Costco parking lot last year. I even parked away from the other vehicles, but apparently school must have let out or something while I was inside and so everyone was surrounding me by the time I came out. $20k in damages and 5 weeks without my car when it was a week old...not cool. But, apparently it was my fault....

I annoyed my wife royally a few months ago when we had to stay at a hotel for a few days for a conference. The parking was in a parking garage. I kept going up floors until the occupied spaces were about less than 10%. Needless to say, we could've parked on level 2, but my Model S was happy in her own secluded corner on level 10.

And just this last weekend, I had two encounters with door dings. We took the kids to the Dallas Arboretum. 72 degrees and sunny on a Saturday and it was busy. So I took the closest parking spot I could find (We were in my wife's SUV, thank goodness). When we came out, someone had scraped the rear quarter panel while backing out. (Our fault, of course).

Then, we went to a family-fun center type of place (laser tag, bowling, etc.). Again, it was PACKED and we had to drive around just waiting on someone to back out so we could claim their spot. When we first got in, I didn't know it would be that packed and I saw an empty space that I almost backed in to but it was so tight I decided to keep looking. A few minutes later we saw a SUV back into that very spot and I sat there and watched the passenger (who was a girl about 10 years old) just blatantly open the door into the adjacent truck, and hard. Of course, it was the pickup trucks' owners fault........

That's some crappy luck, I am sorry that it happened to you. But again, no matter how hilarious you find it, the common denominator in your problems is you, as you are the only constant. That is, unless you think someone is following you around doing these things in some sort of conspiracy. If that's the case, well, that's a whole different discussion. The intensity at which you talk about others being at fault for everything bad that happens to your car is quite telling.

 

[Kandiru]

Very! Always at the end of the lot, or near the cart collection area with tires an inch from curb. The fewer surrounding moving objects, the better the deal. On top of it I live 120 miles from the nearest Tesla authorized body shop.

 

[DiamondDave]

I've been the same way all my life! I used to talk about the perfect "Firebird spot" in the 80s and 90s. Now, of course, I point out "Tesla spots".

Two more things I avoid: 1. An otherwise "good" spot with no parking on one side and plenty of room to a spot on the other side where people might walk past and scratch my car with a purse or backpack. 2. An otherwise "good" spot near someone who has backed in to a space at a grocery store or warehouse club. I see too many people squeeze their carts in to access their trunk.

When I bought my SUV 10 years ago I made a conscious decision not to worry about dings and to park anywhere. It was a family vehicle, it would get dinged eventually, etc. etc. That lasted less than a month and one small blemish. At this point its a little beaten and battered and I'm not quite as bad about parking.

I'm definitely a little apprehensive about dealing with the width of the Model S. I'm taking delivery tomorrow and I'm sure to have an uptick in my daily steps!

 

[TaoJones]

I have never worried about door dings in a parking lot. I just park wherever I want... I've done this for my entire life and I've never had a single door ding in any of my 30+ cars.

Come park in Los Angeles sometime. Your chariot won't last a week.

 

[Naonak]

No thanks, I think I'll pass. One of the many reasons I don't and will never live there again.

 

[TaoJones]

Indeed.

My goal for year 1 was to not have a door ding or a speeding ticket. Knock on aluminum, I was successful with both.

That said, even though I simply do NOT park between 2 cars except to supercharge (and let me tell you, some of our brethren and sisteren have come very close to having to pay up), it is astounding to witness the level of asshattery even when parallel parked. See my thread at TM recently describing a Prius driver, who WITH A REAR VIEW CAMERA managed to tap my nosecone. Fortunately with no evident damage as a result, but with plenty of groaning witnesses.

Another time, a guy falls into my car because evidently the sidewalk was too much of a challenge for perpendicular alignment while walking. Fortunately, I have paint protection that saved the day - that, and he mostly fell into a window.

When I go to a new restaurant or meeting of any kind, satellite view is quite helpful to determine whether the location is in a strip center, if there's street parking, and so forth. I don't mind valet parking, except that they do NOT get to drive the car, and the car remains in front, parallel parked. If that's not likely to be an option, I simply just do not bring the car.

That strategy has worked for 41,000 miles almost a year and a half now. There's a festival/event thing coming up. Here's the plan - I'll park within a couple of miles in a space away from problems, and then call for an Uber/Lyft both ways. Sardine parking and likely inebriated patrons avoided at the same time.

The premise is very simple: It's much less of a pain in the posterior to take a few minutes to be diligent rather than to deal with the hassle of bodywork. You see, you don't get to choose where the "door ding" is. If that impact is to the rear quarter or to a fender, you ain't getting that "popped out", and are likely looking at a couple thousand bucks to get the panel as right as possible and even then, it won't ever match perfectly.

I almost want a Model 3 now - solely because a $45K car less $10K is almost disposable by comparison, and because supposedly the panels will be of steel rather than aluminum. All kinds of reasons to care less. Why, I might even park in between 2 cars. But (standard) valet is still not an option, thanks.

 

[Skotty]

Maybe you should move somewhere that doesn't have a bunch of assholes living there.

Well if that's your advice, what are you doing in Olathe?

Thats a little zinger from the Missouri side of Kansas City. :-D We (KC Kansas and KC Missouri) like to pick fights with each other.

 

[kavyboy]

Naonak must live a charmed life, because I know of nobody who hasn't had a lot of door dings. Until the Tesla, my wife and I parked just anywhere and people would ding us often. I've had people look at my wife's car and ask "Oh my God, what happen?" It wasn't one incident, just 15 years of constant parking lot bombardment. There are major dents and scrapes through to the metal in some parts. It almost looks like it's been rolled.

So, now I park way out, which I find to just generally be easier and doesn't take any more time. My wife now parks the same way, regardless of which car it is, just to avoid the hassles of parking nearer.

However, if I see a nice car parked kind of far out, I will park a couple of spaces away. I figure a car person might want to see a Tesla, which are pretty rare around these parts.

 

[Skotty]

By the way, I'll tell you where all those door dings are coming from: children. Try as I might, it's nearly impossible to make my little buggers mindful enough to not swing their doors open without considering where the door might end up. And I'm actually trying. These days I use the child door locks to prevent such undesirable learning experiences, and they really hate it, but what else can I do? I think they just need to be a little older still before I can trust them around other people's property.

 

[aronth5]

Gee I don't have dingphobia now but am sure when I get my Model 3 I will start having the same symptoms as others on this thread

 

[GoTslaGo]

Gee I don't have dingphobia now but am sure when I get my Model 3 I will start having the same symptoms as others on this thread

"Dingphobia" I like that!

 

[linkster]

I not only look for an "end" parking spot, I'll even think about if the driver's door or passenger's door is towards the end parking spot - hoping maybe there isn't a passenger - better odds the door doesn't ever open.

2 Yups!

When I go to a new restaurant or meeting of any kind, satellite view is quite helpful.

Yup!

 

[int32_t]

Oh man, I hope I don't have to Xpel/wrap/whatever my Model 3 to save the paint from rock chips and door dings. It'll already be breaking the bank just being a normal car, never mind having to treat it extra-special.
On the other hand it would be sad to have so many dents and scratches in it after a decade as is standard on cars that have been sandblasted on Edmonton roads for that long.

 

[RogerHScott]

Paranoia strikes deep, into your heart it will creep.

Park out of line
The man comes
And dings you today.