How well do Teslas handle parking lot door dings?

[gene]

Supermarket parking lots you want to park at the uphill end. I have seen escaped shopping carts roll downhill for 100's of feet to hit a parked car. If you park at high point of the hill, you have saved your paint from these runaways. 3.5 years, 70,000 miles and not a single ding on my S.

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

An acorn falling from a tree left me a ding. You can guess what a kid in a minivan might do.

 

[aesculus]

An acorn falling from a tree left me a ding. You can guess what a kid in a minivan might do.

You should try some of these 1 foot long pine cones we have dropped from 50+ feet.

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

You should try some of these 1 foot long pine cones we have dropped from 50+ feet.

That really sucks. I was driving the other day and this acorn fell on my car from a tree. If it had hit the pano glass portion, I think it wouldn't be a biggie. But it fell abount 1/2cm from the rear windshield on the sheet metal. Honestly, I've never had a car that dings so easily. I can't imagine what that 1 foot long pine cone would do.

 

[agloutney]

Strangely after almost two years of airport parking I have no door dings but I do have a small dent on the back of the hatch, about two inches to the left of the 85. I have no idea how it got there or what could have done that without touching the bumper.

 

[somnambule]

Take reasonable precautions like not parking next to an obvious beater and not parking between two cars, especially if one or both are close to being over the line etc. It's interesting to hear some of the more extreme suggestions (e.g., I've never worried about uphill vs downhill in store parking lots) but, IMO, going overboard to avoid dings reduces the utility of the car. Everyone needs to find their own sweet spot in terms of how much you are willing to inconvenience yourself to avoid door dings. After all, the car will age (as we do ourselves) and a door ding or two isn't going to be that big a deal in the long run.

 

[habanero69]

Small dents can be easily removed by a paint-less dent remover dealer. It's the ding where the paint is removed that torques me up. NOTHING easily fixes that. No matter what you do it always seems to be noticeable. At least anything DIY tried. Paint repairs from good body shops I can almost always see no matter how good they seem. I'm sure there are those places than CAN make it invisible, but I don't know any and they would probably cost way more than it's worth.

 

[Gizmotoy]

This has much more to do on how you park than the thickness of the door panel. I never park between two cars, ever.

I've heard this before, but find it to be a poor decision in general. If you park without neighbors, any vehicle at all can park next to you. If you park between vehicles already there, you can pick your neighbors. I find I have better luck picking spot neighbors than leaving it completely to chance.

If there's a good chance no one will take either of those spots, like if the lot is empty, an exception might be in order. That doesn't happen much around here, though.

 

[HookBill]

I suggest that a random survey of shopping carts throughout the nation would help answer this question. They are experts on this subject and could tell us all which automakers doors hold up the best and which ones are the best targets yielding the most damage.

 

[habanero69]

I've heard this before, but find it to be a poor decision in general. If you park without neighbors, any vehicle at all can park next to you. If you park between vehicles already there, you can pick your neighbors. I find I have better luck picking spot neighbors than leaving it completely to chance.

If there's a good chance no one will take either of those spots, like if the lot is empty, an exception might be in order. That doesn't happen much around here, though.

That's the technique I try and use as well. But, I add an additional thought of where the location is. If I'm somewhere that has high turnover, and one of my neighbors is likely to leave or even be replaced several times (food places), I opt for parking in the north dallas 40. Then the jerk peeking at the car parks his beater right on top of me. I've often considered hanging boat fenders from my car at strategic locations, but I'm sure other than looking like a total loser, someone will steal or whack me anyway just because they can.

 

[Gizmotoy]

That's the technique I try and use as well. But, I add an additional thought of where the location is. If I'm somewhere that has high turnover, and one of my neighbors is likely to leave or even be replaced several times (food places), I opt for parking in the north dallas 40. Then the jerk peeking at the car parks his beater right on top of me. I've often considered hanging boat fenders from my car at strategic locations, but I'm sure other than looking like a total loser, someone will steal or whack me anyway just because they can.

I do the same, but didn't want to go into what my wife calls my "theoretical parking." I tried to convey a brief run-down of the 'rules' to her once and I could tell she instantly regretted asking.

 

[P85DBeast]

Yesterday my wife and daughter were at the dentist office and come out to find that someone Hit the rear quarter panel on my daughters car and Ran! Thats what really pushes my buttons if you hit my car man up and tell me dont run! That's exactly why someone in the parking seen the guy hit her car! And luckily they even got the licenses plate number! So they called the cops and blah blah blah............ (You probably know the rest of the story!)

But THIS IS WHY MY S IS ALWAYS AT THE BACK OF THE LOT! And garages you have no other choice than to park on the highest level and hope that nobody parks next to you!!

 

[aesculus]

I do the same, but didn't want to go into what my wife calls my "theoretical parking." I tried to convey a brief run-down of the 'rules' to her once and I could tell she instantly regretted asking.

My wife is very supportive. In fact she helps look for the perfect out of the way, protected spots. She also will question my sanity if I suggest I am going to take the car somewhere there is not a 'guaranteed' safe parking place.

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

You're lucky. My wife would probably put door dings on it herself if I told her she had to worry about where and how to park the Tesla. She did tell me to get one though, so she's not all bad.

 

[habanero69]

I do the same, but didn't want to go into what my wife calls my "theoretical parking." I tried to convey a brief run-down of the 'rules' to her once and I could tell she instantly regretted asking.

"Theoretical parking". I very much like that term. That fits what I do perfectly. Sometimes I circle a parking lot like a old fashion wagon wheel round up, cowboy style, looking for that perfect spot. Wife is very supportive. When I am forced at times to park in a crapy spot, we both worry which kinda ruins the mood. And sadly, ALL valet parking only venues are off limits basically. I simply will not. I did a long time ago and they damaged my car and denied and refused to accept/fix; no more. We take wife's car OR, I sometimes say I'm in security and have accessible firearms in the car thus I am only one that can be in car and park. That has never failed...

 

[HankLloydRight]

Case in point... Parked in the commuter lot last night far away from everyone else... Got back at 11pm to find this... Seriously?? WTAF?

 

[SW2Fiddler]

Got my second Parking Lot Ding last weekend (witnessed by me and the mom of the perpetrator, we're working out the paint repair) but the weird part is ... I no longer see the first ding. It was a 1/4 inch dimple-with-discoloration anonymous hit-n-run that I was just gonna leave as-is. The discoloration must have been something on the surface that's been washed off.
(Full disclosure: I have CQuartz Finest over Pearl White. 10/10 Would do CQuartz again, maybe plus a clearbra just in the front where this second dingscratch is)

Squirrels with pinecones 2 (roof), humans with doors 2

Oh and my main point LOL ...even in worst case ALuminium > Steel because rust.

 

[Drucifer]

I do the same, but didn't want to go into what my wife calls my "theoretical parking." I tried to convey a brief run-down of the 'rules' to her once and I could tell she instantly regretted asking.

My wife gets "punished" for only 2 things. One is asking a technical question where I bury her with data and details - like you must have. The second is sending me to the grocery store. I go waaaaay off the list, and bring back junk food. I am amazed she still does either, but she still does.

 

[aesculus]

Case in point... Parked in the commuter lot last night far away from everyone else... Got back at 11pm to find this... Seriously?? WTAF?

Some people ...

 

[aesculus]

Squirrels with pinecones

These are definitely the big ones. Have you got any of them to pay up yet?