RichAA

I hate door dents.

So I park far away at a mall, for example. My local grocery store has really wide parking places, so that makes it nicer to go there. I have to leave the car at the airport frequently, so I use the farthest-away, top floor deck that's never full, and it's funny because every end place has an Audi or BMW, Lexus, etc., parked there to obviously avoid dents. I get about a foot over so there's no way for another door to even reach.

If it's a choice between two bad spots, I calculate the odds: do I go next to the driver's side of the soccer mom minivan? Or the passenger side of the pickup? Things like that. I'll park next to another Audi or BWM in the sticks, knowing that side of the car is safe, and same for the other driver.

If I know it's going to be crowded, muddy, or whatever, I take the wife's SUV. :-)

Dano_SL

I got the optional force field. Furthest spot possable.

cpurick

but I don't go crazy. These cars are better built than most. The steel and paint are thicker. Unless it really gets whacked, the A4 seems pretty resistant to dings.

SoCalB7

If I tell you all of my secrets, where am I going to park?

SteveMondragon

Since you position your car with enough room on each side so they have enough room to open their doors without hitting your car. It's the d!ckheads that take their spot, flying in at some crazy angle, on the line or over the line and they some how manage to squeeze out of their door with your car parked next to it. Those are the ones that **** me off, and I always see it happenning.

Reggie

I always choose a end spot - reducing my ding possibility by 50%

irenesbob

All these ideas are SOP for anyone living in the USA these days. It sems the folks with the creepy super-rusted out vehicles seek you out if your car looks decent, no matter how far away you park. I have a friend who pushed the extent of his handicap (bad foot or leg) just to get a handicap tag so he can park in the wider spaces. I really don't get it when I go into the supremarket lot and see someone in a "primo" end spot who parks right up against the painted line on the side where there is another spot and car. Why take the spots the rest of us long for, then just park like a spastic moron? Kind of like the "dog in a manger" concept. The parking carts themselves are another issue. I have to judge the slant of the parking lot, the wind, etc. before I park to make sure I don't have a cart (left by some lady too busy chasing her kids around to put the cart in the designated area) smash into my precious Audi. I ran after a moving cart a few weeks ago but couldn't get there before it slammed into someone's brand new Chrysler 300, leaving a noticeable scrape and dent. Too bad people have the bucks to be able to drive, but not the common decency to regard their fellow drivers' rights.

rferni

Had parked in the farthest spot outside a Walmart -- which I always do wherever I go. When I get back, I was shocked to see about 5 or 6 of those hideous shopping carts resting against my car -- probably blown around by the wind. Incredibly there wasnt even the slightest paint scratch or ding after thorough examination.

These cars are really built (paint and body work)... Got to be careful nevertheless.

cr8nA4

I parked at the end of a row, about 10 empty spots between me and the nearest car. I come back out and there is this two-door (1985?) Dodge rustbucket in the spot next to mine (ignored the 9 other spots). He was close - real close, and wide door, I am not shure how he even got out of his car.

Panic.

No damage though.

SoCalB7

Several months ago, I'm at a shopping center parking lot a few stalls away from a woman who is unloading her groceries. As soon as she's done, she gives the cart a shove which, thanks to an slight incline, causes the car to roll at a brisk pace right toward my car.

I point out to her that there are places to leave shopping carts after she has finished with them, and that letting it fly toward my car isn't one of those places. (OK, so I wasn't so polite as that..) She looks at me as if **I'm** the problem and that she's entitled to do whatever she damn well pleases, even if it puts a hole in my bodywork.

I've been lucky so far (five months without a ding), and I respect other peoples' property enough to be considerate. But obviously, not everyone is.