Recently I’ve had some close parkers and it drives me crazy..

Ever go out to eat after a cruise night or just take the car out and need to park it? So you find a nice big parking lot and find the furthest corner where you can back in. No one can park to the left or behind the car with at least 20-50 parking spots between you and the other cars parked near the establishment. I never double park because that’s just asking for trouble..

So the past couple of times I parked the IROC hundreds of feet away where no one was parked and come out to find some piece of junk very close to the driver side.

Both times I took photos of the license plate and inspected the car thoroughly. The second time the owner came out behind me and said, “ Wow, that’s your car! Very cool, what year!?” I said “88”. He was an older guy and seemed harmless and carefully opened his door to squeeze into his car..

so WHY park so close??? There are 20 other empty spots you don’t have to squeeze out your door when you park there!

My wife said “He obviously thought your car was cool”

Yeah, so park a couple spots away so you can walk up and check the car out, right?

You guys have any tips to keep this from happening?

I usually try to park next to a handicapped spot, or a spot far away and never double park. I always park perfectly in the lines unless I’m on an end spot where I’ll park closer on one side to give people more room to open their doors..

This guy parked right on the line because of the space I left.. so annoying!

They have those plastic bubbles on Amazon?! I’ll get one!

Thats the best I’ve come up with.. but that bubble looks pretty cool..

I’m tempted to double park in those huge empty lots, but that would probably attract even more trouble..

I would appreciate someone saying that!

Ha ha.. I would fear retaliation..

I beat a car to a parking space in my old 87 IROC during Christmas time and got yelled at by the girl in the passenger seat of the other car.. Came out to find the driver side of my car keyed..

Luckily I had such a thick coat of wax on the car and being a car detailer I got the scratch right out, but now I keep a low profile when parking..

If I can’t find an end spot or island spot my thinking is that there’s less of a chance someone will park there than a normal spot and the handicapped spots have extra space for those ramps..

Anytime I have done this there’s never another car parked next to me.. I almost never see handicapped spots in use outside of the city.

I think parking spots should be big enough so that people can open their doors all the way without hitting the car next to them. We have parking lots with very small spots here.. too small for full size trucks/SUVs.

Usually when I see a door swing open and nail the car next to them, it’s a little kid. Kids just have no clue about that stuff. At least parking far away will reduce the risk of that since parents with young kids don’t want to walk across a large, hot parking lot on top of everything else they have to deal with..

Ha ha.. Or have some fake “Tow Zone” signs.. Maybe “Reserved Space Tow Zone” on parking cones and keep it in the trunk.

I’m leaning towards the plastic bubble..

I usually don’t go places if I don’t know what the parking situation is.. The Honda can bite the bullet if parking seems rough..

Yup.. people can’t just be cool..

It’s true, and the closer to Boston you get, the worse it is.. people drive like it’s bumper cars out here.. They all lease their Japanese and German cars and get a new one every 2-3 years so have no concept of trying to own a car and keep it nice.. and it’s definitely not their job to keep your car nice!

You park a car in the city and tourists will be leaning on it, a door guy will be sitting on the hood.. Personal Property gets no respect in the city..

Being a horse owner.. I know they do make solar powered electric fence.. that could be fun!

When you see guys with full size trucks backed in, mirrors folded and they’re all shined up, those guys know how to park.

I even get nervous at the cruise nights.. some of these old guys driving classic cars trying to back into parking spots is pretty wild sometimes. I’ve heard stories about collisions between classic cars at these things..

I think truck drivers are usually the better drivers and take pride in their vehicles as opposed to the person leasing their 2017 Corolla and turning it in soon..

Sometimes I’ll look for child seats or see if there’s evidence of kids. Overwhelmed parents and kids that don’t know any better will ding you..

I had a friend in Boston who said he used to parallel park by hitting the bumpers of the cars in front and behind.. He’d say “who cares, I’ll get a new lease in a year and pay the deductible..” He joked about how beat up his bumper was on his one year old Nissan..

Finding an Island end spot that blocks off 3/4 of the car is gold!

Bob88GTA I like the carriage force field idea..

Ma$$holes are typically closer to Boston.. When you go out west or to the North Shore beach towns people will actually stop and let you go and are very courteous..

I’d say Connecticut is the worst state for drivers in New England.. They’ll run you right off the highway to get a carlength further..

Took the end spot today. Walked out to this:

Looked liked you spaced it good and parked close to the end line.. That’s the best you can do.. I hate when I do that and then the other car parks on the line close to my car..

”dude, I was giving you room to open your door!”

same here..

but at least the Walmart by me has spots so ridiculously far away no one would bother parking near you.. because it takes 20 minutes to walk from there..

I also make sure I’m never downhill if there’s a parking lot with carts.. carts can’t roll uphill at least.. I always bring carts back on my way in.. people are so freakin lazy about that.. I listen to Adam Carrolla Podcast on my long work commutes and he always says successful people are the type that bring the cart back. What about people that return every cart in a 100 foot radius?

My wife never wants to take the Camaro because she knows parking might not go well. It’s bad enough in the Tahoe. I’ve never caught a ding in the Tahoe and that thing goes all over.

So it’s safe to say you have been to this auto parts establishment before?