A.J. - 95 993

I make it a rule never to take up 2 spots. That can be inflammatory to an onlooker, and annoys me when I see others do it. Even when a car is parked out in the boonies, I've seen other cars park right up next to another, just to spite them. As previously mentioned, I almost exclusively park on an end spot. That way, I'll park on the line, and as long as the car next to me doesn't do something spiteful, their door can't reach mine. I drive it to the mall, movies, restaurants, bars etc and as long as I get an end spot, I don't worry.

After 3 1/2 years, it's worked. No dings or scrapes. Except for the time that the shelf over the car collapsed in the garage. But that could have been a lot worse, and only resulted in a scuff and minor low spot on the door.

3330

The roads where i live are covered in salt and snow at the moment and i,ve been gritted once to often, so i borrowed an old car for a few days and i've got to say the pleasure of not worrying about where u park it or whos looking at it really has been a relief, its nearly enough to make u wonder if its worth having a nice car. not for long though.

Caveman

Hi Guys,

I forgot to add that you lot in the States have it easier than us as my memories of living in Philly with a Saab were of huge spaces so that you could moor up your home grown barges. Over here we have tiny little spaces that are sometimes not even big enough for a five series let alone big Merc or Passat.

911 World showed a door guard that you could attach to your door when you left the car but I think it would probably encourage some people to test it out...

I once put a dent in a friend's 911 purely because we didn't realise quite how wide the doors open! It was very embarassing but luckily I got a dent repair guy out that week and he fixed it up perfectly. I've used them on my current car when I bought it and they can do quite a lot even on old dents.

Cheers,

David
<img border="0" alt="[cherrsagai]" title="" src="graemlins/drink.gif" />

Christer

To be honest I can quite understand where you guys are coming from but I have been able to stop myself from feeling that way.

I don't use my car every day (maybe 2/3 days a week), but I will use it wherever I go and park wherever I want. In the last 8 years I have had 2 dings, one on my current Porsche. I know it will come out, and I will save it up for a few more dings and scratches until I get them all done in one go. I am glad I haven't got to the stage where I am parking half a mile away from where I need to be or not parking/going somewhere just because there isn't an end space. I would compare that to owning a dog for example and letting that ownership dictate how I live my life - not being able to go on holiday because I have a dog, or not being able to go out at night because the dog gets lonely. I don't think that's right.

Any car parked over 2 spaces though would annoy the f**k out of me. That's just selfish.

I love my car like the rest of the majority here, but please remember that at the end of the day it is just several thousand pieces of metal that get you from A to B and it will get damaged no matter what you do unless you don't drive it of course.

Relax and enjoy! C'mon guys you can beat this!!! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

Steve 96C4S

Way to go Christer! You have the right attitude. I'm going to try to be more like you... I parked halfway around the other side of our office park at work yesterday for the first time, with my lowly BMW 740i , to try to avoid all the other cars and their careless opening of their doors on my car, and it was a pain in the as* walking so far! It took a good 3-4 minutes or longer to get to my building, and I just had foot surgery on both feet <img border="0" alt="[ouch]" title="" src="graemlins/c.gif" /> . Not sure I want to keep up this insanity, but it'll be hard. I mean, it was a totally car-free zone - a dream for me and my 911 when I start driving in that again to go to work. I never thought of parking so far away to avoid dings until I read this whole post.

But after reading your last post, I'm rethinking my quality of life issue vs the protecting my "investment" issue MAY be out of whack.

And I agree to the gent that parked in 2 spots at the end of a lot - you are risking vandalism by a pis$ed off guy who doesn't approve with your spot hugging ways! I'd forget that approach, unless you want to risk having your whole car keyed in anger by some idiot.

It's gorgeous outside. Time to finally drive my car again, and take those pics for the first time today.

Steve

Tim Ashfield

Christer I agree completely there is only so much you can do and stay within the bounds of sanity!

James_J

I am a bit of an "end space" parker myself, given the tiny parking spaces we have in the UK.

Caveman, could you please tell me what dent repair service you use, as I have a ding on my left rear wing that's really bugging me; most people don't notice it, but my eye is drawn to it every time I look!

Pete in DC

Gives new meaning to the term 'P-whipped'....

J-McDonald

JHB - do a search on this Board for "dent" and you should get some results. If not, ask the local Porsche or other high-end car dealership who they use - I'm sure that they'll be able to provide a reference.

Brent Spinks

When do you get over your paranoia? For me, never, and its my daily driver. It was the same with my 86 Targa, even after six years of ownership.

BTW, your authorized dealer usually has a competent dent guy that they regularly use.

Robert Henriksen

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by Pete in DC:
<strong>Gives new meaning to the term 'P-whipped'....</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">:rolfmao:

KeithR3

Never take it to places where there are shopping carts!