Wellardmac

Okay - I'm reading all his with horror, as I take great care where I park my car and yes, I'll park at the back of an empty lot, just to stay away from other cars - even when I'm not driving my p-car.

One time I parked at the back of a lot at Target, even thought it was raining heavily, next to a nice Acura. No problem I thought. When i return, the acura was gone and big red plastic gouges were left down the left driver's side of my car. The person in question actually used force to ram the shopping cart down in between their car and mine.

I buffed the door like crazy afterwards, but the trim is permanenty embedded with red plastic from a Target shopping cart... and you wonder why I think that most people are mindless, inconsiderate bastards.

gota911

I used to park my car far, far away from others and it still got "scratched" (first pic). After I got it repaired, I decided to park in the parking lots and then surround it with the orange cones (2nd pic).

Wellardmac

cute.... sad, but cute.

himself

Tip in advance, and ask for a front spot. I've never had a problem with a valet, and I use them everywhere I can.

-td

TD in DC

Me too. Often I get to park it myself, and usually it is right in front of the restaurant. Helps that I also speak Spanish.

TBH996

I keep a gallon of gasoline in a sealed container in the trunk. When I park, I pour the gasoline in a circle all around the car. Then i light the ring on fire. This tends to keep people from parking near me and also keeps them from getting close to the car and putting fingerprints on it. This works especially well at night.

The other thing that works, mainly for daytime parking, is to dump a ring of any type of white powder around the car and put a small sign on the ground that says "warning - ANTHRAX" This does a great job of keeping everyone away.

AmirShaikh

Must be the ex-San-Jose 408 area-code psychic hotline connection .

thanks,
Amir

axel6

I used to park far away from other cars until I realized I got MORE scratches/vandalism rather than less. I now park with the rest of the herd. Although, I still look for nicer cars to park next to.

Wellardmac

Ahh, another one that escaped the 408 madness.... I sooooo miss sitting in traffic on I-280.

unklekraker

the Beauty of the rear sliding Door Minivans...and they said minivans don't serve any purpose beside hauling off our kids...hahahahaha!

i still drive my 93 Merc Villager w/ 210k miles to go to Oriental Store or Asian Market here coz' the parking spaces are way too tight....

unklekraker

So your from the bay area before? I drive my 04 XR Matrix everyday from San Jose to Frisco, luckily my time starts @ 6:30am till 3pm so i get to leave before the traffic starts in the morning and afternoon but Friday is horrible on either freeway (101 or 280)

NCporsche

Is there a consensus?

If you park away from everybody, somebody is going to single you out, park next to you, in the farthest place from the entrance, and ding you anyway?

If you park close to the door, these drivers/passengers are just as inconsiderate and will ding your car anyway?

If you park far away and take two spaces, someone is going to park next to you and key your car, despite the fact that you park far away, but took up two unused spaces?

I've got it!!!
Keep you P-car a garage queen... yea, right...I'll take up the two spaces and take the chance on getting keyed. Maybe the traffic cones I am going to put in my car and use when parking will attract the P-car owners that key other P-cars because they don't want P-car owners accused of taking up two parking spaces.

How about... none of the above...I carry a cover with my car. It gets covered, and takes just a minute to remove and install.

Wellardmac

We lived in South San Jose until the end of 1997. Like you I'd leave at ridiculously early hours to drive from S. SJ up to San Carlos. I'd put in a 12 hour day, then spend 90-120 minutes driving home (depending on how bad traffic was).

Eventually, we got tired of the long commutes, high cost of living and poor quality of life and moved to the east coast. We would never move back. It's no fun to live in a high priced shoebox and spend all your life stuck in traffic, even when you're driving a Porsche.

I now live 6 miles from work and have a house where my neighbors are not right on top of me.

Work hard. Play hard. Live a balanced life.

Joe2000C4Cab

Hahahahaha...

Grew up in NE Philly, family has now spread out to Newtown, Jamison, Horsham, and Hatboro. I don't exactly live in a shoebox nor do I commute more than a max of 20 minutes either way to work BUT I WOULD DIE TO GET OUT OF THE BAY AREA! (Too bad I probably couldn't find any work back there and my wife would divorce me the first sign of snow or 100% humidity).

Actually, change the above "Hahahahah..." to "Wah! Wah! Wah!"

unklekraker

Well, if the description of shoe box is 2800sq ft, Single Story, 4 bed, 3 1/2 bath, "3 car garage" w/ home theater studio on a .5 acre lot....I will take my chance of staying here in CA. hehehehehehe! and still drive a Porsche in mid november and ocassionaly on mid Jan...yap, it's all worth it.....

BTW...that was my wish list. Got the Porsche already and the shoe box (townhouse) but still working on 3 car garage w/ 4bed and 3 1/2 bath