Help! Scared for winter ski season...
 

I'm so excited to start skiing this year (well, snowboarding) but with a brand new, much nicer car than my older accord... I'm scared of the parking lot! The lot is busiest enough as is that it's hard to find a spot. Certainly don't have the luxury of picking a great spot, and likely even parking at the very end will have cars in/out by the time the day rolls on...

Even worse, it's the type of situation where multiple doors are going to be opened and likely opened wider than usual. Prime to hit next-door cars!

I know at the end of the day a car is a car, but I certainly don't want a scratch in year 1 put on by someone else! Anything you can do in these types of parking lots?

Ride with a friend. Lol. I always park out as far as possible. Try parking between a snow bank and a car maybe parking as close to the pile of snow as possible. I always look for that parking spot that looks just right. The few times I haul my 84 year old grandmother around to doctors,etc. I love her handicap parking permit. When I had my S5 it took her about 5 min just to get out of it because it was so low. She loves my SQ5 easy in and out she days.

From all the ski resorts i go to, upstate NY, Vermont, I've found that the parking situation is not bad. On busy days, they have people helping you park, showing you where to park, guiding you to a spot and i've noticed they keep good space between cars because they know, you need space to gear up and such. I wouldn't worry about it, you bought it to drive and enjoy.

On a side note, One year, I left my skis and my brothers skis leaning up against the side of our RX350 at the time. The tips were touching the rear 3/4 glass. A strong wind blew and the skis fell over, scratching up the whole side of the lexus. It was at the end of a long day of skiing. Buffing that out was fun.

Park your car in the hotel garage and then to ski slopes use public transport

Increase your odds of not getting gouged in the parking lot:

• Park on an end spot if possible, that way you only need worry about one side of your Q.
• Park next to a van if possible siding rear doors are no worry, because they don't open out, which leaves a single front door to take some paint.
• Park next to the passenger side if possible, you know there will be a driver, their may not be a passenger, meaning that door might not even open.
• If it's not a van, always choose parking next to a four door car over a two door car - sedans have shorter doors, coupes have much longer doors needing more room to fully open.
• I'll park in a far lot and walk before I park next to a coupe.

Hope this helps.

Break out the safety park!
 

I either go for an end space, or do this...
Attachment 82777
(I took this pic as a buddy saw my car and parked his Datsun in front of it for me to discover on my return!)

I used to just park away from everyone else, but it seems people are attracted to loan vehicles in the lot and feel the need to park next to you - maybe they think you are lonely! So I just do the above now.
I figure there are infinitely less people going to 'key' it because you parked like a jerk compared to the numerous morons that can't keep their door under control when opening...

In 2 years of doing this I have had only one parking attendant have a moan, I told him I'd personally send him the bill for any dents if I park in one WAY too narrow space and he actually sympathised and agreed they should just make all the spaces a bit wider to avoid the problem!

One strategy would be to be careful but not treat the Q5 as a museum piece and hope for the best. That first nick will come eventually. Good luck to you.

Some folks used to buy "beaters"......older, unattractive but mechanically sound vehicles for driving up to the slopes and through the worst part of the Winter, parking their nice, newer vehicles and saving them from the vagaries of Winter. Just a thought.....

a car is a car, there is no way to avoid these A-holes in parking lots. dents scratches are bound to happen.

Hey, it's already January, quite worrying and get out there!

Parking in a ski resort is a bit of a challenge, but usually the spots are not clearly delineated due to the snow and all. Unlike what someone else said, I always try to park next to another car on that cars drivers side, but I leave enough room for that driver to open their door and not hit me and take my chances on the other side.