acadianbob

You can always count on Americans being lazy so parking a little farther away and walking almost always works.

Also, NEVER park next to a Buick, Cadillac, Lincoln, or full-size Ford or Chev. The demographics of these vehicles would suggest higher risk.

Xylar5

Not cool.....

Parsec

I would leave out Ford and Chevy, but I agree w/the other 3 brands. Elderly people generally need to swing their car door out at least 2 notches (out of the possible 3) in order to get out of their vehicle. Also I would add pickup trucks to that list. They are much wider vehicles and require more room for opening doors. I usually don't have space to open my door more than 1 notch and it's not even a full-size pickup. Also if it's a work truck then it's probably already all scratched up and contractors are big guys and need more room to get out

MAMOHT

The bottom line is - park only next to small expensive cars. Such as Ferrari or Lamborghini.

snagitseven

That works fine until the Ferarri or Lambo leaves and a large SUV loaded with a kids' soccer team parks in the space before you get back.

Q5 Bob

Yup, you just never know. The best6 you can do is hope for the best.

HarmsWay

All good advice. I used to try and find a tripple open space so that I could have an empty one on either side but that just seemed to attract the largest beaters. So now I park by the niceset 4-door and try to be centred in my parking space.

Years ago I was walking back to my nearly new car just in time to see a van pull up beside it. The passenger door next to my car popped open and a young kid - that had obviously been laying sideways on the seat - finished opening the door with a double-legged, full extension kick. It put a big dent in my door. The kid was unaware and the mom just looked, shrugged and walked away leaving me speechless. I let my temper get the best of me and knowing that I had to fix the door anyway and was never going to get any compensation from her, I swung my long heavy door open without regard and planted it about an inch into her car. I instantly regretted that and obviously 30 years later it still bugs me.

Moral of the story? Park where you can to lower the odds of a dent, but in the end it's just a car.

snagitseven

He was a minor and was probably not deliberately trying to damage your car but his mom would be liable in a civil action if she refused to take responsibility. Your action was deliberate and would be considered criminal vandalism. You were lucky she didn't see you do it and called the police.

I had the exact same thing happen to me years ago. The mother said he was a kid and not responsible. I told her that as his legal guardian, she was responsible and wanted her insurance info or I would call the police. While unhappy about it, she relented, gave me her info and her insurance company subsequently paid for the repair.

That would have been the better way to go in your case.

HarmsWay

Agreed.

Pauly001

All great comments that I practice and do quite well... Another place to be mindful is schools, kids sporting events and frankly anywhere children are exiting their parents car in a rush. I had a vehicle that had over 10 dings when only a year old, this it turns out was caused from me dropping of my child at our local school once a week for religion class where I would walk him in and then return to the car ten minutes later... I witnessed many kids in the back seat flinging the door open to run to class not really mature enough to realize there was a car in denting distance..

Good luck!!