People banging their car doors into your car...

[ItsAStupidQuestion]

Sitting in your car on a car park, someone parks next to you and opens their door, hitting the side of your car.

What do you actually do? I know some people will say that they would speak up but in reality, what do you do?

I climbed through the back of my car once.

I dont think Ive 'hit' a car with the door but definitely the door touches or presses into the car next to it sometimes. Ive had it bang into the car next to me if its windy.

I find the doors really heavy, I have muscle weakness so cant always hold onto the door if its on the slope or its windy. Cars now also seem to have set points at which they sit, so you cant just open it to the extent you need, it will either open and sit too close or too far.

Parking spaces just arent wide enough for these enormous cars these days, mine is just a standard hatchback so I have plenty of room but find that other cars butt right up to the edge of their space and sometimes over my space

As others are saying its a car, not an antique heirloom, its designed to be out and about and that will naturally incur the odd bang or scrape.

To some here a car might only be a heap of metal to get from A to B, but I have worked hard to buy that heap of metal and look after it accordingly. In the same way I'd look after any expensive purchase. The fact I have a car that I take out of my garage doesn't give others a right to knock into and damage it. I take care when parking to leave enough space to get out and put my hand on the door to prevent damaging the car next to me and expect the person parking next to me to do the same, not to think it's fair game and hit it with their door. It's not as though it adds time to your journey to be careful, so why wouldn't you be?

The posters saying it's just superficial aren't necessarily correct. Depending on where the car is hit, there can be hidden damage. I had someone hit my door and when I took it to the garage, the inside of the door had been damaged, which would render it compromised in an accident. The garage was owned by a friend of my Dad, who was repairing it at cost. He showed me the internal damage and had no reason to lie to bump up the amount I was paying him, so was being truthful about the damage.

I leave my car deliberately so so dirty that people avoid parking beside me where they can so they don't get their clothes dirty rubbing up the side of it lol.
If I was in my car and someone did that, they would regret it before I was finished with them. Doesn't matter my car is an old banger, but it's my old banger. I respect other people's property so they can damn well respect mine.

The fact I have a car that I take out of my garage doesn't give others a right to knock into and damage it.

I don't think a single person has said it's okay - have they?

They've just said that they personally wouldn't care if it happened to their car.

Slightly off topic but what makes you think you have to return PCP cars in pristine condition?

They all have specific wear and tear policies giving details of the size of scratches, dents & scuffs expected and permissible

Re banging; if they say sorry and no damage then no problem.
If damaged, say sorry and offer to pay for repairs - also no problem.
If damaged and they are an arse about it - problem!

Unless a car park is completely full I tend to park away from the shop a bit where it is quieter. I’m not so worried about my little car but I hate having to squeeze out when it is tight and risk tapping another car.

what makes you think you have to return PCP cars in pristine condition?

If you’re trading it in for a new one they don’t even look at it.

I once had someone race across a car park saying they had seen my door hit theirs as they saw my son getting out of the car (he was struggling to get out as he had bags at his feet). There was a mark on the door and the woman was screaming at me that I had caused it. There was quite a scene and my son was upset as she started shouting at him. Mid sentence I told her to shut up and watch what my door does. I carefully opened it and displayed exactly where my car would do the damage due to the structure of the door. Where the scratch was it wasn’t possible for my door to have even made contact as before that point the bottom of my door would be wedged into hers leaving a gouge. She quickly shut up, the blokes who had witnessed her outburst were laughing, she looked really embarrassed. At this point I calmly told her that if she ever shouted at my child again I would do more than scratch her car!

There are literally posters telling people that it doesn't matter and to get over themselves. If that's not effectively saying it's ok then I don't know what is.

I park my car away from others if I am in a big car park.
9 times out of 10 when I return, there are always cars parked at the side of mine. Even though there are plenty of spaces they could have used, it's as though my car is magnetic!

I check for damage, take a photo of the other car and get insurance details. My car is my pride and joy, some careless idiot is not going to get away with damaging it without forking out for the repair! I've done this twice now. I have no idea why anyone wouldn't, I suppose if your car is a real old banger you might not care, but otherwise that's exactly what insurance is for - repair or replacement for accidental damage.

a deliberate hard bang is not ok.

but touching the car parked next to it in order to open it wide enough to get out is fine.
tbh the door restrictors (whatever they are called) probably don't help as they don't allow doors to be opened thd width you need but spring further open to the next 'setting'

touching cars is generally fine imo. can't be avoided.

There are literally posters telling people that it doesn't matter and to get over themselves. If that's not effectively saying it's ok then I don't know what is.

I mean, I read those responses as saying it's not something to get hugely worked up over, not that it's actually okay to go around damaging other people's cars.

It’s so annoying. Bad enough when kids do it but when adults do it there’s no excuse. I always wrap my hand around my door if it’s a bit tight so I wouldn’t bump the other car. I warn my kids or else tell them to get out the other side if there’s more room.
My car was hit by someone opening their rear door while I was driving past. 4k worth of damage done to my car.

If you're driving a wankpanzer that you can't fit in a standard parking space, then I can't say I'll lose sleep over banging into your car when I'm trying to get in and out of my bog standard car, to be honest.

As long as I can see the person is trying to be careful and making an effort not to hit my car with their door, then I don't mind if their door taps mine by accident. That's not going to cause any damage. I live rurally and often have to ditch my car into hedges on narrow roads so I can't be too precious about it. It's not a cheap car but also, it's just a car.

I don't think I've had anyone purposely slamming their doors around next to my car but if I was feeling confident I would probably wind down my window and ask them to be more careful.

Surely it is basic courtesy and mindfulness not to make contact with your door with the car next to you irrespective as to whether it is an old beat up runaround or some flash expensive motor. I drive a decent car and I will try and mitigate against the not give a shit ‘its just a lump of metal’ dick heads by parking on the empty high levels of a multistorey or on the far side of supermarket carpark away from other cars. I accept that wear and tear (stone chips, pot holes etc) and random accidents can occour but I have little time for people being wilfully stupid or inconsiderate be it flinging open doors or reversing into neighboring cars due to an inability to park. Last year on a very windy day I saw someone at the supermarket empty their trolly into the car and just leave the trolly which in turn got picked up by the wind and blown across the carpark before slamming into and denting another car. She saw what happened and just hopped in her car and drove off. That’s not just ‘one of those things’, its someone being a twat.

Nothing.
Seriously, if the person was clearly trying to be careful, i wouldn’t say anything. Accidents happen.
If they were being careless or were clearly angry/confrontational, I’d leave it be too. Safety and all that. Plus I couldn’t be bothered to deal with that anger of theirs.

So you'd be OK with someone damaging your car because they find either it or your parking unacceptable?

There are literally posters telling people that it doesn't matter and to get over themselves. If that's not effectively saying it's ok then I don't know what is.

Well I have to say I’m not anal about what’s happening to MY car. The knock left by a door opened wo care and attention isn’t worse than a chip from a stone whilst driving. I wouldn’t be annoyed at that, no.

This doesn’t mean I’m not careful about OTHER people’s cars.
But I would get heat up about something like happening to mine.

Id be annoyed at someone keying my car (V bigger damage AND the will to damage stuff). Or the trolley example from @TheCadoganArms
An accident where someone hits MY car. Meh…

I’m not sure I’d find it acceptable.

But some people park badly, leaving other people with no choice but to touch their precious cars when coming back.
Im thinking particularly of those who park tight to the car on their left so they have plenty of space on their right to get out. How do they think the car owner on their left will get back in their car?

I'm in the "don't really care, it's a car, they get dings" camp. But I take great care not to do it to anyone else as some people care a lot more.

My car is covered in dinks and scratches due to other people. I watched a neighbour park his van into my car nine times (well, when I started counting!) until he gave up and just left his van wedged into the front of mine.

I was parked centrally in a space at the weekend and, when I came back, a car had parked next to me and was across the line into my space. Yes, my car door hit that car as I tried to crawl into mine.

I can't be precious about it. It's a car. It will get damaged. If damage is that bad, then get details and claim on your insurance. If your car is precious, then park it far, far away from any other cars.

I think it’s unavoidable if you have a ridiculously large car. Parking spaces are small and people need to be able to get in and out of their cars