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 had this happen last week. A dad got out his car and his little kid opened his door so it banged into the side of my parked car. I wound my window down and said "Your kid has just whacked hid door into mine" He wasn't apologetic so I continued... 😅. I reassured the little kid it wasn't his fault as he looked a bit nervous and suggested the Dad buy the little plastic strips that run down the edge of the car door. He didn't give a shit but at least I annoyed him and I suspect he might be more careful in future. I was friendly and polite but persistent. He was driving a smart car but mine is fairly new.

The car I have at the moment I wouldn't give a toss as there's little scratches and marks, and I'm hopefully getting rid of it very soon.

If it'd happened when I'd just got it, if I'd seen someone hit my car, I'd have checked for damage and asked them to rectify it. I would never, ever, ever damage someone else's car without telling them/leaving a note, and I don't know how people have the nerve to just walk away from causing damage.

@nats2010
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.

‘There is one I could call king’

Well, if I can't manage to park my car in a space so that it doesn't inconvenience other road users, then yes, it's a risk I take!

Funnily enough, I tend to take care where and how I park.

I get out and inspect my door. If there's visible damage, I take photos and their details plus photo of their car registration

It happened to me once when I was waiting for my DH in our local station car park - I gave them a hard stare but I am not sure they even noticed either having hit my car or my hard stare! There wasn't a dent or anything and I am not precious anyway as my car is quite old and I own it, it's not leased so I am not worrying about tiny scratches, but I was a still a bit miffed that they didn't even mouth "sorry" or something!

PS my car is small, it's not a space hogging SUV. And was parked fine within its space.

If that is the case why are people so precious about the tiniest scratch? I thought that was the reason.

They have a point though. People insist on driving massively oversized cars but then expect others to be careful about knocking them.

They are too big for the spaces, the roads, housing parking availability, everything. Just have a smaller car. Even "small" cars aren't that small these days and have good crash protection ratings.

My car is a rusty piece of crap so I wouldn't care!

My experience with people who make an issue of you 'banging your doors into my car!' is that you've usually had to gently touch their car door to get out with yours because the space is tight and they're outraged you've touched their expensive shiny car with your crappy povvo car despite the fact there is no damage whatsoever.

Obviously it's different if someone has been really careless and flung a door open and caused some damage, but as I said, my experience thus far has been of the above.

Interesting to see how some people on here try and tilt the narrative to it only being the ‘big shiny precious expensive cars’ being solely responsible for door touching. From my observations there is a certain type of person who simply does not give a shit irrespective of how big or small the car is next to them or how wide the corresponding gap is between vehicles, they just push open the door until it makes contact as that’s how they roll.

Making contact isn’t an issue though.
Making contact AND damaging the paint is much more of a problem.

You clearly have no clue about car repair.

A dented panel needs bodywork, not T Cut.

They are too big for the spaces, the roads, housing parking availability, everything. Just have a smaller car. Even "small" cars aren't that small these days and have good crash protection ratings.

@enchantedsquirrelwood they aren't that small on the outside but they are inside. I need a bigger car. I have no control over how big they are making the car or how small they are making the spaces. I won't "just have a smaller car" to appease you. the size of my car is no one else's business and not a reason for someone to feel entitled enough to not take care around it. My car is massive but not an suv. It's longer and wider than SUVs. I always park in the bays.

That's absolute nonsense.

The issue isn't the cost, it's the behaviour of others who think (like you) that they are so special, they can do what they like and never take responsibility for their actions.

And just because you "don't fancy" paying for the damage you cause, doesn't mean your insurance company see it the same way. My Tesla has full 360° camera coverage, which records all the time, even when parked. If you hit my car, you would pay, even if you "don't fancy" it.

I got back to my car once to find the car next to me had the rear door open against my car and they were fitting the straps in their child seat.
I automatically said ‘can you get your car door off my paintwork please?’ She huffed and eye rolled but did close it a little.
I wouldn’t dream of opening my door into someone else’s car, I always hold the door when getting in/out so the wind doesn’t pull it open against someone else’s car, so do DC.

Someone drove into DHs car when I was sat in it in a car park once, she was trying to park. She gave up and parked elsewhere but I did go and tell her she just hit our car. She came over, looked at it and said ‘there’s an old scratch there anyway’. As it happens that ‘scratch’ was a sticker DS had put on, but even if it had been a scratch, that doesn’t take away the fact she drove into our parked car fgs!

This happened to me a couple of years ago.
I was in my car and a young girl pulled up and slammed her door open into mine, the whole car shook, I said excuse me and she put her middle finger up and walked into the shop.
So I got out and keyed her car all the way along.

I don't mind if someone does this (when you're in the car/ nearby) and they apologise.
If they don't, the lack of decency annoys me rather than the car hitting.

I love my car but can't find it in me to get annoyed with some marks and scratches.

I do find it tends to be the oversized cars (which often have drivers who cannot park or handle them) that are more likely to hit someone's car.

PS why is it anyone saying "mines brand new..."- do people with "old bangers" not deserve the same courtesy?

catscalledbeanz · Yesterday 22:22

Anecdotally I accidentally touched (and it was touched) a man's car once and he went ABSOLUTELY MENTAL.

Jeez! Poor you, what a lunatic.

I knocked a woman's car lightly, a few weeks ago. She was in the car, but hadn't noticed, after I told her. She had a look, I showed her where my door had touched hers and she said it was fine, no damage.

I apologised again and went into the supermarket, no dramas. If it had been damaged, I'd have paid,

@27bumblebees This happened to me in a car park, had a lease car while mine was recalled.

Parked out the way, at the back end of the car park when someone parked next to me, opened the door straight into the lease car and damaged the paint. No way was I paying for their clumsy ways or trying to botch it with t-cut and possibly making matters worse.

They refused to give me their details but I took their reg plate and fortunately CCTV caught it on camera, they had to pay in the end!

You with your 360° camera covered Tesla is like wearing designer white trainers and assuming they'll always be sparkly white, no one will tread on them, you will levitate over puddles and they will always be immaculate.
Don't drive it (or wear them) if you're that precious!

That's different though
I might choose to stand in mud
I don't choose for someone to smack their car door off mine
It's like someone splashing mud up your coat and saying nothing

We can afford to repair ours but why should we if your at fault! If you don't want to fix it don't park next to it!

It's hard these days to avoid it because spaces are generally so small.

I do sometimes touch other cars with my doors, but I always open the door very gently.

See why people may choose to park in parent and child spaces even if they have no kids. Because it can be very hard to get out if someone comes next to you right on the line.

But it goes both ways.

Car spaces are small, we all know that.

Damaging another car (NOT touching!) from lack of care is not ok.

But so is parking in a space nearly on the line and saying ‘well I’m ok’ and then expect the other car owners to somehow squish themselves in between the two cars, wo touching your car.

So is parking ‘within the lines’ but so badly that car spaces are lost (a regular occurence in our high street). Depending on where you are, parking space is at a premium and there won’t be ‘another space further away’.

Care for other cars/people around should be a given.

But I am not surprised that some people have enough of people not caring about others in their parking and then thinking ‘tough! They should be more careful’.

And don’t get me going about touching your car but not damaging it at all and people been horrified (as seen from some posters on this thread).
Touching a car is ok. It’s not made out of cristal. Being upset and having a go at people for no reason isn’t helping either. Because they stop listening and caring.

Car parking space sizes have remained unchanged since the 1970s. It's car size that is increasing!