Stories of not being able to find your car

[LogicalBlodge]

1 hour Watford Shopping Centre yesterday.

Could probably end the story there (as in - if you've been you may know 😂).

Was headed to an event, parked up and popped off.

Came back at end of day, was rainy outside so all humid. I found a carpark and headed to the top...it was covered and my car was in a small open air section.

Asked someone if there was only one and she said yes but you need to go up. Great, headed to to the top. It was massive, and empty.

No problem. Asked a gentleman who pointed to another car park through some glass in yonder distance.

I head there and again to the top. It's smaller and has a few cars, I know it's the wrong one, but I'm willing the car to appear.

Head back down and find a security guard. At this point, I'm hot, stressed, and starting to think I may never leave.

I'm so sorry I can't find my car and I'm having a breakdown (lighthearted).

This must happen as she has a list of questions - was it a glass door or closed lift, what shops did I see.

I can't remember, so she asks for the car reg. Bingo. She calls someone who checks all the cameras - it's in King Level 1, so off I head, past Prince, Palace, Queen, Moat whatever carparks (there were a lot).

I feel relief as I step out...but noo its a covered carpark. I am feeling a sense of defeat. In the corner there is a chink of light. I think no that can't be it. I head back out and see two security guards.

I don't know what happened here but as I start to speak I burst into tears. Is it in this carpark one of them asks. This question sends me over the edge and activated something in my brain and I start to laugh at the same time 😆 So I am now laughing and crying at the same time in a vaguely maniacal way trying to explain I can't find my car and someone said it was here but it's not.

He then leads me through the car park to the chink of light which turns a corner and goes up a slope to another carpark which is open-air. But that's still not it, there's another slope we go up to another open air carpark.

I'm convinced this cannot still be called Level 1 but thank him profusely anyway 😂 get in the car and eat a battered cake that I had in my bag.

I used to work with a guy who was famous for having reported his car stolen when he'd just lost it. He was going to a meeting with someone else and sharing the drive, so he'd driven his car to a motorway services, parked up, got in his colleague's car and then they drove off for their meeting. On the way back they stop at the services, Steve gets out, other guy drives off. Steve then looks for his own car and can't find it. Spends an hour looking all over. Reports it stolen. Goes into the services to get some food and at some point sees a security guard and tells him about it. Security guard asks a few questions and then takes him over the bridge across the motorway to the identical service station on the northbound side and says "now do you see your car 😂?"

🤣🤣🤣🤣 Your DH seems to have a real ‘blind spot’ when it comes to cars, doesn’t he?! 😉

@LilacPony me too.

First and last trip to Bluewater shopping centre.
Lost car for 2 hours ,brain was so frazzled I could only tell security that my car was red !! Imagine the sniggers and raised eyebrows over the walkie talkies with his colleagues 😂 and I deserved it ,genuinely couldn’t remember make or reg !
The guys did eventually find my car when my memory reminded me what my reg was !
Have never been back to Bluewater and that was about 20 years ago.

I’m struggling to think of somewhere safer than a police station!

How on earth did your key unlock the door and then lock it again though?!

Let’s say I am the practical one, he is a really intelligent man too, at other areas of life, but something that’s really obvious to me isn’t to him we are total & utter opposites, been married 31 years and always been happy, other than when the car is missing 😂

Keys weren't unique in those days! No central locking, pretty basic car.

I’m notorious for getting lost just by turning round but DP usually has a good sense of direction. 2019, drove to the end of Florida Keys in our hire car which was bright blue, chosen to make it easier to spot.
Parked up in the little town to go for a wander down to have a look around and paddle on a little beach. Used the church as a landmark, the streets are on a grid system. An hour later we head back to the car. Get to the church and no car.
We spent another hour walking around and discovered that there were at least 3 more identical looking churches as we walked! By this point my factor 50 had reached its limit and I had my damp towel on my shoulders to keep me from getting burnt in the 95 degree heat. I’ve had easier days.

Yup, it is a regular occurrence for me and my OH. Whether it is a supermarket car park, a field of cars for a country show, or a general town car park, when he parks, he has no chance of finding it again!
times I have trudged back exhausted after a country show, etc., with arms full of purchases, desperate to sit down, and he mutters those immortal words, 'I dont know where the van is!'

John Lewis in Leeds

Made a mental note of what floor to car was on, even took a photo.

Did my shopping. Came back couldn't find the car. Didn't realise the parking levels are sort of split and I'd remembered the wrong number. In panic I started looking up the floors. Twenty minutes later I found it down a floor. Then I couldn't find my ticket and had to buzz for help.

Askam Bar Park&Ride in York.
I was in York one evening with foreign work visitors. Checked my bus ticket for the last bus back the the p&r and was surprised that it was in less than half an hour (8.30pm ish! Was expecting it to. E nearer 10pm). Had to cancel my meal, then leg it across York to get a taxi to the p&r. Got there as the man was shutting the gate. Couldn't find the flipping car. I mean how hard is it to find the only car in a car park (open car park, not multi-storey)? The taxi driver asked "Are you sure it's this p&r?" (York has several). Massive waves of self doubt. Just as I was about to burst into tears we saw my lone grey car, parked in a shadowy corner at dusk. Phew!

I once reported my bike stolen to the police, then realised I'd walked home from work.

In my many years of driving I have:-

Forgotten I’d driven into town and taken the bus home. In my defence I had only passed my test the week before.

Wandered aimlessly around Sainsbury’s car park looking for my car then remembering half an hour later that I’d taken DH’s car.

Went to a huge event for classic minis, parked mine up and used a van as my ‘landmark’ which had obviously moved by the time I went home.

Repeatedly tried to get into a colleague’s car which was exactly the same as mine apart from the registration number. She used to yell at me out the window. This was prior to automatic locking.

I still regularly lose my car, it’s tiny and I’m very short. DS keeps saying he’s going to make a flag for it.

I once went to Sainsbury's, came out and couldn't find my car anywhere. I walked around for about 15 mins and then noticed SIL's car was there and suddenly remembered she had left it outside our house when she went on holiday, and I couldn't find my car key so grabbed hers and took her car as I was in a hurry. 🙄

yes, being a shorter lady it's even harder so I always park in the same place in car parks I use often or drop a pin on apple maps in unfamiliar places

There was a radio appeal in Ireland for a lost car, parked in a housing estate when a man drove to the city for a weekend. He spent 3 weeks looking for it!!

https://www.corkbeo.ie/news/local-news/man-reunited-car-lost-cork-31502265

Parked in a big retail park a few years ago in my Austin mini (10 inch wheels so teeny) took note orange car park area 3

few hours pass and off I trot to orange car park area 3 no car…. Look all around, I knew I’d parked near a shelter thing, double triple checked, no bloody car, as I’m walking up and down four aisles back there’s my car!!! The handbrake cable has snapped and it has rolled backwards, miraculously missed every other car and parked itself nicely between two normal size cars!

Well, firstly, it is possible it was 40 years ago. Certainly more than 20. Secondly, yes it could have been a mile from the courts, hence my VERY long walk. I just remember my bloodied feet and hysterical tearfulness. It wasn't in a car park, it was in a street.

I used to have a job with a lot of travel where we often got hire cars for some trips (not enough pool cars to go around) and got a different car almost every time. Quite a few times I'd come back to a car park having forgotten what car I had - the key fob had no info on it other than the general make, not model or colour or registration.

I'd have to try pressing the button on the fob near a potential target, thankfully pre-keyless times, and hope to catch sight of the lights flashing.

One car also totally defeated all attempts to open the petrol cap, even after enlisting the help of everyone at the petrol station, so I got in trouble for not refuelling.

@LogicalBlodge - I hear you. That is a car park of nightmares. One place where King's, Queen's, Palace and god knows what else merge like a vortex to some kind of purgatory. I've been stuck there several times, not realising what bloody car park I parked in and how to get to the others to find my car.

It's a fucking gaslighting car park too. I KNOW I've parked my car in Queen's on many an occasion (it's the easier one to navigate compared to the others), but have somehow ended up retrieving it from Palace. No idea how.

And don't get me started on navigating that one-way system trying to get into any of the car parks. If you miss the entrance to one, you have to go all the way around Watford.

Luckily, I now have an app on my phone where I can blast my car horn so I (and all of Watford) can hear where my car is. I've still lost my car in that bloody car park several times.

As a new driver and car owner many years ago I once drove up town to go shopping. Parked up. Got the bus home, completely forgetting that I’d come into town in the car. When I got home I saw my car wasn’t there and thought it had been stolen.

Used to gave a Toyota Yaris. It’s quite a small car, and many a time I’d return to the car park to find it totally hidden from sight by a larger car.

I've done this. Left it in the multi storey (I never ever drive to town but was passing and busy), walked home as usual after shopping and realised I'd left the car there at 9pm.

Years ago, I went to pick my sisters up from Gatwick. I was known for losing the car in car parks, so whilst waiting (their flight was delayed) I retraced my steps back to the car more than once, so they’d not be able to take the Mickey when I couldn’t find the car. So far, so good…….then when they arrived, one of them had a new boyfriend who knew a shortcut to the car park. So we followed that and of course I couldn’t find the car.After faffing around for quite a while, I realised that we were in the wrong car park. I’ve never lived down not only losing the car, but the car park as well!

putting the key next to your head is great for this - increases the range of the key substantially