To ask why people park right next to you in an empty car park?

[NotAnotherUserName5]

I was in a rush this morning, so wanted 5 minutes in an empty car park to make myself look human (lipstick mascara etc)

Car comes parks right next to me. They are just sat there

Just curious why people do this? The car park is huge. I was literally the only other car.

Do cars feel lonely?

With you on that one, it's happened to me loads. Just odd!

herd instinct, safety in numbers! all that crap!

It’s so you can line it up correctly in the space.
Personally I prefer to park in a quiet area but frequently come back and there’ll be 3 cars parked around me and then spaces 🙄
🚗
🚙🚕
🚗

For display purposes I’m the blue car

My friend does this....she says it's so her car didn't get lonely.... ;)

and don't get me started on beaches...one near me...maybe five miles of white sandy goodness and probably 80% of the people there are within 100 yards of the damned walkway.

ffs!

Somebody did this to me recently, we were the only 2 cars on the car park but they had decided to park next to me, so close that I couldn’t open my door to get in!!

I always assume they are lonely.

The oddest thing I have ever seen was a car accident in a massive empty car park. I’d popped into Asda late at night one for milk. It’s attached to our local shopping centre so the car park is massive. There were maybe half a dozen cars scattered about and when I got back, two had driven right into each other. How the fuck do you crash into another car in an empty car park? Both drivers looked like professionals (business dress) in their 30s so not even not racers.

Never seen anything like it.

Not even boy racers, that is...

This drives me nuts.

I get a variant of if; I drive a little Fiat 500 so pretty damn small. Wherever I park it, this thing is a magnet for massive cars. I can pretty much guarantee that I will come back and find the largest car in the car park has parked beside me. I'm heavily pregnant at the moment so even though the car is small I need to be able to open the doors properly and half the time even with me parked perfectly it'll be a struggle once there's a monster truck on either side.

People are nuts, honestly. I've had this happen to me several times. It's some sort of weird herd instinct but clearly it doesn't affect those of us who just want to park in the empty bit of the car-park by ourselves
keep away from me you creepy next-door parkers

If you had a small car I might do this, to give room to get back in when returning.

Think it's a sort of confirmation bias. Same as when folk sit near you on otherwise empty buses and in cinemas

Yes someone told me once that they do this as they end up crooked, sticking out, too far back in the space etc. Winds me up even more now that l know its because they have such poor driving skills.
Would really wind me up if l was sat somewhere quiet to eat or put make up on or whatever. In fact if l see a car approaching me sat on my tod in a mile of empty space and l suspect they are one of these then l turn my engine on and start driving backwards and forwards moving spaces as soon as they start trying to reverse or drive into space next to me.
It's hilarious, try it, it does their heads in.

sorry they do this or they end up parking crooked etc.

My main q is this
I have a relatively small car.
Literally everytime i park, i come back to a 4x4 on one side and a transit van on the other. Usually hiding my car completely.
WHY?

Just channeling their inner sheep I suppose.

I’m one of the guilty parkers! I’m too short to see down to the white lines over the dashboard or the rear parcel shelf, so I use an adjoining car to line myself up correctly within the space. DD says she has to angle the wing mirrors downwards or she can’t see the lines either.

I had a massive rant about this when I was massively pregnant and had to get someone to reverse my car out of a space because I couldn’t get in. People had all sort of mad theories! The cars getting lonely was one. Another liked to park a matching car, so a Golf beside other Golfs. One about safety so that if a random car is pinballing about the car park you’ve got something to jump behind. Something from an nice but bonkers uncle about the ‘proper’ way to fill a car park for maximum efficiency per the AA guide. I thought they were all mad and being cruel to a poor pregnant lady but actually I have a favoured spot in each car park which is weird too.

I don't understand this at all. I'll always try and park with at least a gap on my drivers side in a moderately empty car park, so it's easy to get out.
A couple of years ago, I'd parked in a virtually empty car park (was with DH & DD) in the process of getting a ticket and a car parked next to me and I heard a thud as they opened their door and bashed it into mine. I went over, they looked very sheepish. I did point out fairly loudly that this could easily been avoided had they used pretty much any other space in the empty car park. Luckily no damage done, so they got off with a slightly ranty telling off.

Oh I do this. I can’t help it, it’s instinctive.
I leave plenty of space to open doors though go.

I hate anything like that. I was on an empty tube carriage the other day and some weirdo got on and sat in the seat next to me. I promptly got up and moved carriages!

It's a thing people do to be deliberately annoying. It's not big and it's not clever.

Yup, beaches as a PP noted. And cafes. Also campsites, are people (& their cars) scared of being alone?

Add women's public toilets to the list. Walk to one 10 cubicles down, they're all empty and Mrs Pees like a horse comes and sits next door 🤷🏼‍♀️

QOD - that's a fab diagram!