To ask if anyone else is absolutely shit at parking??

[trentyh]

I can drive no problem. Drove regularly on motorways, nothing phases me about driving.

But parking, I'm crap. Absolutely crap.

I've just been somewhere and knocked a tall plant pot over. I apologised to the person who owns the thing I knocked over. Other people saw me do it and I'm mortified.

Because all I needed to do was drive instead instead of trying to reverse in. Honestly I don't have a clue what I was doing.

I left this place completely red faced and they are people I see on a regular basis. The pot wasn't damaged. But there was so much room for me to park properly.....what the actual hell was i doing?!

Should I message the person again to apologise for knocking it over? I picked it up and it's not damaged.

But it was loud as all these kids came running out to see what happened. Eurgh.......

I can reverse park on a road as I had to get into tight spaces for school run/parking near work. If I hadn’t had to do it I’d still be driving around looking for a massive space!! I never really had to do that until about 8 yrs after I passed my test 😂 however I never reverse into an actual parking space - I prefer to reverse out.
I tend to just drive relatively locally - within about an hour’s radius - but I’m a driving wuss. I know a lot of people (women!) who are worse than me and won’t do A roads etc.

Yep, definitely me. Like you I’m fine at driving but just cannot park at all.
I probably would get better with practice, but I’m so nervous about accidentally hitting someone’s car while trying that I tend to avoid busy car parks and so never get any practice

Me. I would park half a mile up the road to get a bigger space.

Absolutely. I am fine when there is no one around but add in literally even one person (even a passenger) and my brain goes to shit

I envy people with parking sensors!

Practice using your mirrors.
Ignore parking aids and learn the corners of your car.

Me !

Nope. I am SHIT HOT at parking.

It's a newish car and my old one used to have sensors but this one dosesnt. I wasn't trying to park in a space. It's someone's house and they have a small yard type thing as a drive way.

Could of just drove right in but nope....decided to reverse and was unbelievably close to hitting the house.

Glad it's not just me though!

God, you are so NOT the only one OP! I passed my test in February so obviously my parking is still utter shit but so many experienced drivers I know say the same. I have a friend who has been driving for 12 years who feels panicky at the very thought of parallel parking!

Yes. I am really crap. I am known for parking in easy spots, even if that means walking a bit to get where I need to go.

My car is just full of scrapes/scratches/bumps from me trying to park...my husband thinks it's getting done by people walking by with keys on our road

@Lottapianos don't even get me started on parallel parking!!

Dh perfectly parked the car yesterday using parallel parking and looked at me all smug....I wouldn't even attempt it.....ever

Me! I've only had my license a few months and have driven loads all over but haven't done a reverse park since my test. I could manage a reverse parallel park but reversing into a bay just doesn't work for me. Something about it simply doesn't compute

It's just the fact that people I see on a daily (mostly anyway) basis saw me do it and I had to pick it up and apologise obviously.....when there was absolute no reason for me to get in that situation in the first place because all I had to do was DRIVE STRAIGHT IN!!!!

I passed in November and I still can’t park. I have to drive into spaces and sometimes I struggle to reverse out.

I can’t reverse park I’ve done it 3 times and took me like 5 attempts each time. I’ve never parallel parked and I’m too scared too

I have trained myself to reverse park and now that’s my go to.

However I am shit at parallel parking and will drive for miles to find a bigger space if needed!

I parked in a normal sized space at work a while ago, nothing difficult about it, I just reversed in. A man walking by stopped and complimented me on my parking. Wtf?! How sexist is that?!

@trentyh I have sensors and a reversing camera but prefer not to use them, I use my side mirrors a lot and also tilt them down for parallel parking so I can see the kerb if necessary. It can also be worth putting a sticker on your rear windscreen to line up where it needs to be when parallel parking - put the sticker where the kerb is once parked.

Yes. I'll have a go at driving anywhere but I'm embarrassed by how awful my parking skills are.

Still rubbish at parking work has a reverse in only policy which I hate. I get between the lines some days.....

What you're saying is that you make bad decisions over how to park, and then you park badly and hit things.

You need to learn how to drive in reverse. You are currently unsafe in certain driving situations.

Practice and/or get lessons. Don't revel in your incompetence, fix it.

Please don't give yourself a hard time. No-one Is perfect at driving, trust me! Just practice reverse parking more, some where quiet. You'll become really good at them.

It really is practice - I drove a Smart car for years and still do as my day-to-day car so was used to just driving it frontways into pretty much any space. Then I bought a campervan and spent about a month driving around the streets trying to find a space big enough to do the same and, obviously, impossible. Just knocked down with a friend one afternoon and spent several hours parallel reverse parking with his guidance until I worked it out.

You need to practice, like learning any other skill. Go to a supermarket car park after they close (Sunday evenings for example) and spend an hour or two practicing.

I used to be able to park until I got a CMax. The car seats block the rear side windows and the parking sensors beep despite being 1.5m away from the car behind.

I can actually reverse park no probelm. 9/10 times I reverse into a space as I've had a lot of practice. My home has allocated spaces so I do it every day.

I suppose what I'm shit at is making decisions lol. I always try reverse in so it's easier for me to pull out. Which I what I tried to do and it went massively wrong.