AIBU to feel angry about people parking too close to my car?

[Helene225]

Please be kind I think I’m ND but not diagnosed. I feel crazy writing this so using this anonymous forum to express my anger at people parking really close to my new car!

I’ve spent a lot of money on my new car that I’ve had for 3 weeks, today for example I feel so much anger - drove into work really early only a few cars in parking lot. I was sat in my car getting my stuff together when a colleague I don’t know at all but obviously works there parked right next to me, bear in mind car park was literally empty! She continues to open her door which is now touching my car! I got out quickly and asked if she’s okay and asked her to hang on whilst I move over to make room for her to get out. She says, “no it’s okay I’ll manage!”, I feel so angry like WTF she could have parked a little more to the left so her door could be opened easily without banging into my car. Issue with work car park is there are no parking lines indicating where to park so it’s just left to everyone’s common sense on how much room to leave. Not first time this has happened by the way.

I just don’t get how people are so inconsiderate. Even with my old car I would open the door so carefully and never park so close that my door would be touching a car! I’m just really panicked I will get a scratch on my car from them. I feel paranoid but I keep seeing a dent where she opened her door into my car but DH can’t see anything,

It makes no sense to me why a driver would park with literally a few cm between the car and then open the drivers car door which hits the next car and then struggle to get out! The car park was empty. I managed to park with enough room to open my door and get out without wriggling against the door! Gosh majority of you sound like awful drivers btw.

Oh come on ..this is a bit of a reach. Im a short woman. I can and do adjust my seat, use mirrors and everything. Not everything is about the patriarchy and if there are some design hangovers that do this, we are capable of making adjustments.

how big is this car park?

a lot of car parks for workplaces I have been in are small with fairly tight spaces. People need to park close together to get enough people in. If people start parking off centre in spaces to give themselves more space it leads to less cars fitting in!

Best thing you can do is park in a corner so at least one side is protected. A lot of people can’t park well!

It’s quite big! There’s never a shortage of space.

Bash or just touch

so did you park as far away from the entrance to the workplace as possible?

I knew an SUV hater would be on quickly 🙄

I think this is really normal with a brand new car, you’ll calm down and ease into it after a few weeks. Yes it’s a huge amount of money and they’re beautiful brand new but it’s a car and you have to use it as one.

Bash! I hear the noise so got out quickly and saw her wriggling out of the drivers seat with the car door pressed against my passenger door.

edited to add not being mean but she is a little overweight which I don’t understand d why she would struggle to wriggle out when she could easily have parked more to the left and left room to get out easily. There was a whole row of space

But no marks

They are rather big

I parked as far away from the entrance as I possibly could

I agree she sounds like a bad driver (or a bad parker). A lot of people on the road lack common sense. I've been driving a long time and see it all the time.

You'll get more zen about your car as it ages, it's inevitably going to pick up bumps and scrapes.

But yes, as someone also ND (since you mentioned it) I do always notice and get annoyed by bad parking. Parking too close, parking over lines, not parking straight, not giving others enough room to get out, making someone's ability to get off their driveway difficult etc.

Yesterday I asked my builder to move his van as he'd partially blocked my neighbour in. A plethora of other spaces available to him elsewhere on the road, btw. 'She can get out can't she?' he said. Well yes she can with a lot of manouvering, but let's not piss off the people I have to live next door to, hun.

Park as far away from any building as possible the you're less likely to get anyone park next to you.

I don’t think it’s necessarily the fact it’s a new car well maybe a little it’s the fact people are so inconsiderate about others property. I think that’s my anger.

I've got a new car for the first time. I just don't sweat about stuff like this in all honesty. My partner would park away from others but I just can't get that bothered. In 30 plus years of driving I've had no issues so 'touch wood' that will continue.

My pet peeve is people thinking that new / expensive cars deserve more respect than old cars.

Just because something is older doesn’t mean it can be treated like shit and doesn’t matter.

If I’m parking my car between an old polo and a brand new jag, I’m parking IN THE MIDDLE, I’m not scooching up on the older car out of fear of the expensive car.

I know it’s not the exact scenario in this example but the mentality is there that this being a brand new car somehow outranks others.

YANBU. I always park the far end of the car park to avoid this. If going to a city I’ll assess carefully where we’re parking.

Some people enjoy and look after their cars, some don't. Some look after their homes, some don’t. Some people iron clothes some don’t etc.

I’ve seen the state of the inside of some people’s cars who don’t look after them - shithole.

Cost me £500 to fix dents when some inconsiderate twat thought they’d whack their car door into
mine.

Can’t really understand someone paying so much money for something to not care about it or look after it. But that’s just me.

I’m with you OP.

Forgot to add, my car is over 10 years old and looks immaculate.

People are weird!!! It would annoy me too OP. I was sitting in a train carriage which was nearly empty, when someone got on and sat opposite me!!! Personal space people!!!!

I think you need to stop stressing about this. It’s only going to make you increasingly angry as you’re never going to be able to stop people from parking close to your car on occasions.

What’s the worst that can happen? You’ll get minor dings or marks. It really doesn’t matter and it’s certainly not worth getting angry about.

Parking close especially when there are no lines as guide - fine.

Bashing another car to be able to open your door - that’s not okay! I don’t know why people are pretending it is. I’m not especially precious about my car and it isn’t new but if I was sat in it and someone bashed it with their door I would point it out to them.

Hmm it sounds like she was close, but I also hate it when people leave massive gaps between cars when there aren't lines, meaning that more cars could have parked. Happens at a tourist place near me. First section of car park has lines and is fine..they used to then have parking attendants to try and assist on the next section with no lines trying to keep people together but got rid of them I assume due to cost and now rely on common sense which a lot of people don't have, meaning that most people do the opposite and all the gaps would equal many more cars fitting in.

I was in Sainsbury's a few weeks ago and I saw a guy slam the rear door of his ancient Fiesta into the side of a new looking Cupra. He then did exactly the same thing with his front door. It was far too hard to be an accidental knock and I think he was just an arsehole making some kind of point. Maybe he considered the Cupra to be parked too close, but there was actually plenty of space to get into his car.

It was a real eye opener as to how antisocial some people can be with zero justification.