Why do higher end vehicles get all the dings and dents?
 

Why do higher end vehicles get all the dings and dents? Am I missing something? I noticed this with my Jaguar XK. It was a dent magnet.My Excurson and my wife's nissan rarely get dinged. I just purchased my 02 Boxster a few weeks back and I already had it in the PDR shop today (great job by the way). I had a new 8 or 9 inch crease already. Do people actually aim their baskets or put more strength into opening their doors because a nice car is next to them?

lol.. that's merphy's law :)

it is very frustrating. I feel your pain. Thats why I rarely drive my car when going out unless I know there is good parking. I sound obsessive, but I make it a habit of walking around my car before I drive off.

Roger that ghost rider ;)

Seems the world is full of idiots, but noticed more by the people that actually care, such as us!

I have noticed the same thing. I think some people do go out of there way to hurt nice cars, and others don't even think about it. I always try to park away from other cars and shopping carts. For the most part I think people respect others cars, but some do not.

I have had few problems, but do deal with some vandalism from jealous punks. But luckily for them it has not been anything permanent. I am strong a believe in the phrase:
"You just don't f*** with another man's automobile." -Pulp Fiction

Oh yeah, I know what you're talking about. I have been ok thus far on the door dings but my 944 used to get killed with them, college campuses are the worst. Now I just park a mile away when possible. But once that first one comes ... grrr...

1) Always park in an end spot

2) End spots by the other car's passanger door is best, IMHO

3) Park far away and walk (good for the heart too)

4) Parallel parking at an end spot is very good too (give the other car lots of room to get in/out)

5) Never valet


Our cars sit very low and have NO side moldings. So, a door ding is going to show real bad. Heck, on my Explorer (I park with the same care as mentioned) the running boards can "catch" most of the trouble stuff. Not the Boxster.

I followed bmussatti's laws with every car I've ever owned. But it isn't just high-end cars, it is cars you love.

Our beloved 95 MX-6 DD/Commuter Car was parked in the alley behind the Food Lion and some jerk rolled a cart into it. Then whilst parked at the edge of the universe at a restaurant I watched as some fat a$$ broad slammed her door into it with her junker mobile.

The wife's damnable 99 Jeep GC Ltd never got a parking ding. 'Cept for the time her mother backed into it in mom's driveway.

Corollaries to bmussatt's laws.

6) Don't cross park in two places. It brings out the worst in some people.

7) Always park up hill from a cart return and never park near one.

8) On a windy day, be cognizant of how you park (shopping carts & other doors getting caught in the wind).

9) If you see a stray shopping cart in the mall, push it to a safer location, you may be protecting your own car, or another person's car at the very least.

I thought Pulp Fiction was "don't F'n massage your boss' wife's feet" :D

My wife drives the Boxster to work once or twice a week to keep a charge on the battery and keep the seals from drying out. She works at Amazon dot com and they have a huge surface lot. The first time she drove it she parked as far away from the building as possible. There was not another car within 4 stalls of her in any direction. As she is getting her stuff together to head into work this lady pulls up in this piece of junk 10 different color 80's Buick and parks right next to her. She throws open her door and puts a chip in the passenger side door the size of you little finger nail.

My wife went "mid-evil" on her. (You don't want to mess with my wife)

Does anyone here think it may be partly because we own higher end cars we tend to notice dents and dings more than the average joe blow?

Well, maybe! But, I have treated all of my cars like this since I was a teenager with my first car, a Fiat 128. Cost me $2,300 used in 1982. I treat my company cars the same, and have had those since 1992...Taurus', Bonnevilles, Explorers.

A rental car? That's a different story. :o

Ha! So it's you people that drive rental cars that go and give people like us dings :p

Haha you remind me, I travel a lot for work. One day I was bored because my company sent me to middle of no where bartlesville, OK and wanted to experience what it would be like to drive with the emergency break on. I drove about 20 miles and it started smoking when I was at a stop. Lesson, don't ever buy a used rental car :rolleyes:

ahh...the door ding issue. It sucks. I think it keeps a lot of nice cars from being parked at walmart or xxxx resturaunt. I always try to follow the golden rules mentioned below and so far I'm dingless. Fear of parking the vehicle....no way to really get past it.....just try to park smart and if it happens rememeber it's just a car. :o

Almost! I just don't park far away from stuff with a rental. I am still careful of other people's property. :)

I agree. I do my best to avoid it, but this is my only car, and in the end, it's a car, made to be driven. I don't always have the option of rockstar parking. :D

Wow! I never thought about doing that one. I know when I was in Russia a while back, I was teaching myself to drive manual (I was about 15). My dad told me if I got bored or stuck I should just drop the clutch. I spent about 15 min in a parking lot doing 5k rpm drops on the rental. Poor thing...sure was fun though :D

I think we just care more, my wifes daily driver cost a lot more than a 986, I could care less what happens to her car nor does she care as it is just a car, use the valet, park close, leave it on the street. Now when I drive my car I park in the far spot and cover my car every week when I leave it at the airport. I think P-cars have more of an emotional attachment to their owners.

I met who ended up being one of my best friends, while I was in the Air Force, at weekend detail. I was there for being late to a recall meeting. He was a DOCTOR there for the first of eight weekends he had to serve. He had parked his freshly painted '66 911 (I had a '69 911S at the time) way out in the BX parking lot, next to a light pole. He came out from the BX to find an old Falcon parked right next to his 911 and the ass-wipe had scraped about an inch and a half gouge out of the fresh paint on the passenger door. Nick took his lug wrench out of the trunk and broke every piece of glass or plastic on the Falcon!!
This story took place in 1972............

I try and stay away from vans and SUVs because kids tend to travel in them. However, like several of you, when I park out where there are no other cars, inevitably somebody parks next to me. It makes no sense. Twenty other spaces immediately near by and they park in the one next to me.
My biggest body blushes have been road grit - and an orange cone. Ooops!

Ah, 5k clutch drops are fun. :cheers: Clutch and tire smoke....nothing beats it :cheers:

Bill, here's #10...

10) DON'T PARK ANYWHERE ONE MIGHT FIND A SHOPPING CART.

I never take my boxster to grocery store parking lots. Why frequent a place where one is bound to find people who don't care about cars?

I just wish I could afford to live in Germany. People there value their cars and dogs more than their children it seems. A friend who lived there told me a story I've shared on this forum before. He came out of a shopping center to find a man and his 8 year old son standing quietly next to his car. The man said the boy had something to say, and the kid said, through tears, that he dinged my buddy's door and he was very sorry. The man gave my buddy his card and said he MUST get it fixed and send him the bill so the boy could work off the debt and learn a valuable lesson about respecting other people's property.

Now that's the way to raise a child. Pity we don't have any of this left in this country.

While sitting in my car listening to the news, a Yaris parks a foot away from me but for some reason he leaves 4 ft on his passenger side. Of course he hits my fender as he gets out. I proceed to give him the "hey, what the hell man! Watch what you're doing!". The guy turns out to be a priest and apologizes profusely. I felt like an ass.

I truely believe that it is just that we care more about our cars than the average driver. We hand wash our cars and take time to make sure they stay looking nice. And that is why we notice door dings more than other people. I always park on an end of the row or just wind up parking somewhere in whatever lot I am in where I will not get hit by another car door. Like at the Pizza place that I eat at, they have very tight spaces so I just park in the lot next door (a bingo place, that never has traffic until late in the afternoon) on the far side so that other people who don't want to fight the tight parking but are in a hurry don't park beside me and wham. A three minute walk is worth no door ding to me. And the upwind thing is so dead on, certainly here in Kansas. I never ever park on the downwind end of a lot.

Like many of you, I always park far away. The walk is good for you. But.......something I have noticed, no matter how far you park away, or no matter how many empty spaces that there are around you, other people think that my car(s) get lonely and they always want to park next to you. Also, the color red and blue seem to attaract those with the lonely syndrome more than other colors.

U guys got it all wrong
send girlfriend/wife/mistress/kids to do errands
this gives u more time to drive ur boxster
and enjoy the day
Need food --> drive thru
need fuel --> full serve
when u get home
hopefully whomever u sent out to do ur errands did them

Cheers
chris

Both my wife and I park way way away from all the cars. 90% of the time an end spot on the right side of the lane.
its not a guarantee though.

She just got a slight scrape on our aluminum Jaguar, Fortunately there was no dent as aluminum is almost impossible to fix according to the Dent wizard. He said it does not retain its memory like steel does. I was able to rub it out. :)

Sometimes she straddles end spots and I warned him someday some one will key it for spite. So far so good.