GT

Don't you just hate people with beater cars who don't give a damn about their cars?? I made the stupid mistake of parking next to one of these cars (normally, I'll try to park away from the crowds in parking lots, but had family with me today and didn't want to park too far away). Well, basically this person musta just flung his door open when he was getting in, cuz he left a dime sized ding on my door along with a layer of crusty, white paint from his car door. And it just so happened after I had just washed and waxed my car this morning. What the hell is wrong with people these days? If you see a brand spanking new (3 months old), shiny, freshly waxed A4 parked next to your car, wouldn't you think you'd at least have the slightest bit of consideration to be careful when opening and closing your door?!?! Arrghh!! I guess the ding isn't too bad... you can really only see it under sunlight and at a certain angle, so I guess there's no point in getting it fixed... sorry, just venting my annoyance.

Jason

Tell Family that the walk will be good for them and park it far away!!!!!!

Anthony

You're lucky compared to me. I just bought my car a little over 3 weeks ago. I got the first ding about a week after I picked it up. No, paint clue left behind but a nice scratch in the clear coat and about a dime size dent as well. After that I redoubled my efforts by parking out in B.F.E. _everytime_.

Scot McKay

I try to park next to nice cars, and only in spaces where the doors of adjacent cars won't reach mine. Still, these dings seem to pop up on their own.

I happen to live 7 miles from the Mexican border, and you just can't have something nice here it seems. People will key/ding/spit on a nice car simply because it is yours and not theirs. Similarly, the wealthy drivers from Monterrey, MX don't give a flip--these are the same ones who leave used baby diapers in the parking lot at Target--effectively crapping on our country.

OTOH, I *watched* a 70-yr. old lady blatantly throw her mini-van's door against my 2 wk. old car one time, and asked her what she planned to do about it. No kidding--she smirked a wry laugh at me, and had a distinct condescension in her voice as she simply said, "nothing--your car will have dings all over it before long".

I was flabbergasted by her response. Realizing I had been had by a "sweet little old lady" (who successfully hedged that her age and gender would keep my emotions tempered), she drove away.

I went back inside the shop, where I was told she was the largest Ford dealership in town's Mom. Then it occurred to me--this lady has likely been doing this her entire life with no remorse since she never pays for cars and can trade hers in any time.

My best ding story is about the car I drove home new from the dealership, and had five good size dings on it two days later. I was positive I had inspected it thoroughly prior to accepting delivery (?!). Nonetheless, the dealer fixed it all under warranty without challenge--they said there was no way someone could have collected five dings in two days. Just in case it *was* possible, they were going to claim the damage happened during transit (dealer trade) and charge it to warranty anyway.

We won't even discuss the minimum four dings caused by our own family members who have parked next to our vehicles in our driveway...

Incidentally, in all of my dingy experiences, I have never had a single ding that was fixable by the "paintless" method. Weird.

HT

The rubbing strip that goes along the side usually
protects the front door hitting the wall or another car. Most of the time works well.

But the rear door, because the wheel arch cuts into it, makes the rubbing strip useless and means you can dent other cars and vice versa with that sharp corner. That's where I find dings appear, half way up the rear door panel.

HT

DaveL

it's the little children that throw the door open without regard to the car next to it. Or it may be the parent that is strapping a child in a car seat that may push the door into the next car.

HT

Just like those big ugly car bras to protect from stone chips, you should attach big pieces of foam rubber to the doors.

You might look like a joke, but you won't get dents

HT

JJ-WI

Right between the driver's side front and rear doors, down to the primer! At first I thought someone had tried to break in, but there were no marks inside the door. And only 3 months old $400 later it's all better, but my god, what luck!

John 99.5 2.8QMS

mitro

Ronco used to make a magnetic foam thing you stuck on the side of your car for just this.

mitro

The problem with parking next to nice cars is that they leave.