For as long as I’ve been driving, I’ve always strived for a good parking job. Maybe it’s just because I’m a perfectionist, but I put the effort in to make sure that my car is not only parallel to the lines/curb, but also centered within a space, therefore looking “perfect”. Granted, sometimes we’re in a hurry, and cannot correct misguided parking maneuvers. However, I feel that how one displays their parking abilities is a reflection of them as a driver. Do you feel the same?
Photographed: Hanover, MA – October 2011 (note the silver hood of my Highlander!)
Some common courtesy and a bit of effort go a long way. FWIW there is a thread http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/the-asshole-parking-thread.818043/page-904#post-32021032 devoted to this very subject that is quiite entertaining (or not).
Cheers.
I agree with you on many levels. As a route salesman I drive a great deal, people see my truck, know that it’s mine and will think that I did a poor job of parking. I know, because I do it too; I do it at work, I do it on my days off. When I park my car I look back at it and have adjusted it many times. I can’t be one of those bad parkers, can I?
Incredibly so.
Even though I’ve only been driving for two and a half years now, I will admit that parking is my Achilles heel. Between the longer than average hood of my car and the cramped parking spaces of the San Diego area, the only time I’ve ever parked perfectly was when there was no one else around me. My car is always off center in some way in a parking spot, and I always feel guilty because I feel like a dick for my bad parking. It’s something that’s going to take longer than normal for me to get down exactly right.
I guess I’m showing my age here, but having learned to drive with an extended cab pick-up and a ’79 Town car I have found that maneuvering/docking/parking those boats correctly set me up to handle anything, especially our modern ‘little’ cars. In days of yore, the many Toronados that graced my driveway were always relatively easy to park ‘correctly’ and the Suburbans even more so. I like to think that how I leave my car in a parking slot is a reflection on my skill and attention to detail and I always find myself more than a tad annoyed when I come out to find someone next to/near me that parks poorly.
Nope, I am mostly a jerk. At work there are an excess of handicapped parking spots, that never get used. This being a light industrial district. I always make sure to park next to one of those with the passenger side encroaching on one of the guaranteed-to-be-empty spots. This way I can open my drivers door with reckless abandon.
For those that are about to lecture me. I would never do this anywhere else. I’ve been in this building for over a decade, never has any of the handicapped spots been occupied.
Kudos. I would do that in front of federal buildings if I had to. I salute you sir. It’s for egalitarianism.
Heh. The gym I go to has like half a row of handicapped spots. I’ve never seen more than one car in them, because there aren’t a lot of people who need a handicapped parking spot but also are getting swole.
I’m a rather self-conscious parker, especially when driving the 2010 Prius, since it’s so hard to get it parked straight. Like so many cars now, a price to be paid for great gas mileage is atrocious rear vision, and there’s not a straight line anywhere on the car. So I find it very hard to tell whether I’m lined up right. Not unusual to leave the car, notice it’s too crooked, go back and straighten it out.
Not quite as bad as this photo from the web, but you get the idea.
I don’t seem to have much trouble parking my F-150, and it has pretty terrible visibility all around.
I don’t have much patience for people who are too lazy or too incompetent to park decently. I feel that if you can’t park you probably shouldn’t be driving. But I do realize sometimes the one you see was forced there by another that is no longer there, it can be a domino effect.
Amen to the domino effect. Sometimes when I’m forced to park asymmetrically by the next car over, I want to leave a note on my own windshield saying “it’s not my fault!”
Depends highly on the car. Small cars like a First gen Focus I can practically pull in diagonally into a space and leave enough room for the doors on either side of me to openwithout fear of impact, in My Cougar though there’s little room for error, and I’ll spend minutes centering it if I flub my initial pull in.
I am a pretty conscientious parker. My biggest failing is jutting the nose of my cars too far forward -especially the smaller ones. I guess this is the downside of my years of experience with parking land yachts.
I continue to gripe about the narrowness of modern parking places when I an in an older wider vehicle.
I do that too, even pulling into the garage at my house I’ll pull way up and then get out realizing there’s several feet between the bumper and door I’d normally worry about.
OMG. Guilty.
Having a backup camera on my new VW has made my parking skills way better.
Good for you Brendan. Beyond being careful parking, you come across as a thoughtful and responsible person, and driver. I try to be the same. I also avoid my car encroaching on to sidewalk space.
I still shake my head when I see someone regularly parking poorly in a lot where spaces are pre-assigned, and paid for by the users. I find that especially inconsiderate.
I try to do a decent job of parking. Whether it’s in my old GLC, or Civic, or Escort or my current fleet of Jetta wagon and first gen Focus hatchback. I can pull through a double row parking spot, so I can pull ahead to pull out of the spot, and the rear bumper of any of these cars will be within inches of the center line of the row, on my side of the line of course.
For two years, I had a Taurus X. I *never* got the hang of parking that thing. This pic, the only one I have of my T-Rex, is typical of my parking efforts with it: a good 3 feet short of having it in the spot.
If you parked your car like that, or like in Brendan’s picture, a friend of our family (a very experienced car mechanic) used to ask: “what’s the matter, did the engine stall?”.
“what’s the matter, did the engine stall?”.
You wouldn’t believe how frustrating that was. For an SUV, the T-Rex had good outward visibility. There was no excuse. I really was trying to get it tucked in properly, and invariably, when I got out, I would see I missed as badly as in that pic. Something about that car hated me, and went to great lengths to make me look bad.
I can relate, Steve. I’ve always prided myself on being able to drive anything. However, I’m having the same issue with my new Fusion. It has pretty good visibility and a backup camera, but invariably I park it either slightly sideways or in too far or not far enough. I’ve had it a month; hopefully it gets easier.
Yup agreed, one must always strive for the perfect parking job. As an additional step, when parking nose into a curb I like to shut off the engine (manual tranny) and gently glide in as the tire kisses the curb. Saves me about 5 cents worth of gas too. Looks bad when poorly executed though.
I’ve only had the chance once, but I did manage to parallel park my truck with a utility trailer in downtown Winnipeg. Got it on the first try, sadly no one was around to witness it.
…when parking nose into a curb I like to shut off the engine (manual tranny) and gently glide in as the tire kisses the curb.
One of test pilot Scott Crossfield’s favorite little games was landing a plane dead stick (no engine power) and manage his momentum so that he could roll from the runway, the length of the taxiway, across the apron and only need to tap the brakes to stop at the hanger.
One day Crossfield tried that and discovered the brakes did not work. This was the result.
One of my greatest parking related peeves are parked drivers that don’t shoulder check when opening doors into traffic. A young woman bicyclist was killed in my city several years ago, when she was ‘doored’ by a driver who failed to shoulder check when they opened their door into the path of the cyclist. As she fell into traffic.
My province passed a law in 2015 with a starting fine of $365 for ‘dooring’ bicyclists.
With three ‘demerit’ points.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/news/trans-canada-highway/ontario-drivers-to-face-higher-set-fines-for-distracted-offences-dooring-cyclists/article26127042/
THAT is one of my biggest pet peeves around here. Not only as a cyclist, but as a driver. I can’t tell you how many times folks will just whip open their door of their street-parked car without a glance behind. I’ve had several incidents where I’ve had to swerve or brake steeply to avoid hitting someone because of this. F’ing idiots…
I was doored about 10 years ago. Fortunately it was a late model Celica with frameless windows so I busted his glass, then flew upwards on top of traffic. Hit the hood of a Sears repair van. Other than a bruise exactly in the pattern of an Econoline turn signal and a couple scrapes was just fine.
A couple years after that Chicago passed a mandatory $500 fine for dooring.
Ha! I went to Lowe’s this morning in my truck and parked next to an F250 that was straddling two spaces at an angle. Not to protect the truck (was a well-used farm truck), just lazy parking. Owner was leaning up against the tailgate, presumably waiting on his wife.
Now my RAM 2500 4×4 pretty much needs tugboats to park neatly, but I do make the effort. I have a backup camera which helps a lot, and have purchased another camera to mount up front, as I have *no* visibility to my front bumper (and I have a front hitch receiver for moving hay racks, which is impossible to use without a helper).
Ugh, that parking job is really annoying. The arrogance. And in an accommodating Costco-style parking lot too which literally defines the spacing between cars that even a dummy could figure out… There really is no excuse to park like this except if you have a bad attitude.
I understand parking perfectionism, myself, but it is also functional to park in the extreme centre of a stall; this so as to prevent door ding damage among other things. Being centred also looks good in case I need to take pictures for insurance purposes.
(I’m Canadian, excuse the spelling differences)
I try to avoid all this political nonsense and take it upon myself to absolutely minimize parking problems. As with a lot of people, I will park next to a curb which I can totally butt right up against creating a super-wide space to the line on the other side so I can super-swing my door full lock and still not touch the vehicle beside me. If I’m driving with a passenger, I will be courteous and be the one who has to navigate the bushes getting out. Another idea I like is to park next to minivans. I presume most adults are cognizant about hitting other people’s cars with doors, but children.. not so much. I know this from personal experience. So aside from first gen. MPVs and Odysseys and etc with non-sliding doors, I feel comfortable next to minivans and their sliding doors and harried parents (I’d like to think that the swinging purses with the metal bits will most likely hit my side glass or plastic b-pillar caps with no consequences.) Finally I’d like to mention the dispicable: parking super close to the super-wide handicap spots. This is a chance game that only works in my favour if the worst ever happens. Usually these spots are never used so I bias my parking towards the handicap as close as possible without even so much as the mirror going over the line (but barely). If perchance a person sporting a legitimate parking permit parks next to me — while I’m away — in the spirit of egalitarianism (which is what the handicapped community wants, no?), it’s up to them to not touch my car while I’m away lest there’s (at worst) a non-note “hit and run.”
Usually all this parking lot madness can be avoided by either parallel parking on the street, or parking far away from the front door early in the morning or late in the evening. There are so many ways to avoid parking lot damage with all the variables involved. To save a Kia (of all cars) from damage from the vehicles next to it, perhaps this owner could have planned his or her day better. But really, if I were to guess the idea behind this park job, I’d guess it was ego and attitude based and not to “protect the baby.”
*despicable
I don’t think it’s arrogance that makes most poor parkers park that way, I believe it’s flat out laziness. Too damn lazy to bother.
The buffoons who consider their car as only an appliance. They are lazy and dumb. And, of course, arrogant.
More than 40 years ago, back in the 1970s, I remember someone writing in to complain about bad parkers to Ann Landers. The person claimed to own a Volkswagen Beetle and said that even though they parked in the middle of their parking place, they would leave their car and then come back to find that other people had parked so close to their car that they couldn’t open the doors to get in. The letter writer complained that the only way for them to get into their car was to climb in through the sunroof.
When I park carefully in the back row of a grocery store parking lot – where zero cars are parked – I’ll come out and one car is parked next to me, so close I can barely open the door. What kind of sociopath does that?
+1
So frustrating – this happens to me all the time! I usually park in an empty, distant part of my local supermarket carpark, and invariably, when I get back to my car there’s another snuggled up next to it. Until now I never actually suspected they might be doing it to mess with me…
Ah yes, the real reason why hatchbacks were invented.
My concern about parking is directly proportional to the number of other cars around me. If I’m parking near the door and surrounded by a bunch of cars, I try to be careful. If I’m parking away from the door and there aren’t any cars around me, not so much.
One of my vehicles is a Ram C/V cargo van, with no back/side windows and a tiny rearview camera monitor in the mirror instead of a rearview mirror. Parking it can be kind of a hassle, and I try to back in or pull thru when I can.
I usually try to park well away from the entrance to the establishment. This will usually keep most away from where I am parked, as most people try to park next to the entrance. I am able to put my CTS right in the center of a space. The backup camera helps me back in. The front or rear sensors also help get me to the end, it there is a curb which they can sense.
I do see a lot of mis-parked vehicles, but that does not bother me too much, except when they cut off a walk way at my grocery store.
It depends on where I am parking and what hour. Several places in Portland have tight parking so I try to park as nearly as possible. Other times I take up two spaces at Fred Meyer when it is near to 11 PM and no one is around.
I try my best when parking and I do a very good job. However, I get pissed when folks abuse the handicap slots.
As an example, upon exiting a commuter train in New York, a man ran at break neck speed to the end of the platform, down a flight of stairs and jumped into a car parked at a handicap parking spot. He immediately removed the handicap placard hanging from the review mirror and was gone in 15 seconds or less. I would have liked to captured this on a smart phone and placed it on the web for all the world to shame him.
Yes, placard abuse (my term) is despicable. I have a sister in a wheelchair, and while she doesn’t drive any longer, any time we take her anywhere, we will rightfully use a handicap space with the placard. It’s godsend to have those spaces available. If you never have a need for one, consider yourself truly blessed.
I had a neighbor years ago who had a placard as he had bad knees and great difficulty walking. His partner, who was not impaired, would use it all of the time, without remorse as if it was totally natural. Once I got a ride with the partner to the local grocery store and as he pulled into the handicapped spot he hung the placard on the rear view mirror post and got out of the car.
I can only think of a few instances of my conduct in public where I have been so ashamed. (And this time without the assistance of alcohol!) Yes, generally the spaces are empty. Yes, sometimes you have to walk a distance to the business. You are truly lucky if you can do all this. Don’t make it tougher on the people who actually need the spaces.
Thank you, Geo. By the way, I haven’t been here in a while and it’s good to see all your names again, save Bryce. Anyway, in memoriam to my late wife, for whom we both had placards, I NEVER practiced placard abuse. Some people just firmly believe they are the only person on the planet. I, for some reason, am aware that there are 6 billion other souls who use the planet, and act accordingly. I’m always concerned about what the person behind me is thinking about me, and if I do produce an annoying moment I always apologize for it. Just the way I am.
I can relate. my late wife was also confined to a wheelchair for the last six years of her life, and I had trouble getting her to use the placard when I took her someplace, as she worried that someone who had to walk would not have it available, so I usually just pulled into pick up-drop off parking, and got her inside and then parked the car.
Very. After nearly two months, I have still not gotten used to my CPO Lincoln MKS. It handles like a boat and I nearly always have to re-park. Right now—due to a faulty windshield washer pump—they have me in a ’16 MKC loaner, and I’m enjoying that small-car handling again, for a bit.
First, I park in a manner to protect my car from door ding damage. So, I am often parked far in the back of the lot. And not just anywhere in the back of the lot, but at an end space where only one side of the car may become vulnerable. And then, I’ll squeeze close to to protected side of the parking space.
Second, I agree with many posts that view other drivers with disdain who park in a manner that shows they don’t care… don’t care if they ding the car next to them, don’t care if they make it harder for the vehicle next to them to maneuver in/out… which all leads to generalizations like… don’t care if their car is trashed, don’t care if their clothes are soiled, don’t care if their pants droop and show a plumber’s crack, don’t care about anyone except themselves!
+1
As a professional truck driver I take great pride in how I park. A sloppy parking job for me is equal to a surgeon with mustard stains on his shirt from lunch meeting a patient. Even if I’m in my own vehicle I back into parking spaces because I can quickly view that the coast is clear and back in. Backing out is usually something of a crapshoot.
+1
The mustard stain reference is from Breaking Bad, I will boldly assume…cool!
I’ve been driving since 15, so for about ten years now, and being a native of parking-starved Koreatown L.A, can parallel park from down the block into a tight spot with alarming swiftness. A college lot hands down has the most unorganized parking I’ve ever experienced, where a properly aligned car is the exception rather than the norm.
On a related note, I snapped this picture years ago in a Goodwill parking lot… I have no idea what the meter maid was in such a hurry to buy to leave the car like that.
The irony… 😀
I try to keep it between the lines and if all possible in a parking lot back in. It is amazing how many people can’t understand what I am doing with my signal lights on and reverse lights indicating what my intentions are. But I have learned it is not worth my time or potential stabbing ( I live in Canada so gun play is pretty rare) to point out others parking flaws…
i just had my beloved 97 Grand Cherokee written off by the insurance company because the cost of repairs exceeds the book value of the vehicle. this was due to someone backing out of a parking spot without looking. I will now be driving a 2004 Saturn (BLEH!!!!!!) as that is all the budget can afford.
trust me, it would probably get me banned from the internet right if I gave my opinion of lousy parking jobs !
You and I both. It’s simply atrocious.
Phew, glad I’m not the only imperfect parker on here. I guess I’m just an overly cautious person and I’m always worried I’ll scrape my car. Which I’ve literally never done (although I did curb a wheel in my first car and gave myself a flat). But I think my parking is getting better. I have never really had to parallel park but I now can do that with no problems. I guess my last parking problem to conquer is getting into narrow spaces without freaking out I’ll damage my car/another car.
Brendan, you’ve touched a nerve here! Nobody I know understands why I park at the back of the parking lot [despite my having explained myself to them 50 times..] People do the darndest things to other people’s cars, once at the plant nursery I saw a woman open her door into a new Peugeot convertible’s side door and proceed to throw manure and plants into her car causing a sawing motion against the Peugeot..
I have little problem at work asking people to not sit on my car. My car is a critical expense and I try to keep it in great condition so when trade in comes around I can get a good price for it, and keep climbing the car ladder, not slide down it!
Oh, and to answer the initial question, I am absolutely conscious of how I park, more so at the back of the lot. As I walk back to my car I feel foolish if it’s all over the show.
I always double check my hand brake is on through the window, once when parking I was so preoccupied I forgot to engage it and my car started rolling alongside me as I walked away!!
I’m another one who parks defensively – at the P&R I use I make it a habit to park near a wall (and as close as possible) so as to eliminate one source of damage and to allow the idiot next to me to open his or her door without damaging my car.
… And yes, power parkers are an international breed. No, he was shopping, not picking up a corpse (in case anyone hasn’t noticed, it’s an undertakers’ van).
It seems–no, it’s always true–that the absolutely DUMBEST people drive the most expensive cars. Why buy a $90,000 car if all you’re going to do is text and talk all day? I love how those cars are portrayed in the commercials, knowing full well these people will be doing 40 in the 55 zones because their little business conference call is way more important than safe driving.
Having spent 95% of my driving time in large RWD sedans from decades past, I am fairly meticulous about, and fairly good at, parking. Of course, many of the nice diagonal stalls have been reworked into narrower, straight ones, which makes it more challenging. But I will typically try to center the car perfectly and put it as far in as possible. Also, while I enjoy backpacking for later ease of egress, I instinctively tend to avoid it as I feel the idea of having to back one of my cars out is a theft-deterrant!
Since my car spends some of its time in New York, those periods of time add two new dimensions to the experience: very tight on-street parking and parking garages. I am especially meticulous about parallel parking since I like my cars to be very close to the curb. This often requires some doing with the Oldsmobile, but many’s the time I’ve taken a space where some doubting Thomas will sit down the street waiting, thinking I’m not going to be able to fit and he’s going to get the spot. Only happened once, with the ’93 Fleetwood–because the visibility was impaired out the back. I honestly don’t know how people parallel park some of these modern rides with little windows/high trunks/no edges.
Garages are their own breed. I have no trust at all for most garage attendants. I have had more bad things somehow “happen” when my cars are in their care than when street parked. But with self-park garages, my tactic is to always get a pillar or corner spot to protect one side of the car. Usually navigating INTO the garage is more of a problem than parking, and I prefer “straight ramp” layouts to “curved ramps” which are just wide enough to accommodate the turning radius of the ’71-’76 GM C-Bodies. Whenever I get concerned about getting stuck, I always reassure myself that as long as the garage is reasonably old it was built when many cars were that big and thus I should be able to make it!
It depends on which car I’m driving. If I’ve spent the last few days driving only the van and then hop into the car, I have difficulty parking the car, and vice versa. Part of it has to do with the fact that most cars, one can no longer really see the ends of the fenders. At least for me, it makes it difficult to judge where the boundaries of the car are.
Actually, I try not to park close to the business entrance when I’m by myself. (I need the exercise) That generally makes parking pretty easy for me. But, I’m not one of those folks who will “back and fill” endlessly until the car is perfectly parallel with the lines, either. Not enough time on the planet for that kind of thing.
I always back into parking spots. even at home, I back down the driveway into the 2 car carport. I started doing this as a teen as it just made it easier to leave a parking spot (don’t have to back into possible unwatchful oncoming traffic) and at home (my parents place) I had the end spot in the garage, where pulling in left the drivers door up against the wall and one often had to squeeze out….Being fairly slender, I had no issue, but it was just easier to back in and leave more room for exiting and later entry. Backing in also allows me to line up the sides more properly and I usually park dead in line with the painted lines and pert close to centered as well.
I started backing in when I bought my F-150. It’s easier getting in and out of the spot that way, though it takes some practice.
I also back it into the left side of our two car garage stall because it fits better, something my dad used to do and I’ve always done with one vehicle. I can go in at a bit of an angle and then swing the front to the outside to tuck in and straighten out as it clears the door. The van goes in forward on the right. This leaves more space between the drivers’ doors and it makes leaving in a truck with poor rearward visibility safer in a neighborhood full of kids.
Very particular about it, as the idea of seeing my vehicle damaged due to a parking job would make my blood boil.
Very self-conscious about parking here. I always have to make sure the other person has enough room to get in/out. I hate it when other people park too close to me and I can’t get into my vehicle. I still can’t stop myself from being considerate.
I’m very mindful of my parking; I make every effort to take up only one space and make life as easy as possible for others who might be driving, walking, parking, or whatever-elsing in the vicinity of my car.
But I am also very self-conscious of my parking, in that I’m no damn good at parallel parking and what minimal panache I have disappears immediately if there’s an audience watching. Which Murphy (that dirty, rotten, no-good, low-down douchenugget) always seems to ensure that there is.
I miss my RWD Volvos; those made it easier because they can practically spin about their own vertical axis. From Germany I’ve ordered a Bosch parking copilot system (the beep…beep…beep-beep-beep-beeeeeeep variety), with front and rear sensors for retrofitment to my ’07 Accord, and while I doubt my next car will have an automatic self-parking assistant, I’ve got hopes for the one after that.
(Or the problem might just be moot soon, with China telling North Korea and the United States “Stop it, both of you, and go to your rooms!”)
I’m extremely picky about my parking. If I’m not exactly between the two lines I will move my car until it’s even. I also only back in wherever I park.
Of course it doesn’t hurt that my first car was a 1977 Mercury Marquis. If you can perfect parking one of those, everything else is a breeze!
I used to take great pride in my parking and considered myself a great parker. But these days, 99% of the driving I do is at work, and the car I drive is a Civic Hybrid with a back-up camera… which has completely ruined my ability to parallel park non-camera assisted cars. The last few times I tried it was downright embarrassing 🙁
I was raised on a steady diet of mid-80s to early 90s subcompacts and compacts, so visibility was never an issue in honing my parking skills. I did (and to some extent, still do) take great pride in parking properly.
A real turning point came in the late 2000s when the cars I drove were finally post-2000, where pillars became way thicker and rear visibility shrunk. Now I often have to re-park because I can’t see where the extremities are.
To mitigate the situation (and embarrassment) somewhat, I back in whenever possible and use little stick-on convex mirrors to look at where the lines are. At the moment I’m really tempted to get a rear-view camera installed in my van but I’m afraid if I do so I would be over-dependent on such a gadget.
Not terribly, but I wouldn’t park as badly as the Kia driver!
I find my Saturn L200 hard to park accurately because it’s 14″ longer than my previous Audi 4000 quattro, and especially because I can’t see the corners from the driver’s seat. I suppose I should make a point of getting a better sense of where the corners are, but I have other things on my mind.
Until I read the other comments in this thread, I thought I was a pretty conscientious parker! I always try to get it right the first time, get in as quickly as possible, and usually try to park next to a column or island so there is only one car next to me. I get as close as practical to said feature to give a good buffer to the next vehicle. However, once I’m out of my car, I will not get back in to adjust its attitude (unless it’s really that egregiously bad). Life’s too short!
Related: there’s a surprising amount of pleasure to be derived from a good parallel parking manoeuvre!
I’m quite anal about parking…really annoys my wife.
However, I feel like as I get older, it gets a little more challenging. That said, I look for spaces away from others or better yet, near a barrier of some kind so only one side is vulnerable to dings instead of two.
And I do believe the way you park is a reflection of how you treat others. It doesn’t have to be perfectly straight, but taking up two or more spaces or opening your door into the ride next to you reeks of someone who only thinks of themselves.
Yep, count me in as a parking perfectionist. I view it more as self-preservation, however. Driving a black car (which shows absolutely EVERYTHING) and the fact that few cars have those rub-strip moldings on the doors anymore, make me paranoid about door dings. As a result, I have no problem parking a bit farther out in a parking lot or finding the much-coveted “end” space in a row of cars.
Every once in a while I see the logic in buying some old $300 land yacht that I wouldn’t care about. Slamming a hundred-pound door and leaving the car with the windows down while I go in for a Slurpee would be nothing short of liberating!
I too am a parking perfectionist and also mostly drive a black car. I always try for the end spaces also. I will even drive around the lot a few times looking for a perfect spot. Of course this also brings spousal bonus points as I always let my wife out at the door before I park. Most times I also pick her up at the door. I am also conscious of the slope of the lot to ensure against runaway shopping carts.
Many times I have to park way out in the lot but I don’t care. Besides, I can always use the exercise. On the few occasions that I fly, I have an end space I always use way out in the lot under a light. Another advantage of this is that I always know where my car is parked and don’t have to search the lot looking for it.
Maybe I am too anal about this, as I use the same parking “rules” no matter what I am driving even if it is a rental or a borrowed clunker pickup truck. Maybe it’s genetic since my brother is treats his car the same way.
In a word… quite. I’m not OCD about pretty much anything, but I will endeavor to park properly whenever and wherever possible. Grinds my gears to a**holes like that Kia driver parking their P.O.S. like that. If they can’t do something as simple as park a car properly it makes me wonder what other driving skills they’re lacking.
And you wonder how they do their job…they probably don’t care there, either. What if it’s your next nurse, or worse, your next doctor?
Yes, Brendan, I’m very much in agreement with you. I do my utmost best NOT to be one of those careless, insensitive parkers. And, because we all know there are people who lack the best driving skills, for at least 15 or more years I park as far away as possible from where everybody else parks. There’s some percentage of my fellow motorists that I know I can’t trust. Or it might be their kids or their friends who might thoughtlessly damage a neighboring car as they throw open the car door. There’s people parking crew cab pickups in parking spaces not really designed for such large vehicles. I swear I’ve seen some people drive their not-so-minivan or large SUV almost like a battering ram. Or, maybe they apply their brakes at the last minute; or, perhaps their brakes are shot and in need of replacement. Or, we know they might be distracted by any number of things, but most likely a cell phone. I hope others know that there’s some people who seem to think it’s almost safe to read a text or send a text when they are driving at a rather slow speed. Just giving more examples of why I try to park in a spot with the least likelihood of receiving random damage.
I am not, nor will I ever be good at parking. As a consequence of that, I will do my best to park at a distance. This is particularly valuable when driving my Challenger, which has doors akin to some of the 70’s bodies it draws its heritage from. However, what really irks me is when I park away from everyone else, and still have someone park next to me. To add insult to injury, said individual slams (not unintentionally judging by the size of the dent) his door into the side of my car. Ten spots available on that row and he had to park next to me. Why?
Anyway, there are good and bad parking jobs. The most amusing? Seeing a line of full-size SUVs craming into spaces clearly engineered for compact cars. Lines? We don’t need no stinking lines! =)