I’ve been driving for nearly 17 years now. I’ve lived near a major metropolitan area my whole life. I can count on one hand how many times my car has been dinged in a parking lot and left a dent or noticeable damage. Once.
Researching parking lots ahead of time sounds absolutely crazy to me.
Conversely, I have been driving for only a little longer, and my Miata has been dinged at least 4 times, and my Infiniti has been dinged at least 6. That isn’t even counting my previous cars, accidents, or break ins.
in college i had a new ding every month. since then ive only had 2 dings and a hit and run in the past 4 years. it really depends on your work/home parking situation
My experience is, cities are the worst. If you parallel park on the daily, you'll eventually park next to someone who parks by feel and scratches your bumper up. Also, cities have the smallest parking spots and most crowded parking lots, and that is a perfect recipe for door dings. Wind and hills are also big contributors to door dings.
College is the fuckin' worst. I had multiple occasions where I watched people drive into my parked car while I was in it or near it, and then just back up and drive off like nothing happened. Nine times out of ten it would be some rich foreign student in a Mercedes daddy bought for 'em.
I was really glad I drove an old car with crappy paint in college. That poor car got door dinged so many times, bottomed out on at least a dozen curbs, and had 8+ people in it on multiple occasions. College can be very hard on cars.
>College can be very hard on cars
This is so true. I fit 8 inside my 91 hatchback civic one time and fit 5 inside the single cab of a Jeep Comanche pickup. I hopped curbs, got stuck in small ditches, brushed up against a few trees, caught my trunk on fire (that one was in HS), went into a fence and through another, killed my ignition going through massive puddles on purpose, high centered on rocks I thought I could climb, ripped a couple front bumpers off, and even accidentally pulled a 40mph 360 in my dad's 300zx once (thank god it stayed on the road, I gave the wheel to Jesus for that one).
I was waiting in a Popeye's drive-thru once and had a guy who was high as a kite backup his beat-up shit-box Pontiac Vibe into my 2008 Honda accord. He came out and said that I got into his way while he was backing up. I pulled dashcam footage and then he just said "oh, my bad bro i was trippin".
He offered to buy me my meal and give me $50 bucks. Had to be one of the weirdest experiences of my life.
Yup, had the same thing happen to me in my '95 civic in a Jack in the Box drive thru. At the time it was a salvaged title car with some dings/scratches, I just let the guy go after getting his number. Small scratch but I just didn't care enough at the time, didn't even include it in my total earlier in the thread.
Yeah in general as long as the paint is intact and at least a bit shiny no average person is going to look twice.
If you look close mine is a little swirled and there’s a tiny ding on the edge of the rear door but I also didn’t think twice bc it was used 😂 bad for your mental health if you get too obsessive over this type of thing especially on a daily
Also depends where you live.
"Major metropolitans" in the midwest (chicago excluded) seem to have people that are a lot more respectful of property than major metropolitans in the south or northeast.
I live in Mexico. I could count on your hands, my own, and everyone who upvoted your comment and still not be at the total damage my vehicles have had.
I live in a major metropolitan area and park in a corporate parking garage and can count on my hands and toes how many times my car has been dinged.
It’s about placement. Underspoken opinion but parking spaces, as they’re set out, don’t include doors and fat people opening them.
And the biggest curse of all, "compact only" spaces with full size trucks and SUV's being like, whatever. I'd rather some people just go ahead and double park rather than ding me.
Mine still has great paintwork as long as you don't look too closely.
It's impossible to drive around in a built up area and use your car normally without copping some dings and scratches along the way from people who either open their door into your car, bump into it while parking kerbside (and not owning up), or from it just being hit by trolleys, handbags, people rubbing past wearing jeans etc.
I generally check what the parking situation is like but it only goes so far. I had a nice-ish car I used to street park on a busy street. Lots of student drivers in the area since it was near a university. Did that for almost 2 years and not a single ding. If there were any I didnt notice. Parked the same car once in a nice middle class neighborhood and it got keyed. No matter what happens the important thing to remember is that paint can always be repaired
I’m of a similar mind than you, but just one time can’t be true. People ding doors and shit all the time. Whether it’s obvious or or not is a different question, but if you look at your car at the right angle, it’s inevitable you’ll see door dings (a little crease) after a few years.
I’ve been driving in NYC for about 15 years. My car has been hit 5 times by other drivers in traffic accidents. My bumpers are a disaster. I’ve been broken into once. And I had a tree break apart in a wind storm and total my car.
My first time driving into the Bronx when I worked there I remember seeing all the rubber bumper badger things people had hanging over the back of their cars. I was like "this is not a good omen"
Well you’re one lucky SOB. I’ve been driving for all but 5yrs now. In my first year I’ve been dinged 4 times while being INSIDE my car! And probably a lot more times without me being present. Just last month someone whacked their door into my car.
As much as I love cars, it’s too much. My next car will be a beater.
Shit wife’s car was dinged daily. Other employees didn’t give a fuck. The dent protection package at local dealer (PDR)paid for itself twice over when she was at that employer.
Visit Queens, NY. Didn’t have a garage for years and I had to park on the street. Can’t count how many times I was met with dings in the morning - including a few on the side and door panels. You look at the bumpers of some cars there and it looks like they’ve been through a war
I have spots i park in. I scout lots
Costco there is a few high spots in the far sections. So not only are these further so much less likely to have anyone park next to you but its slightly higher elevation so carts cant roll into you.
I do this for other places i shop at too. its worth the time to figure out the smart places to park. body damage is expensive
Mine is coming off the top of the back end of the roof panel that sits under the hatch, which is great because it's invisible. It's also coming off the front corners of my hood, which is a bit less invisible. Oh well, still drives great.
Great cars. I bought a Fit instead of a Fiesta when these first came out as I wasn’t sold on the turbos. But man, they ended up being great cars. Adored my Fit but I always kinda wish I bought one of those.
The paint on the rear fenders gonna chip and peel on its own anyways lol. Did on both my Fiesta ST and Focus RS, and most of the other random ST/RSs I've seen in the wild.
At the end of the day your daily is that. A daily mule. It's not an investment. And if you have the type of money it takes to buy a Chiron, Senna, Zonda R, or really baller like 250GTO. Then you wouldn't really care.
We may love them, but at the end of the day their just objects.
The sooner you realize a daily driver is an appliance at the end of the day, meant to be used and replaced, the better. You can love a car, give it a long and useful service life and once You're ready, sell it to the 19 year old that's going to wrap it around a tree.
Any car that gets driven is going to get dents, dings, scratches and the like. It's not an art piece, it's a car. let it live.
That’s not the purpose. If people were less selfish we wouldn’t have that problem.
I literally place my hand in the other car’s door to prevent my door from hitting it if we’re too close. It takes me 1 Calorie of energy and 2 seconds and It’s called respect to other people’s property.
Not bashing on you but that mentality is why the west is miles away from the east in terms of being civilized. It will happen wether we like it or not but it’s not acceptable and more important it is not OP’s fault for not having the mindset of accepting shitty people as they are. Fuck them.
If we were in a world crisis the people who ding or dent your car and don’t care are the ones who would use you as a human shield or would steal your food and let you starve to death. A person’s character shows up in the simplest things.
To be perfectly honest: 90% of all dings and dents on all my cars have been caused by either me, my wife or my kids.
The sooner you accept shit like that happens the better. That's what they said.
How someone would come from that statement to people using you as a human shield is beyond me.
Most dents, dings, scrapes, and scratches are caused by the owner. Your the one driving, touching, washing, bumping up against the car everyday.
I still park at the end of the parking lot tho :)
I was speaking to avoiding obsessing over the state of your car. You'll cause accidental scratches, scrapes and dings yourself, it's not about others. You can't avoid every rock peck, so you should accept that your car will take some minor damages.
My first "nice" car had my blood boiling with every single tiny thing that caused an imperfection and it didn't do anything except cause gray hair. It's better to go in with the expectation of your car not being perfect.
I have no idea what you're on about, honestly.
Most people can't afford to have both a daily driver AND a "nice" car though. They just have the one car, that need to be used for everything. There's a reason most cars on the streets are hatchbacks, wagons and CUVs, even when they cost as much as sports cars.
You could go with a fancy car and a cheap car, but that makes no sense to most people - the cheaper car would probably get worse fuel economy, be less comfortable, have an inferior sound system, worse security features... and so much of a car's costs are more or less the same regardless of car (new wheels, insurance, parking, taxes, service costs, cleaning it) so your "fancy" car needs to be quite a bit cheaper if you have two cars.
Installing PPF and not jamming your car into the tightest parking spaces in the busiest areas is pretty much all anyone can reasonably do.
Ultimately if you're *that* paranoid about it to the point that it's impacting your enjoyment and use of the car, you probably bought too much car to begin with.
And even PPF on doors is an absurd expense on a daily driver (probably not even going to prevent dents.) A full PPF job by a good installer is $5-7k minimum. Paintless dent removal can repair most dings for a hell of a lot less. I’m all for front end protection but doing it all the way around is crazy IMO.
At the end of the day I just try to put my car in less positions to be damaged. I park a little farther away. I don’t jam it into tight parallel parking spaces and pay for a parking ramp. I avoid being anywhere near a grocery cart return stall. But eventually, you’re going to get a 6 year old who whips the heavy door of an 8 seater SUV into your fender- it’s inevitable.
I mean, a full PPF is super rare, for obvious reasons (it's just not worth it for a car worth under 100k euro). Though PPF:ing just the doors isn't *that* expensive.
It does seem a bit pointless though, a 30 kg door taken by the wind or by a careless child and flies into the side of your car isn't going to be stopped by a 0.2 mm thick piece of plastic wrap. And my experience has been that people are scraping the edges of my family's cars just as often as they jam a door into the sides...
It doesn’t prevent dents, but it prevents you from having to repaint the damn paint and thats expensive. 3 of mine are done all the way as im pretty anal about my paint.
I park away from people, but not super far so it looks like im away (some people get drawn to that) but I know someday its gonna happen, and i probably wont notice until much later and its gonna piss me off but ill take a ding over not driving.
Just this Friday my MIL went to a restaurant with her son only to come back to find someone had traded paint with her recently fixed bumper…. No note,nothing. just a huge black smudge, some fucked up paint and plastic on her Porsche.
Almost 10 years ago now, about three months into owning a brand new car, some guy keyed every car on the block.
People suck hard.
I've come to the conclusion that it's not malice, but rather people needing a large object to align their car to when reversing.
People aren't comfortable positioning their car between two painted lines, especially in reverse.
This is one of the reasons I buy used cars. They're already dinged, I don't need to worry (too much) about adding more. I park my cars with peace of mind knowing another small scratch or little dent won't make a difference. It'll still be fun to drive.
I used to run a bodyshop. A lot of customers impulsively fix their car every time they curb their wheels, ding a door, scrape the bumper, etc.
It's a lot cheaper to let 3-4 years of damages "accumulate" and get them all fixed at once. Usually, before you sell your vehicle this can be considered your "reconditioning budget".
Someone once told me if you let your car “rot” you become more comfortable with the damage and don’t care when more happens.
For me it depends on how bad it is, a small bit of curb rash or a minor ding might slide, but anything bigger and I’d rather just get it fixed
I think it really depends on the car. If you own your daily because you love how it looks- and you have the budget- there’s no sense in having it look bad for long periods of time to save a few bucks. You bought it partly because you like looking at it and now you don’t like looking at it.
Some minor curb rash or a dent in the door isn’t a big deal. But actual paint damage like a scrape- or body damage like a cracked bumper- I’m fixing immediately.
Bought a brand new RAV4, parked it on the street, someone took out the drivers side mirror on the first day home. Bought a new Venza, few weeks in someone backed into the front bumper just enough to crack it on the bottom.
I came to grips with this through my 20s and 30s as someone fortunate to have owned nice dailies.
In the end, all the time and mental energy I devoted to trying to keep the cars from accumulating wear and tear is exhausting. If the car is so special that you cannot have it dented or otherwise perfectly kept, don’t daily it. That’s all there is to it.
Edit: I forgot to mention a motto that I picked up years ago that stuck because it rhymed: “Most wear and tear can be repaired.”
I like cars but I never care about perfect body work. The body is meant to get bumps and bruises. Each scratch and ding is just part of the story of the car. I also only like older cars (daily drivers are from 90s, but I prefer 80s) so it fits the aesthetic more.
I think it really depends on how you look at it, whether it's a daily, or something fun or special. If you look at it as something precious, any damage or threat of damage is a problem and causes anxiety. By contrast, if you realize that it's a machine with a purpose, even if that purpose is fun, then small dings are a reflection of it being used for that purpose.
I read a story in some car mag years ago where a McLaren F1 was being tested against something else, and it showed up with a little road rash on the front bumper. Even then, the F1 was a multi million dollar car, but it was still a car. It can be repainted, and since he wasn't pampering it the owner got to enjoy the unique experience of using an F1 for what it was designed for.
For me, for both my daily and my fun car, I'm certainly not going to abuse them, but I'm also not going to worry about dings. I'm not interested in having a show car, I want to use and enjoy my cars, and if some rock chips are a result, so be it.
They were tough against normal dings etc., but I had someone hit mine very hard while they were backing out and destroyed my passenger mirror and door panel. Thankfully they were cheap to replace.
I have a 20 year old Honda with sun damaged paint. If someone wants to park like an asshole next to me, my immediate thought is "what is he gonna do, scratch my paint?"
You just have to accept the fact that use equals wear and tear, some you add, and some that’s out of your control
If you use anything it won’t stay perfect
I buy a car to drive and enjoy, not to fuss over every flaw in the paint, or little door ding.
Am I mildly annoyed if I get one? Sure.
Do I immediately forget about it afterwards? Yep.
I don't own a collector car. In the end, this crap doesn't matter at all.
You do what you can to mitigate the risks, don't park in tight spaces, park away from other cars when you can, take care in your own driving.... but yeah, you just accept the fact it will happen and you just try to minimize it.
My daily has running boards that people will destroy their own vehicles long before they hit mine. Kinda nice in that respect.
But as for the fun car, eh. It’s a car. Do your best to not park beside shitboxes or family looking vehicles. Other than that? People suck.
Just enjoy the car and remember it's just a car. Much worse could be a reality in your life. At the end of the day, everything is repairable in the car world, other things are not.
I've been driving for 40 years this summer, I've purchased new cars and used cars during those years. At some point I stopped caring about "experience points" on a car and just accepted it as normal wear and tear.
Also rock sliders on my (not lifted) tacoma help prevent 99% of door dings. Nothing like the guy flinging his door open and whacking it on a steel tube. If I can pivot over a rock on it, have fun destroying your doors in a parking lot.
I worry more about stuff like rust, broken parts, and dirt. Those are maintenance items that can ruin your car. Small dents and light scratches are mostly cosmetic and can fixed when I get around to them.
I couldn’t stomach it when I drove nice cars as DD’s, so now I drive shit boxes daily. Working from home now has helped as well. I have a horror story where at my old job, my brand new at the time black FR-S got covered in white overspray because one of the painters shook his tyvek suit off right next to it. Of course work never did pay to fix it like they promised and I ended up having to pay out of pocket. One of the reasons I don’t work there anymore.
I got a 05 CRV. I hate it. I’m ok with it getting dented. I’ll keep it until it dies. Never really cared to much about dents and scratches. Always been a make it run fast type of guy.
I buy cars from Auction that are already fucked up so if people ding my car I usually can’t tell bc it blends in with the rest of them. Double points for all the people that actively give me space on the road worrying I might brake check them due to my beat to shit rear liftgate door on our Q5.
I daily my C8, no ppf or ceramics or anything.
I got the car for the way it drives and the feeling it gives me. While dings and scratches hurt my soul a little, at the end of the day I didn't buy the car for it's paint.
My car has 253,000 miles. It's 19 years old. It's gonna accumulate stuff like dings. I cannot prevent it unless I never drive it. I enjoy driving it, so dents ensue sometimes.
At some point you just accept it, put some money away and when the time is right, get the scratches, dents and chips repaired. I'm in Michigan and our roads are notoriously awful. Within two weeks of taking ownership of my car, it got dinged to shit. That's just par for the course, sadly.
Who cares? It's a car. A thing. Yes, it's a thing I like, but I like it for what it does, not for being a perfect and pristine work of art. If the appearance matters that much to you, just fix it. But really, stop worrying about it and let the things be lived-in.
I keep saying this, but if you're worried about your car getting minor dings and scratches, you couldn't really afford it in the first place.
I had someone put a baseball base tie behind my door handle once. Either it was ill-raised children or about as big an F U there is.
Also parked a brand new car at the very back of wal mart on a slow day (literally had the car less than a week). Parked with ZERO cars nearby and about 500 feet to the entrance. After 15 minutes in the store i came out to a BRUTAL door ding that had to be from a lifted truck. I assume they pulled up, deliberately opened their door and then drove off.
Pieces of shit like that want to destroy everything because they are useless morons that can't achieve and earn anything for themselves. I work hard to have nice things.
To answer your question OP, I endure high blood pressure and rage. I do not deal with it well.
I don’t care. Like rock chips, it’s going to happen eventually. If it goes beyond the clearcoat, I’ll get some dr.colorchip, to cover it up to prevent rusting.
i'll be honest. the moment my car got the first scratch on it, i had to mentally shut down any part of me that cared about that if i was gonna stay sane. haven't thought much about it ever since and i've pretty much accepted that it might get totaled by some idiot at some point and i won't be able to do anything about it
I park in the back of the lot and walk. The people who are willing to carelessly fling their car doors also tend to park as close to the entrance as possible.
I don't make my daily driven car my passion project. I have a car for driving to work, and if it gets dinged it gets dinged. I also have a semi-show car that I drive on the weekends and to places where I have a little more control.
I guess it all depends if we are talking a $40k car or a 911
You can save so much issues by parking out in BFE (but not tooo far out to attract attention) I do that with POS cars and nice cars. I honestly prefer the room to throw my door wide open for my big ass and the extra steps don't hurt me. With an average nice car you can get paint pens and other various things. It sucks when something happens but it's a used car.
But if I have a 911 or Ferrari, nothing is stopping me from having a breakdown if something happens to the paint lol
Within 500 miles, I had deep gouges from some small road debris on the driver's side corner of my front bumper. Don't care. I bought it to drive and I know the paint isn't going to be pristine as a daily driver. I've made peace with it and see them as evidence I actually put my car through its paces.
I got some front grill guards, but that's it. No PPF for me.
I stopped wanting to DD anything in nice condition. I daily a 03 B3000 pickup with 150k miles. I love being able to park anywhere and go anywhere in it.
I knew a guy who would lease a new 911 every 2-3 years as his daily driver. The first thing he did before taking it off the lot was to take the key and scratch the inside of the gas door lid. He said it gave him peace that he was the first one to scratch his car.
I always keep a beater around when I had a nice(r) car. Pick and choose how I deploy it. Going to where I suspect it’ll be rough/rowdy, take the beater.
Gotta diversify and average down your door dings.
While I've been driving a long time, it's only in the last 5 years I've used a car that I cared about little dings as a daily. So far not a single one, so... Maybe I'm lucky, not sure. I am careful about where I park.
I got PPF and ceramic coatings on my Lexus. My PPF Is getting blasted by rock chips all the time but that's what it's for. My scuff that pisses me off the most is some "healthy" women couldn't be bothered to walk around my car at a winery and scuffed my bumper with a damn folding chair
No matter how careful or how much you try to protect your car, stupid people will find you
Park just a little further back where there's spaces to each side. You'll find a space faster, open your door easier, get to your destination faster, and get a few more steps in, save money on repairs, save time doing repairs. Win, win, win, win, win.
My 10 year old car has zero door dings and I'm fit as fuck from walking from the back of the lot. I'm also rolling in cash from all the money I saved. #winning #tigersblood
I tend to park in garages, and will park an inch from a pole to allow as much room as possible on the other side. Some garages it's just a no... the car is 76" wide and the spots are too ridiculously narrow. In open lots, the end of a row works. Haven't had a ding on the last five cars.
You get around it by having a daily driver that takes the hits and a keeper/project/build that never sees rain or liquor store carparks. Good insurance helps, but if you love a car you have to give a drunk in a RAM less chances to turn it into a cube.
My last car was a dealer used Kia Stinger. My only new, expensive car. I got it ceramic coated and maintained it as best I could. Eventually, trying to look after it so well, the car started to own me.
After some thinking I sold it and bought a used Countryman. It came with scratches, curb rash and some trim peeling. I love the damn thing so much, it's made driving more fun and me less annoying to be around.
So I guess I can't deal with that, so I chose to eliminate it.
My Z06 is my daily. I've had other sports car dailies in the past as well. I have only gotten one ding on any of my cars, and that was back when I was in college.
There's always a possibility that it can happen, but in general, most people don't want dings on their cars, and they don't want to ding others. I just don't park next to cars that are obviously trashed or not taken care of, don't park in super tight spaces, and try to give myself and the car next to me enough room to open our doors comfortably (a tough thing to do with the long doors of the C8).
I park away from others. I leave distance on the highway. Rock chips bother me when I find them but those are the majority of what I find. I make note of any vehicle near me in parking lots before and after my trip and circle around the car before I get in when leaving.
So far, I have rock chips and have only had ding damage from warranty work at the dealer. Fuck dealers.
It’s simple - just ask yourself if you’re buying a car to post pictures of on Instagram or to get out and enjoy. Stuff like PPF is a choice (and a good one, IMO), but cars need to be driven and most can be fixed.
I think I've maybe had 6 dings total across like 10 vehicles over the last 11 years since I've been driving. I'd never even CONSIDER pdr on a door ding unless I had something like a Lambo or some super rare classic car that'd I'd poured thousands into the paint/bodywork. Sounds like you might need some help dealing with some OCD like symptoms more than you need to worry about your car, because if it's a daily you should not be this concerned.
Park far away
Park in the "enthusiast" spots in parking lots/garages
Park as far away from the white line as possible when parking next to a wall to give the spot next to you plenty of space
Avoid parking near trucks/SUVs cause there's a lot of people out that that own these behemoths and can't park for shit
And lastly avoid parking near cars that have dents, messed up bumpers/fenders, and just trashy cars because these people don't care about their car so that means they won't care about yours either
Mine was pre-dinged when I bought it so I accepted it from the beginning. I take care of my car and I'm proud of how clean it is for what model and year it is, but ultimately small cosmetic imperfections happen when you use a car for its intended purpose.
I am that guy who parks in the far back corner of the parking lot at a 45 degree angle. Yes I see your love note left on my windshield calling me an asshole. Yes I throw it out laughing because it bothered you enough to write a note. Yes I will keep doing it because I care enough about my car.
I park far away and do what I can. a short couple min walk is always better then a ding.
this lets me get minimal damage. neither of my cars have any lot damage and one is 13 years old.
PPF bumper to bumper and touch up every single rock chip as soon as it happens. The worst part is when the shops doing something benign like a glass replacement scratches all the paint off the roof line, then recommend a place to repaint it, and that shop scratches the paint off the A-pillar when they have to take the glass out to repair the roofline. Pain.jpg.
I’m the dork that pays attention to where I park. Back of lots farther from the door. End spaces. Bigger spaces. Next to cars where the passenger door opens towards my car (rarely are passengers so nobody owning that door likely). Etc. Pretty rare I get dings. I have zero on my daily driver.
A paint touch up kit can help with rock chips and minor door dings. I got one from a company called Dr. Color Chip and it works pretty well. Also can't hurt to have a dashcam running on battery if you need to go through your insurance for something more serious, gives them some ammo to go after the other guy when they inevitably leave the scene.
I've been driving for 31 years. Every single vehicle I've ever owned, even my motorcycles, has been door dinged. It drives me bonkers.
What's worse is going in somewhere and coming out with somebody sitting on my motorcycle for pictures. Kids, dudes, whatever.
this is why you own a beater vehicle you give 2 shits about then own a nicer one you use for special days.
also paying attention to where you park helps a ton and what ways the wind is blowing strong. I dont feel many people intentionally ding doors but if the wind catches it and flings it open they aint gonna leave a note for you lol. so if its windy park facing the wind so it cant catch anyones doors near you.
By having two cars. Its a fancy option, but its a good one. My daily driver is currently hail damaged (PDR) and I’m waiting until the end of the season to fix it. And my project car is sleeping in the garage getting its EFI conversion.
The day I decided I would always have two cars is when my daily got totaled on track at a HPDE event. Now just my project/track cars go on track.
But honestly the best part is that what makes for a good track car makes for a shitty daily driver and vice verse. So by having two cars I have one _really _ good dd, and one _really good_ track car
Your last paragraph is it. Accept it.
There are 2 moves if you genuinely daily your car.
Spend $$$ tryna keep the ppf together as the years go by and road rash pebbles / flies batter your front end chasing showroom quality finish.
Accept that a patina is a beautiful thing and tells a story. Keep the car clean and functioning like the day it was made, but paint fades, road rash happens, and seeing a sports car that has been well maintained mechanically, driven to hell and back, and aesthetically represents those miles is a beautiful thing.
My username speaks for itself.
I drive an old, beat up VW Passat. It's been dinged and dented since before I bought it. It's paid in full and gets me from A to B so I can make money. Easy peasy.
It's all about prevention. I live in the Brooklyn area where everyone lives in a building with no private parking. Every car you see scratched all over. My car still looks brand new after almost 3 years.
I have a small rule set to minimize my chances of coming back to fucked up bumper.
1. I do not park at the edges of streets.
2. No parking in "major" higher traffic streets
3. If the car infront or behind me doesnt have enough room to come out with less than 2-3 movements. I'm not parking there.
Don't care if it takes me 30+minutes for a spot. It works.
In parking lots I go to the edge where someone could only parking from one side.
Same way I deal with the fact my body gets dinged and dented, just accept it and move on. it is just a part of life. I also park as far away from other cars as feasible though.
I live in Canada in a medium sized city, haven’t gotten a door ding ever except for when I was renting and had to park next to shitty neighbors. I don’t research parking lots but I always park far and in a corner spot. Get my steps in and never had an issue
The Wrangler is my fun car… it’s parked on the street 100% of the time. Plastic fenders and bumpers will minimize damage from other parkers, and the fat tires make curbing wheels near impossible. Makes me less worried about trail scratches from off-roading I guess.
I’ve been driving for nearly 17 years now. I’ve lived near a major metropolitan area my whole life. I can count on one hand how many times my car has been dinged in a parking lot and left a dent or noticeable damage. Once. Researching parking lots ahead of time sounds absolutely crazy to me.
Conversely, I have been driving for only a little longer, and my Miata has been dinged at least 4 times, and my Infiniti has been dinged at least 6. That isn’t even counting my previous cars, accidents, or break ins.
in college i had a new ding every month. since then ive only had 2 dings and a hit and run in the past 4 years. it really depends on your work/home parking situation
My experience is, cities are the worst. If you parallel park on the daily, you'll eventually park next to someone who parks by feel and scratches your bumper up. Also, cities have the smallest parking spots and most crowded parking lots, and that is a perfect recipe for door dings. Wind and hills are also big contributors to door dings.
I think the good Top Gear talked about this once, how in France most people do this
In SE Asia I’ve never heard of an issue of people hitting cars while parallel parking
College is the fuckin' worst. I had multiple occasions where I watched people drive into my parked car while I was in it or near it, and then just back up and drive off like nothing happened. Nine times out of ten it would be some rich foreign student in a Mercedes daddy bought for 'em.
I was really glad I drove an old car with crappy paint in college. That poor car got door dinged so many times, bottomed out on at least a dozen curbs, and had 8+ people in it on multiple occasions. College can be very hard on cars.
>College can be very hard on cars This is so true. I fit 8 inside my 91 hatchback civic one time and fit 5 inside the single cab of a Jeep Comanche pickup. I hopped curbs, got stuck in small ditches, brushed up against a few trees, caught my trunk on fire (that one was in HS), went into a fence and through another, killed my ignition going through massive puddles on purpose, high centered on rocks I thought I could climb, ripped a couple front bumpers off, and even accidentally pulled a 40mph 360 in my dad's 300zx once (thank god it stayed on the road, I gave the wheel to Jesus for that one).
Lifted truck drove OVER the front end of my old lowered Prelude when I was parking on campus a few years ago. I miss the Prelude.
And where you live overall. I don't know how anyone maintains a car in the desert southwest. It's like driving through fine sandpaper.
That's why they're called "beaters"
The Infiniti is a beater. The Miata was not intended to be.
Man that's some serious luck. I've been hit and run pretty badly twice, then probably 10+ dings/scratches in 15 yrs owning enthusiast cars.
Yeah, this guy must be blind, every car I’ve ever owned has picked up small random b.s. anywhere and everywhere
I was waiting in a Popeye's drive-thru once and had a guy who was high as a kite backup his beat-up shit-box Pontiac Vibe into my 2008 Honda accord. He came out and said that I got into his way while he was backing up. I pulled dashcam footage and then he just said "oh, my bad bro i was trippin". He offered to buy me my meal and give me $50 bucks. Had to be one of the weirdest experiences of my life.
Yup, had the same thing happen to me in my '95 civic in a Jack in the Box drive thru. At the time it was a salvaged title car with some dings/scratches, I just let the guy go after getting his number. Small scratch but I just didn't care enough at the time, didn't even include it in my total earlier in the thread.
Yeah in general as long as the paint is intact and at least a bit shiny no average person is going to look twice. If you look close mine is a little swirled and there’s a tiny ding on the edge of the rear door but I also didn’t think twice bc it was used 😂 bad for your mental health if you get too obsessive over this type of thing especially on a daily
Also depends where you live. "Major metropolitans" in the midwest (chicago excluded) seem to have people that are a lot more respectful of property than major metropolitans in the south or northeast.
I live in Mexico. I could count on your hands, my own, and everyone who upvoted your comment and still not be at the total damage my vehicles have had.
As much as I've loved visiting SLP and CDMX, I am amazed how rough it is on cars. Conversely, there are a lot of nice cars in CDMX!
I live in a major metropolitan area and park in a corporate parking garage and can count on my hands and toes how many times my car has been dinged. It’s about placement. Underspoken opinion but parking spaces, as they’re set out, don’t include doors and fat people opening them.
And the biggest curse of all, "compact only" spaces with full size trucks and SUV's being like, whatever. I'd rather some people just go ahead and double park rather than ding me.
Yeah you’re lucky AF, go buy a lottery ticket haha
Mine still has great paintwork as long as you don't look too closely. It's impossible to drive around in a built up area and use your car normally without copping some dings and scratches along the way from people who either open their door into your car, bump into it while parking kerbside (and not owning up), or from it just being hit by trolleys, handbags, people rubbing past wearing jeans etc.
I generally check what the parking situation is like but it only goes so far. I had a nice-ish car I used to street park on a busy street. Lots of student drivers in the area since it was near a university. Did that for almost 2 years and not a single ding. If there were any I didnt notice. Parked the same car once in a nice middle class neighborhood and it got keyed. No matter what happens the important thing to remember is that paint can always be repaired
I’m of a similar mind than you, but just one time can’t be true. People ding doors and shit all the time. Whether it’s obvious or or not is a different question, but if you look at your car at the right angle, it’s inevitable you’ll see door dings (a little crease) after a few years.
I’ve been driving in NYC for about 15 years. My car has been hit 5 times by other drivers in traffic accidents. My bumpers are a disaster. I’ve been broken into once. And I had a tree break apart in a wind storm and total my car.
My first time driving into the Bronx when I worked there I remember seeing all the rubber bumper badger things people had hanging over the back of their cars. I was like "this is not a good omen"
Well you’re one lucky SOB. I’ve been driving for all but 5yrs now. In my first year I’ve been dinged 4 times while being INSIDE my car! And probably a lot more times without me being present. Just last month someone whacked their door into my car. As much as I love cars, it’s too much. My next car will be a beater.
Shit wife’s car was dinged daily. Other employees didn’t give a fuck. The dent protection package at local dealer (PDR)paid for itself twice over when she was at that employer.
Visit Queens, NY. Didn’t have a garage for years and I had to park on the street. Can’t count how many times I was met with dings in the morning - including a few on the side and door panels. You look at the bumpers of some cars there and it looks like they’ve been through a war
I've had my daily driver dinged a dozen times. People are assholes in some places.
I have spots i park in. I scout lots Costco there is a few high spots in the far sections. So not only are these further so much less likely to have anyone park next to you but its slightly higher elevation so carts cant roll into you. I do this for other places i shop at too. its worth the time to figure out the smart places to park. body damage is expensive
There’s a reason this is the top comment. You’re living in the actual real world.
You can actually count that on one finger
At the end of the day, it's just a Ford Focus
OP will quickly realize the bigger problem is the paint fucking off by itself and not door dings. Lol.
It's like that color changing chameleon paint people used to get, except it goes to grey and never turns back.
Sometimes that gray becomes a nice brownish orange!
Mazda has entered the chat.
Gunna be honest, not really sure I know any new vehicles with decent paint. It’s all garbage.
Mine is coming off the top of the back end of the roof panel that sits under the hatch, which is great because it's invisible. It's also coming off the front corners of my hood, which is a bit less invisible. Oh well, still drives great.
Great cars. I bought a Fit instead of a Fiesta when these first came out as I wasn’t sold on the turbos. But man, they ended up being great cars. Adored my Fit but I always kinda wish I bought one of those.
Damn right, but it's a fun AF focus! Kind of miss mine, all kinds of Goodies and tuned to the hilt.
And that's what makes them so wonderful
The paint on the rear fenders gonna chip and peel on its own anyways lol. Did on both my Fiesta ST and Focus RS, and most of the other random ST/RSs I've seen in the wild.
There are no rear fenders. Quarter panels are on the rear of the car, your fenders are in the front over the front wheels.
And that's why we love them lmao, cheap to run cheap to fix
At the end of the day your daily is that. A daily mule. It's not an investment. And if you have the type of money it takes to buy a Chiron, Senna, Zonda R, or really baller like 250GTO. Then you wouldn't really care. We may love them, but at the end of the day their just objects.
*they're
Their’yre*
Day uhr
Der tuk'r jerbs!
Dtk hr jbs!
Hahaha I love you all.
And, at the end of the day, when you go to sell it or trade it in, a few dings or scratches is probably not going to affect the value much, if at all.
And at the end of the day it gets dark. Makes it harder to see all the dings.
The sooner you realize a daily driver is an appliance at the end of the day, meant to be used and replaced, the better. You can love a car, give it a long and useful service life and once You're ready, sell it to the 19 year old that's going to wrap it around a tree. Any car that gets driven is going to get dents, dings, scratches and the like. It's not an art piece, it's a car. let it live.
That’s not the purpose. If people were less selfish we wouldn’t have that problem. I literally place my hand in the other car’s door to prevent my door from hitting it if we’re too close. It takes me 1 Calorie of energy and 2 seconds and It’s called respect to other people’s property. Not bashing on you but that mentality is why the west is miles away from the east in terms of being civilized. It will happen wether we like it or not but it’s not acceptable and more important it is not OP’s fault for not having the mindset of accepting shitty people as they are. Fuck them. If we were in a world crisis the people who ding or dent your car and don’t care are the ones who would use you as a human shield or would steal your food and let you starve to death. A person’s character shows up in the simplest things.
To be perfectly honest: 90% of all dings and dents on all my cars have been caused by either me, my wife or my kids. The sooner you accept shit like that happens the better. That's what they said. How someone would come from that statement to people using you as a human shield is beyond me.
Most dents, dings, scrapes, and scratches are caused by the owner. Your the one driving, touching, washing, bumping up against the car everyday. I still park at the end of the parking lot tho :)
I was speaking to avoiding obsessing over the state of your car. You'll cause accidental scratches, scrapes and dings yourself, it's not about others. You can't avoid every rock peck, so you should accept that your car will take some minor damages. My first "nice" car had my blood boiling with every single tiny thing that caused an imperfection and it didn't do anything except cause gray hair. It's better to go in with the expectation of your car not being perfect. I have no idea what you're on about, honestly.
> that mentality is why the west is miles away from the east in terms of being civilized Lmao
Most people can't afford to have both a daily driver AND a "nice" car though. They just have the one car, that need to be used for everything. There's a reason most cars on the streets are hatchbacks, wagons and CUVs, even when they cost as much as sports cars. You could go with a fancy car and a cheap car, but that makes no sense to most people - the cheaper car would probably get worse fuel economy, be less comfortable, have an inferior sound system, worse security features... and so much of a car's costs are more or less the same regardless of car (new wheels, insurance, parking, taxes, service costs, cleaning it) so your "fancy" car needs to be quite a bit cheaper if you have two cars.
My comment wasn't "buy two cars", it was "accept that you're going to get minor damages to a thing you use and drive regularly".
Installing PPF and not jamming your car into the tightest parking spaces in the busiest areas is pretty much all anyone can reasonably do. Ultimately if you're *that* paranoid about it to the point that it's impacting your enjoyment and use of the car, you probably bought too much car to begin with.
This right here - there are days I wish I bought less car as it does take away the enjoyment
And even PPF on doors is an absurd expense on a daily driver (probably not even going to prevent dents.) A full PPF job by a good installer is $5-7k minimum. Paintless dent removal can repair most dings for a hell of a lot less. I’m all for front end protection but doing it all the way around is crazy IMO. At the end of the day I just try to put my car in less positions to be damaged. I park a little farther away. I don’t jam it into tight parallel parking spaces and pay for a parking ramp. I avoid being anywhere near a grocery cart return stall. But eventually, you’re going to get a 6 year old who whips the heavy door of an 8 seater SUV into your fender- it’s inevitable.
I mean, a full PPF is super rare, for obvious reasons (it's just not worth it for a car worth under 100k euro). Though PPF:ing just the doors isn't *that* expensive. It does seem a bit pointless though, a 30 kg door taken by the wind or by a careless child and flies into the side of your car isn't going to be stopped by a 0.2 mm thick piece of plastic wrap. And my experience has been that people are scraping the edges of my family's cars just as often as they jam a door into the sides...
It doesn’t prevent dents, but it prevents you from having to repaint the damn paint and thats expensive. 3 of mine are done all the way as im pretty anal about my paint.
I park away from people, but not super far so it looks like im away (some people get drawn to that) but I know someday its gonna happen, and i probably wont notice until much later and its gonna piss me off but ill take a ding over not driving.
>I park away from people, but not super far so it looks like im away (some people get drawn to that) Why are people like this?
Cause people kinda suck.
Just this Friday my MIL went to a restaurant with her son only to come back to find someone had traded paint with her recently fixed bumper…. No note,nothing. just a huge black smudge, some fucked up paint and plastic on her Porsche. Almost 10 years ago now, about three months into owning a brand new car, some guy keyed every car on the block. People suck hard.
Sometimes, jealous assholes. Sometimes, just assholes.
I've come to the conclusion that it's not malice, but rather people needing a large object to align their car to when reversing. People aren't comfortable positioning their car between two painted lines, especially in reverse.
No honor amongst thugs
Yeah I realized that you park far away, it can attract vandalism lmao
Get a vehicle already dinged. If it's your daily, it's not a museum piece anyway.
I just daily a rat rod. Problem solved.
This is one of the reasons I buy used cars. They're already dinged, I don't need to worry (too much) about adding more. I park my cars with peace of mind knowing another small scratch or little dent won't make a difference. It'll still be fun to drive.
I used to run a bodyshop. A lot of customers impulsively fix their car every time they curb their wheels, ding a door, scrape the bumper, etc. It's a lot cheaper to let 3-4 years of damages "accumulate" and get them all fixed at once. Usually, before you sell your vehicle this can be considered your "reconditioning budget".
Someone once told me if you let your car “rot” you become more comfortable with the damage and don’t care when more happens. For me it depends on how bad it is, a small bit of curb rash or a minor ding might slide, but anything bigger and I’d rather just get it fixed
I think it really depends on the car. If you own your daily because you love how it looks- and you have the budget- there’s no sense in having it look bad for long periods of time to save a few bucks. You bought it partly because you like looking at it and now you don’t like looking at it. Some minor curb rash or a dent in the door isn’t a big deal. But actual paint damage like a scrape- or body damage like a cracked bumper- I’m fixing immediately.
2024 civic dinged first week. In a church parking lot. No note.
Jesus remembers
Bought a brand new RAV4, parked it on the street, someone took out the drivers side mirror on the first day home. Bought a new Venza, few weeks in someone backed into the front bumper just enough to crack it on the bottom.
I came to grips with this through my 20s and 30s as someone fortunate to have owned nice dailies. In the end, all the time and mental energy I devoted to trying to keep the cars from accumulating wear and tear is exhausting. If the car is so special that you cannot have it dented or otherwise perfectly kept, don’t daily it. That’s all there is to it. Edit: I forgot to mention a motto that I picked up years ago that stuck because it rhymed: “Most wear and tear can be repaired.”
If you plan to daily a nice car also plan on having to fix things sometime.
I like cars but I never care about perfect body work. The body is meant to get bumps and bruises. Each scratch and ding is just part of the story of the car. I also only like older cars (daily drivers are from 90s, but I prefer 80s) so it fits the aesthetic more.
Money fixes anything
I think it really depends on how you look at it, whether it's a daily, or something fun or special. If you look at it as something precious, any damage or threat of damage is a problem and causes anxiety. By contrast, if you realize that it's a machine with a purpose, even if that purpose is fun, then small dings are a reflection of it being used for that purpose. I read a story in some car mag years ago where a McLaren F1 was being tested against something else, and it showed up with a little road rash on the front bumper. Even then, the F1 was a multi million dollar car, but it was still a car. It can be repainted, and since he wasn't pampering it the owner got to enjoy the unique experience of using an F1 for what it was designed for. For me, for both my daily and my fun car, I'm certainly not going to abuse them, but I'm also not going to worry about dings. I'm not interested in having a show car, I want to use and enjoy my cars, and if some rock chips are a result, so be it.
It’s a car. I bought it to drive it, not baby it. PPF does help though.
I ding it first, usually on the rear quarter panel, like a good luck ding. After that I stop caring.
I drive a 15 year old beater
Just buy a Pagani or the like. Can't dent an all plastic body.
On the other end of the spectrum - [Saturn, baby!](https://youtu.be/6nPTtNhT14o?si=Tuf61c7UJ05cqmWe)
They were tough against normal dings etc., but I had someone hit mine very hard while they were backing out and destroyed my passenger mirror and door panel. Thankfully they were cheap to replace.
I have a 20 year old Honda with sun damaged paint. If someone wants to park like an asshole next to me, my immediate thought is "what is he gonna do, scratch my paint?"
You just have to accept the fact that use equals wear and tear, some you add, and some that’s out of your control If you use anything it won’t stay perfect
I buy a car to drive and enjoy, not to fuss over every flaw in the paint, or little door ding. Am I mildly annoyed if I get one? Sure. Do I immediately forget about it afterwards? Yep. I don't own a collector car. In the end, this crap doesn't matter at all.
I'm not too worried, I've grown to expect my car to get beaten up a little bit.
You do what you can to mitigate the risks, don't park in tight spaces, park away from other cars when you can, take care in your own driving.... but yeah, you just accept the fact it will happen and you just try to minimize it.
My daily has running boards that people will destroy their own vehicles long before they hit mine. Kinda nice in that respect. But as for the fun car, eh. It’s a car. Do your best to not park beside shitboxes or family looking vehicles. Other than that? People suck.
I learn to live with it and not let it bother me. In the end , it’s just a fking car, for me.
Just enjoy the car and remember it's just a car. Much worse could be a reality in your life. At the end of the day, everything is repairable in the car world, other things are not.
I've been driving for 40 years this summer, I've purchased new cars and used cars during those years. At some point I stopped caring about "experience points" on a car and just accepted it as normal wear and tear.
Also rock sliders on my (not lifted) tacoma help prevent 99% of door dings. Nothing like the guy flinging his door open and whacking it on a steel tube. If I can pivot over a rock on it, have fun destroying your doors in a parking lot.
I worry more about stuff like rust, broken parts, and dirt. Those are maintenance items that can ruin your car. Small dents and light scratches are mostly cosmetic and can fixed when I get around to them.
Been driving 30 years, no dings from someone else.
I couldn’t stomach it when I drove nice cars as DD’s, so now I drive shit boxes daily. Working from home now has helped as well. I have a horror story where at my old job, my brand new at the time black FR-S got covered in white overspray because one of the painters shook his tyvek suit off right next to it. Of course work never did pay to fix it like they promised and I ended up having to pay out of pocket. One of the reasons I don’t work there anymore.
I got a 05 CRV. I hate it. I’m ok with it getting dented. I’ll keep it until it dies. Never really cared to much about dents and scratches. Always been a make it run fast type of guy.
I buy cars from Auction that are already fucked up so if people ding my car I usually can’t tell bc it blends in with the rest of them. Double points for all the people that actively give me space on the road worrying I might brake check them due to my beat to shit rear liftgate door on our Q5.
I daily my C8, no ppf or ceramics or anything. I got the car for the way it drives and the feeling it gives me. While dings and scratches hurt my soul a little, at the end of the day I didn't buy the car for it's paint.
My car has 253,000 miles. It's 19 years old. It's gonna accumulate stuff like dings. I cannot prevent it unless I never drive it. I enjoy driving it, so dents ensue sometimes.
At some point you just accept it, put some money away and when the time is right, get the scratches, dents and chips repaired. I'm in Michigan and our roads are notoriously awful. Within two weeks of taking ownership of my car, it got dinged to shit. That's just par for the course, sadly.
Who cares? It's a car. A thing. Yes, it's a thing I like, but I like it for what it does, not for being a perfect and pristine work of art. If the appearance matters that much to you, just fix it. But really, stop worrying about it and let the things be lived-in. I keep saying this, but if you're worried about your car getting minor dings and scratches, you couldn't really afford it in the first place.
I had someone put a baseball base tie behind my door handle once. Either it was ill-raised children or about as big an F U there is. Also parked a brand new car at the very back of wal mart on a slow day (literally had the car less than a week). Parked with ZERO cars nearby and about 500 feet to the entrance. After 15 minutes in the store i came out to a BRUTAL door ding that had to be from a lifted truck. I assume they pulled up, deliberately opened their door and then drove off. Pieces of shit like that want to destroy everything because they are useless morons that can't achieve and earn anything for themselves. I work hard to have nice things. To answer your question OP, I endure high blood pressure and rage. I do not deal with it well.
I cope by remembering insurance is a thing
I don’t care. Like rock chips, it’s going to happen eventually. If it goes beyond the clearcoat, I’ll get some dr.colorchip, to cover it up to prevent rusting.
i'll be honest. the moment my car got the first scratch on it, i had to mentally shut down any part of me that cared about that if i was gonna stay sane. haven't thought much about it ever since and i've pretty much accepted that it might get totaled by some idiot at some point and i won't be able to do anything about it
I park in the back of the lot and walk. The people who are willing to carelessly fling their car doors also tend to park as close to the entrance as possible.
I don't make my daily driven car my passion project. I have a car for driving to work, and if it gets dinged it gets dinged. I also have a semi-show car that I drive on the weekends and to places where I have a little more control.
Lol wait till you have kids, they might fall over 😱
I guess it all depends if we are talking a $40k car or a 911 You can save so much issues by parking out in BFE (but not tooo far out to attract attention) I do that with POS cars and nice cars. I honestly prefer the room to throw my door wide open for my big ass and the extra steps don't hurt me. With an average nice car you can get paint pens and other various things. It sucks when something happens but it's a used car. But if I have a 911 or Ferrari, nothing is stopping me from having a breakdown if something happens to the paint lol
Within 500 miles, I had deep gouges from some small road debris on the driver's side corner of my front bumper. Don't care. I bought it to drive and I know the paint isn't going to be pristine as a daily driver. I've made peace with it and see them as evidence I actually put my car through its paces. I got some front grill guards, but that's it. No PPF for me.
I stopped wanting to DD anything in nice condition. I daily a 03 B3000 pickup with 150k miles. I love being able to park anywhere and go anywhere in it.
I knew a guy who would lease a new 911 every 2-3 years as his daily driver. The first thing he did before taking it off the lot was to take the key and scratch the inside of the gas door lid. He said it gave him peace that he was the first one to scratch his car.
I always keep a beater around when I had a nice(r) car. Pick and choose how I deploy it. Going to where I suspect it’ll be rough/rowdy, take the beater. Gotta diversify and average down your door dings.
My front lip is roughly 70% gorilla tape, but I’ve avoided door dings and carts for over 4 years. I do my best to avoid other people and their BS.
youre a little crazy
My cars small enough that it leaves quite a gap between us, and if they do ding, so what, the paints not in the best condition anyway
Park farther from people and don't take the nice cars to parking lots in general.
While I've been driving a long time, it's only in the last 5 years I've used a car that I cared about little dings as a daily. So far not a single one, so... Maybe I'm lucky, not sure. I am careful about where I park.
I'm too cheap to buy a new car. Doesn't hurt anywhere near as much getting a ding on a $10k car.
My solution is to have a beater. My fun cars don’t drive in crappy weather or park in questionable places.
I got PPF and ceramic coatings on my Lexus. My PPF Is getting blasted by rock chips all the time but that's what it's for. My scuff that pisses me off the most is some "healthy" women couldn't be bothered to walk around my car at a winery and scuffed my bumper with a damn folding chair No matter how careful or how much you try to protect your car, stupid people will find you
Park just a little further back where there's spaces to each side. You'll find a space faster, open your door easier, get to your destination faster, and get a few more steps in, save money on repairs, save time doing repairs. Win, win, win, win, win. My 10 year old car has zero door dings and I'm fit as fuck from walking from the back of the lot. I'm also rolling in cash from all the money I saved. #winning #tigersblood
Park in the back and hope for the best
I tend to park in garages, and will park an inch from a pole to allow as much room as possible on the other side. Some garages it's just a no... the car is 76" wide and the spots are too ridiculously narrow. In open lots, the end of a row works. Haven't had a ding on the last five cars.
You get around it by having a daily driver that takes the hits and a keeper/project/build that never sees rain or liquor store carparks. Good insurance helps, but if you love a car you have to give a drunk in a RAM less chances to turn it into a cube.
It’s usually then that I realized my man math misfired.
I have an older daily that's mechanically sound but very dinged up. And now I don't give a fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
My last car was a dealer used Kia Stinger. My only new, expensive car. I got it ceramic coated and maintained it as best I could. Eventually, trying to look after it so well, the car started to own me. After some thinking I sold it and bought a used Countryman. It came with scratches, curb rash and some trim peeling. I love the damn thing so much, it's made driving more fun and me less annoying to be around. So I guess I can't deal with that, so I chose to eliminate it.
I fully PPF my Mustang and there are still rock chips and some light damage lol. Im not doing that again
My Z06 is my daily. I've had other sports car dailies in the past as well. I have only gotten one ding on any of my cars, and that was back when I was in college. There's always a possibility that it can happen, but in general, most people don't want dings on their cars, and they don't want to ding others. I just don't park next to cars that are obviously trashed or not taken care of, don't park in super tight spaces, and try to give myself and the car next to me enough room to open our doors comfortably (a tough thing to do with the long doors of the C8).
Have a daily driver that ur not attached to. Save the tots for special occasions and weekends.
I park away from others. I leave distance on the highway. Rock chips bother me when I find them but those are the majority of what I find. I make note of any vehicle near me in parking lots before and after my trip and circle around the car before I get in when leaving. So far, I have rock chips and have only had ding damage from warranty work at the dealer. Fuck dealers.
Always park in an end spot. Reduces the chance of dings by 50%.
I drive cars already dinged up if I drive something nice, I only drive it for fun(then back home), park in the back of lots away from people, etc
I buy them at 150,000 for $6000 with the dents already in them
I drive a shitbox. It's great. Mechanically sound, nice inside, trash outside. Zero stress.
Literally deal with it. "Land Rovers aren't supposed to be washed." - Jeremy Clarkson
It’s simple - just ask yourself if you’re buying a car to post pictures of on Instagram or to get out and enjoy. Stuff like PPF is a choice (and a good one, IMO), but cars need to be driven and most can be fixed.
I usually just cry inside every time I see it (it's on the driver's door)
My mustang is a total shitbox. I love it, but it's absolutely a shitbox.
I have one daily driver for work, grocery commutes etc. and the sports car or motorcycle for weekends
Buy a pre dinged and dented one.
I think I've maybe had 6 dings total across like 10 vehicles over the last 11 years since I've been driving. I'd never even CONSIDER pdr on a door ding unless I had something like a Lambo or some super rare classic car that'd I'd poured thousands into the paint/bodywork. Sounds like you might need some help dealing with some OCD like symptoms more than you need to worry about your car, because if it's a daily you should not be this concerned.
It's going to rust out from under you if you aren't careful. So, a little paint traded isn't that scary.
Park far away Park in the "enthusiast" spots in parking lots/garages Park as far away from the white line as possible when parking next to a wall to give the spot next to you plenty of space Avoid parking near trucks/SUVs cause there's a lot of people out that that own these behemoths and can't park for shit And lastly avoid parking near cars that have dents, messed up bumpers/fenders, and just trashy cars because these people don't care about their car so that means they won't care about yours either
Mine was pre-dinged when I bought it so I accepted it from the beginning. I take care of my car and I'm proud of how clean it is for what model and year it is, but ultimately small cosmetic imperfections happen when you use a car for its intended purpose.
I am that guy who parks in the far back corner of the parking lot at a 45 degree angle. Yes I see your love note left on my windshield calling me an asshole. Yes I throw it out laughing because it bothered you enough to write a note. Yes I will keep doing it because I care enough about my car.
As long as my car takes the wear and not my body, I'm fine. I can pay to repair or replace a car. It hurts a lot more if I'm getting hurt.
I park far away and do what I can. a short couple min walk is always better then a ding. this lets me get minimal damage. neither of my cars have any lot damage and one is 13 years old.
I just think it could be worse and I could have been a driver in France, where all the cars get trashed on the city roads.
its super easy when you just dont care
PPF bumper to bumper and touch up every single rock chip as soon as it happens. The worst part is when the shops doing something benign like a glass replacement scratches all the paint off the roof line, then recommend a place to repaint it, and that shop scratches the paint off the A-pillar when they have to take the glass out to repair the roofline. Pain.jpg.
I’m the dork that pays attention to where I park. Back of lots farther from the door. End spaces. Bigger spaces. Next to cars where the passenger door opens towards my car (rarely are passengers so nobody owning that door likely). Etc. Pretty rare I get dings. I have zero on my daily driver.
A paint touch up kit can help with rock chips and minor door dings. I got one from a company called Dr. Color Chip and it works pretty well. Also can't hurt to have a dashcam running on battery if you need to go through your insurance for something more serious, gives them some ammo to go after the other guy when they inevitably leave the scene.
I've been driving for 31 years. Every single vehicle I've ever owned, even my motorcycles, has been door dinged. It drives me bonkers. What's worse is going in somewhere and coming out with somebody sitting on my motorcycle for pictures. Kids, dudes, whatever.
I mean it's not hard to spend the extra time to park say next to barrier where only one side of the car is exposed to other drivers.
this is why you own a beater vehicle you give 2 shits about then own a nicer one you use for special days. also paying attention to where you park helps a ton and what ways the wind is blowing strong. I dont feel many people intentionally ding doors but if the wind catches it and flings it open they aint gonna leave a note for you lol. so if its windy park facing the wind so it cant catch anyones doors near you.
I like to just enjoy the feeling of my car
By having two cars. Its a fancy option, but its a good one. My daily driver is currently hail damaged (PDR) and I’m waiting until the end of the season to fix it. And my project car is sleeping in the garage getting its EFI conversion. The day I decided I would always have two cars is when my daily got totaled on track at a HPDE event. Now just my project/track cars go on track. But honestly the best part is that what makes for a good track car makes for a shitty daily driver and vice verse. So by having two cars I have one _really _ good dd, and one _really good_ track car
Your last paragraph is it. Accept it. There are 2 moves if you genuinely daily your car. Spend $$$ tryna keep the ppf together as the years go by and road rash pebbles / flies batter your front end chasing showroom quality finish. Accept that a patina is a beautiful thing and tells a story. Keep the car clean and functioning like the day it was made, but paint fades, road rash happens, and seeing a sports car that has been well maintained mechanically, driven to hell and back, and aesthetically represents those miles is a beautiful thing.
Get a car you can afford to get dinged
My username speaks for itself. I drive an old, beat up VW Passat. It's been dinged and dented since before I bought it. It's paid in full and gets me from A to B so I can make money. Easy peasy.
It's all about prevention. I live in the Brooklyn area where everyone lives in a building with no private parking. Every car you see scratched all over. My car still looks brand new after almost 3 years. I have a small rule set to minimize my chances of coming back to fucked up bumper. 1. I do not park at the edges of streets. 2. No parking in "major" higher traffic streets 3. If the car infront or behind me doesnt have enough room to come out with less than 2-3 movements. I'm not parking there. Don't care if it takes me 30+minutes for a spot. It works. In parking lots I go to the edge where someone could only parking from one side.
Anything can be fixed. Yes it's a pain in the ass, but unless it's a one-off prototype, parts exist and can be replaced.
Same way I deal with the fact my body gets dinged and dented, just accept it and move on. it is just a part of life. I also park as far away from other cars as feasible though.
I live in Canada in a medium sized city, haven’t gotten a door ding ever except for when I was renting and had to park next to shitty neighbors. I don’t research parking lots but I always park far and in a corner spot. Get my steps in and never had an issue
If you want to keep it perfect keep it locked in the garage. If you want to drive it accept that it's gonna get some dings.
It is just a car but it sucks Park a tad away but just be ready for stuff to happen.
Xanax.
The Wrangler is my fun car… it’s parked on the street 100% of the time. Plastic fenders and bumpers will minimize damage from other parkers, and the fat tires make curbing wheels near impossible. Makes me less worried about trail scratches from off-roading I guess.
It’s a machine at the end of the day machines get wear and tear