jjy

3 hours ago, walking out of Borders to my car (parked away from everyone else), I was about 10 feet behind my car when this chick in a beat up toyota parks on the passenger side of my car, whips her door open and dings my car! Right in front of me! I yelled, "Hey take it easy on the car!" She was startled and scared. I checked to see if there was a mark. I couldn't see one but it was dark. She apologized at least twice. I didn't go crazy on her, but I really wanted to. I just washed the car.

I'm not the kind of guy who yells at people for this sort of thing. It's just a car. (No flames, please!) I do yell at strangers if they do something that is dangerous to my family, like driving too fast in a parking lot, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I love my car. My wife thinks I'm obsessed with it. But yelling at a stranger for a ding, I just couldn't do it!

Ever see someone ding your baby? What would you have done?

rets

I could feel for you. I'd do the same thing if it happens onto my 94 Legend in front of me.

cM3go

I think you were within your boundries, people who disrespect your car have no right to be respected

madehtsobi

man...if someone did that to my baby#1 (according to my gf) haha...i would be furious...but it depends how bad it is ya know? if its bad...i would get their info and have them pay for that paintless dent removal.

man.....especially if you park far away just to avoid these dings and then SOMEBODY has to park next to you and then does what you tried to avoid...

jchcmax

That sucks. I hate that. Dinging someone elses car is just plain lack of courtesy and care.They should pay for any damages!!!! If you didn't catch her, she would not have cared at all and just walked away. There is no excuse.

reloaded

I see no reason why you have to question yourself. You did what probably anybody who loved their car would do.

What I don't get is when I park hella far away from other cars, when you come back..there's always this one person that ends up parking right next to you out of all the spaces he/she had to pick from even when the parking lot is pretty empty.

Sorry..bad english

Reloaded.

Yoda117

What you did was just fine in my book... maybe even a bit too calm.

I mean, it seems (from the story) not so much that she was apologetic about hitting the car, but getting caught doing it by the owner.

Gotta love society

SouthernBoy

Don't say anything. Just go up to her passenger side and key her door right in front of her then asked her how she feels about that.

I have no patience, respect, or feelings for someone who willing damages my property. And yes, her actions were willingly performed. I would bet yours is not the first vehicle she's done this to.

And it's not "just a car".. it's your private property and private property treasured.. just like your house or a fine camera collection.

Jss1

Someone did that to me but I have side moldings so it was a non event, only a scuff that buffed out easily. Still no dings after 16 months. Side moldings are well worth it just for this sort of thing.

MaX800XT

A friend of mine has twice 'keyed' a car parked next to his because it was very apparent it was the car that had dinged his while he was inside some place shopping. One of the cars actually left a little of it's paint on his. I asked him, "Did you key it or did you KEY it?" He answered, "Any harder and my key would have snapped in half!" Don't mess with TL owners!

caball88

dude that doesn't sound like the right thing to do. i know most of us here really care about their cars but i am sure it was accidental when someone dings your car in the parking lot. shouldn't go keying people's car because of that. like the original poster said its just a car.

SouthernBoy

While it's a shame we might find ourselves having to resort to this behavior, there are times when it becomes necessary.. for a bit of payback and for our own satisfaction and peace of mind.

My guess is most drivers think of a car as just some machine to take them from point A to point B. It's a "washing machine".. a throwaway item. These people, because of their mindset, fail to see that there are some who are in complete contrast to that way of thinking. In fact, they tend to think of our types as strange, weird, materialist (a liberal 60's holdover term), or just odd in some way. Yet some of these same people may have a fine camera collection in which they have spent many thousands of dollars. They would have a heart attack if you were to handle a prized telephoto lens and put your fingers all over the lens pieces. Yet they don't seem to apply that same feeling of pride and ownership to cars.

Personally, I take pride in all of my possessions and make no excuses or apologies for same or for being a bit materialistic. Rather, I think it is part of being an American who has managed to attain a measure of the good life.

ONAGER

if you saw them hit the car and then have no respect for what they have done i would be fine with this stmt.... otherwise thats just fucked up.... whos to say there the ones who did it? i mean shit happens. also what if someones kid swung the door open hit the car, and didnt tell his parents.... granted your car will have a little ding, but now you scrated the shit out of someones car, and no one learned anything.... unless you catch them in the act this is just to far...

also if you are caught doing this, you could get into alot of trouble.... as this is very malicious... what are you going to tell the cop? i think he dinged my door so i keyed the shit out of his car!!! theres could be construed as an accident, yours cannot

miiipilot

I guess I am so lucky.

I am so careful when and where I park.

But on 2 separate occasions, my 99 M3 was dinged right in front of me.
1.
Once was at school (Ohio U) and I was parked, surprisingly enough, at the Athens Police station lot. I went into the police station and got an officer. We came outside, he questioned and did a little interrogation. Some 19 year-old hippie chick said, "Chill-out man, it's just a car." I said, "Maybe your $500 piece-of-shit is just a car, but this is a $48,000 car." Officer had to calm me down a bit. But I threatened to sue, and she eventually gave me $750 for it.

2.
I was walking out to the car and some $1000 mini-van decides to pull in. I got a bit excited cause I knew exactly what was about to happen. Sure enough BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOST IT. F-BOMBS u name it. I got the same sort of response, "It's no BIG DEAL." she says. I took down the plate and call the police. They came and filled out a report and informed the lady, "It is a very big deal destroying property." She thought since it happens all the time, nobody cares. Haha. I was angry. I got $900 for that incident.

I've heard it all.
"It's just a car."
"Guys and their cars."
etc
etc

I park my car way out NOT to look cool, but to protect it. It is a PRIDE thing.
miiipilot

SouthernBoy

To those of you who think, "it's just a car", what are you doing on a gearhead site? IT'S NOT JUST A CAR.. IT'S PRIVATE PROPERTY! How would you feel if a neighbor across the street practicing his golf drives managed to put a ball through your front bay window? You'd be pissed as hell. Well the same goes for someone's car.

Sorry people, but it really tics me off to hear people, especially those who profess to be car people, pass this kind of thing off as "just a car". IT'S MY PROPERTY AND I CARE ABOUT IT.

crazymjb

We have a friend who has a beamer and has made an entire science out of parking his car. I was in the back of one of my friends dads 330 ci convertable and some lady rear ended him with her siena or something, she looked scared shitless. He didnt really care(totalled his own bently screwing around, guy has money) but told her to drive more carefully in the future. The rule goes if someone doors your car with a POS car you key it(but not with the acura key, its too pretty), if its nice you know they can afford the repair

shux69

You handled it just fine, but if it was me i would have probabbly yelled at her. FYI that is why we park our cars as far away from other cars as possible

caball88

hey i am not saying its ok for people to ding your car. it really isn't and i getting pissed about it, but i don't go and key someone's car over it. i understand its your personal property but damaging someone else's is not an answer.

SouthernBoy:
In your golf ball situation, if that did happen would you turn around and go inside your house and get your clubs and start driving balls at your neighbor's house? I mean try explaining that to the cops when they come.

It's funny cause today i went to a friend's house to help him with some stuff. i parked in the streets and my rear bumper got dinged up pretty bad. there is a mark with lots of little scratches about the size of a license plate. the car that hit me was still behind me(i know cause his bumper was still touching mine). i didn't key up his car, i'm pretty anal about keeping my car immaculate but its nyc and its just about impossible. if the guy was there and i witnessed it i would have asked him to pay for what it would cost to have it buffed out(which is not alot). people will take this either nicely or react defensively. if they don't cooperate i would then proceed with calling the authorities but i don't think blowing up over it is going to help anything. so it does suck for me now i have to either go get it buffed out or just wait till the spring and get my a-spec kit which hide it.

MaX800XT

If I take great care not to bang my door into someone's car, then there's no excuse why everyone can't display the same courtesy. When my kid is old enough to open a car door, she'll know to be careful when doing so because I would have taught her to be careful. It's rediculous that we have to park our cars so far away to avoid these door-dinging idiots. That "little ding" as you call it costs nearly $100 to remove at Dent Wizard. If they're so careless as to ding your car, I doubt they'd be bothered by a 3 foot long key job on the side of their daily driver. It might start to bother them once the rust begins to show from leaving the bare metal exposed to the elements. This is why I said, "Good Job Dude!" when my friend told me what he'd done.

jjy

I never let my kids open the doors to get out. That is, I use the child safety locks and open the door(s) to let them out. This is not only safe but prevents door dings to other cars.


miiipilot, to get those dingers to pay that much money, those dings must have been pretty bad!

re: keying other cars, truth be told, I did this once a few years ago and I felt so guilty about it afterwards I vowed never to do this again. This doesn't mean I wasn't mad as hell at that chick last night, and I felt like keying her car as she walked away, mumbling another apology, but I have a guilty conscience

crazymjb

when we are parked next to a nice car i put my hand in between the door and there car before I open it so not to ding up there car. Wish others could do the same.

SouthernBoy

To caball88;

My point with the golf ball thing was this. People will usually get more upset when damage is done to their homes than they will with their cars. I fail to see the difference between the two in terms of property ownership except that of cost, of course. As for what would I do? If I saw the individual setting up to do this, I would request rather firmly he take a differenct approach to his fun. If it did, indeed, happen, he would pay for the damage, believe me.

As for NYC, never been there so I have no point of reference. Down here, I suspect there is a lot more space to move around and put your cars.

reloaded

I would never let that go if someone dings my car like that. Even with my 1987 Ford Taurus...someone hits that shit..that's really disrespectful.

Hmm..maybe if someone dings my car next time..insurance will probably claim my car totalled HAHA!

UnsanePyro

Good for you for saying something too her, I would have if I was there too.

Someone dinged up my mom's car before when I was driving it, not quite the TL, but still valuable. At the time she couldn't walk, and my car was in the shop. Went up to Best Buy with my girl, parked a bit out there since my mom loves this car more than anything, went in and came back outside. Got in, started the car, and she wasn't in yet. The person next to us had parked too close for her to open her door and fit in. Looked at the door, paint transfer, small dent, his color, right where his door would have hit. How did I know? He left his car unlocked, and I opened his door and sure enough, thats right where it would have hit. I let myself into his car to rummage around, didn't find much, but made a HUGE mess. It was a college kid who probably had to spend an entire day organizing all his stuff again, including all the stuff from his glovebox. The guy is now without a very nice swiss army knife too.

DiscoTL

Amen Brother. I love the camera collection analogy. I'll have to use that on my buddies who think I'm nuts.

JZ

PDX3.2TL

I hate to be one to say "eye for an eye," but once you let anyone slide one time, chances are they are going to push until they get stopped or checked. If someone I see dings up my car, and they don't acknowledge it or says, "it's just a car," NO PROBLEM, JUST LET ME DO THE SAME THING TO YOUR CAR WITH A GOLF CLUB. Hmmmmm should be about the same result right? OH, THAT'S NOT RIGHT? Hmmm, then what made it right for you to do that to MY CAR???

reloaded

hahah nice..you should've stole he really needed in order to drive..like a steering wheel...a chair...wipers...pedals..wheels (wheel locks in trunk)..and i can go on ahha.

Yoda117

or just remove the valve stem in one or more of the tires

Hence I have those nice shiny, but need-the-key-to-remove-them valve stems

matelot

same here. I stopped asking "why oh why..." I blame on my luck

matelot

what are ya telepathic ?

matelot

wow...keep this attitude up you are gonna one day find your "baby" keyed to hell maybe along with a rock on the windshield.

avs007

Call me crazy, but I would still get pissed if someone came to my house, and keyed my washing machine, or put a dent on it... Just like how I get pissed if nieces/nephews come over and draw on the walls, or stand on the leather couch.

Yoda117

Only after a couple of drinks

More to the point, would most people leave a note or attempt to make amends?

Nopes... and we have enough stories on this board to justify the response.