DH makes fun of me since I'm a bit of a nervous parker. I usually try to find spaces like this:

No one next to us...



But when I can't then I'll try to park like this:



So when I came out into the same garage and saw this I had to send him photos to say "I'm not the only one"! LOL




Not a Countryman per se - but I think Mini owners just love their cars a bit more.

So am I alone......

 

I park all my cars at the end of the row. If I can't find one, I try to park next to a car more expensive than mine. A lot of people are careless or just don't care.

 

This is totally true. My last new car I only had a week before someone opened up their huge SUV door and put a long vertical dent in my door. It made me so sad every time I saw it. I know stuff will happen - but I like to minimize the chance since I assume most people just don't care about others property.

 

For some unknown reason, even though I'll park my car away from others, I can be almost be sure to come back out to find it surrounded. It's almost like my Mini is a magnet.

I would be hesitant to take up two spots because someone will get their nose out of joint and slam it.

I prefer to try and park next to (not in) the handicap spots when there are a couple of empty spots available. Usually there is extra room available. Alternatively, I just park further away and walk.

I never park where other people might pass by with shopping trollies.

I was in San Antonio a few weeks back and someone took hammered my trunk lid and took their keys to my stripes. My stripes guy used my excess JCW stripes that were not used on the sun roof and hand cut around the mini logo. Did a fabulous job and charged me zilch. The dent fixed courtesy of my Mini dealer.

 

I've taken to retracting my mirrors when parked as shown, based on other suggestions on NAM. Couldn't hurt...

When I drove Suburbans, I tried to keep away from the concrete pillars (had a bad experience). With the CM4 I've found they can be my friends...

 

Yep I park the same with my MCS. Security at my office bldg laughs at me. My boss who I carpool with hates me because I park at the furthest spot from the entrance. Some things are just more important.

 

Same here. I generally go for spots that are wider than normal, further than where your average knuckle dragger is willing to walk, spaces where no one can park next to me, and not under trees.

 

Wow, Ozark! I'm so sorry your CM got hammered and scratched in SA! Close to my home town. But really glad you were able to get it fixed without charge!

I get laughed at, at work also. But I work at a church and in the afternoons parents come to pick up kids, so it's all the more reason to park further away.
What's funny is that my coworkers, who work on the same side of the office as me, have taken up parking next to me. They call themselves the Mini bodyguards. They "blockade" me from other cars. I usually have to park towards the middle of the parking lot, because at either end there's grass to be cut. And the lawn guys REALLY don't care.

 

I too park as far away as possible, always with at least one side protected, and always tuck in the mirrors.

I will say though, be careful about going over the lines (even when out a distance or where no one can park next to you). You are just asking for some nimrod to park next to you, just because they can. Seems like it is always a black Dodge or Ford truck.

 

I do all of these things plus I try not to park next to heavily dinged up cars--they may not care whether they swing their door wide. I also avoid 2 door coupes. Those extra long doors worry me
Also, anytime I see someone in an SUV full of kids--avoid! At least a minivan has sliding doors.

 

 

How did this turn out?

 

Nice to hear that I'm not alone with this obsession and since I have my Countryman, it got even worse (more punctilious ).
I park as far from the other cars as possible, I don't park under the trees or lamps (birds are spiteful, they always bombard your clean car) and when I have to stand on the city street, I park between gates of houses on the side (so other drivers have to keep distance from my car, otherwise it's driving offence ).

 

[QUOTE=ozarkgolfer;3533281]For some unknown reason, even though I'll park my car away from others, I can be almost be sure to come back out to find it surrounded. It's almost like my Mini is a magnet.

I would be hesitant to take up two spots because someone will get their nose out of joint and slam it.

I prefer to try and park next to (not in) the handicap spots when there are a couple of empty spots available. Usually there is extra room available. Alternatively, I just park further away and walk.

I never park where other people might pass by with shopping trollies.

I was in San Antonio a few weeks back and someone took hammered my trunk lid and took their keys to my stripes. My stripes guy used my excess JCW stripes that were not used on the sun roof and hand cut around the mini logo. Did a fabulous job and charged me zilch. The dent fixed courtesy of my Mini dealer.[/QUOTE. My wife and I have also noticed the magnet power of the countryman. It's so obvious now we make bets on if there will be cars on one, both, or neither side. We also park away from everyone. But they always find us

 

Nope you all are not alone. I have always parked as far away as possible. if I do park where others are...I look for another nice well kept car or the last spot in the row next to the landscape island.

 

I LOVE your checkered flag!

 

ditto ditto ditto

 

I'm always careful how I park, but unfortunately I was somewhere on Friday night with small spots, and someone opened their car door and I now have 2 dings in my rear passenger door. I haven't even had the car for 2 weeks yet.

 

MINIme's bodyguards

 

Yep I do the same. Park at an end, and as far from adjacent cars as possible. Just don't take up two parking spots, don't be that guy.

 

I finally got dinged, and dinged pretty badly, in a parking lot a few weeks ago. I followed all the rules too. I parked in the dead center of a spot between two well-kept new/nice cars in a restricted parking lot where there should have been surveillance cameras. Unfortunately, the obscene amount of tuition I paid last year apparently did NOT go towards keeping the surveillance cameras working so there isn't any footage of who hit my car. They hit it hard enough to go all the way to the sheet metal. Anyway, it's fixed now and I'm out my deductible.

Moral of the story: I fully support y'all's parking techniques to try to protect your Countrymen. Best of luck and I love all the pictures y'all have posted!

 

Like Han Yue!

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/06/01/m...job/#continued

 

I pulled into this space, I got out of it. Downtown NYC.

 

Now that is impressive.

I park far, far away from anyone. Learned my lesson when someone dinged my hood in the right front corner (I believe it was a pickup truck).

 

If I can't find a spot where at least one side is not adjacent to another space, I will look for expensive cars (BMWs, Audis, Porsches, Mercedes), since I figure their owners have just as much interest in avoiding a door-to-door collision as I do.

I refuse to park next to a rental car.

I also try to avoid parking in a spot where I will be tight against the driver's side of the adjacent car. A passenger that finds the gap too tight can wait for the driver to pull the car out before getting inside. But a driver is going to force his way into his car, door ding or not.