Parked in Fry's-R-Us for 15 minutes. No one parked next to me when I got there and car was being admired by two dudes before I went in, so I know there were no marks on the vehicle. When I came out, a nice big dent just forward of the left rear tire and about half way up. There was black paint in the dent and the car next to me was, you guessed it, black. A black Lincoln Town car in use as a taxi. I guaged the loft info as best I could and determined that there was no other car that could have done the damage. I waited until the owner of the Town car arrived , and asked if they had hit my car, of course, the answer was no, but also met with nastiness that I haven't experienced since high school (25 years ago). I wasn't looking for money or an insurance cliam, just a simple, "I'm sorry" would have worked. What I got was "Do you wanna play with me? Wanna play games?" Well, I didn't wanna play games, and I knew there was really nothing I could do about the dent, but when the guy told me to call the police if I wanted to...I decided I wanted to. The police show up, I tell my story, show my clear evidence, and the officer starts to ask questions of the other driver...Turns out, he was operating his town car as a taxi, had no license, and certainly no commercial license. The police told me I should just take off and, as I knew I really had no shot at getting the ding taken out, I left. As I left, the officer was writing the ticket for the license violations. I guess that's Mini Carma in a maximum way... I buffed out the paint, and used my ding master (new, and still in the box because ya never know) to take out the ding. I still have a very small scratch but the ding and the paint are gone.

 

I hate stuff like this I park far back in parking lots then I walk out and find this huge ford f-350 parked in the spot next to me when the lot has endless spots around me. but I have a dent in the wierdest spot (on the roof of my mini how it got there?????)

 

Tell me about it. When I had my Mustangs, I'd park all the way back of the lot, and put it at an angle taking up 4 spots to make sure there was no chance of accidental bumping. There would be somewhere like 200 spots between me and the next closest vehicle. Don't you know when I come out there is a rusted-out POS minivan parked next to me?

 

Doh! Sorry to hear about your ding. Love the karmic whack though.

I've been working on some bumper scratches and used the Auto Visuals "paint pen". Very nifty. They offer $5 off for NAM members. Check it out here. Hope it helps!

I used this and Meguiar's Scratch X and got great results.

 

that's happened to me before with my old RX7...and it was becasue a big truck (I actually think it was a raised F25) had parked next to me, and since it was so big when his door opened it hit high on the A pillar to leave a dent

 

Total BUMMER

I hate parking lots! Most people just don't car about their own property more less someone else's.

I'm sure I'll be **** about parking the Mini. I'm still **** about parking my F150 which has the Nerf like bars that somewhat help out with the door dings.

I've joked about installing the Nerf bars on the Mini. Problem is with most cars and trucks it wouldn't be any type of prevention with the Mini sitting as low as it does.

Oh, and there was mention of a dent on top of a car. Our neighbor has a nice one from a golf ball or hockey puck that the kids play with on the street.
My son knows my rules, but so much for my controlling the others.:impatient

 

We came out of the grocery store to find a lady had put her bags on top of our car to make it easier to load them into her car!

Thanks for bringing this up!

 

Is she still walking? Here in NY that's cause for breakin' legs.

 

golf ball

 

That's like the lady who set her Starbucks on top of my old car while looking for her keys...and then fumbled and dumped it over all over my roof.

 

Totally agree about parking lots, no matter where I park, I generally come out to some bozo who has parked right next to me with dozens of open spaces all around.
I had a ding in the roof of my car caused when a rock from a gravel truck bounced up off the road onto the roof.

 

Wow! You sould have just got in and driven off, dumping her stuff.

 

I'm finding this phenomenon to be unique to the MINI. With all the Audis and Saabs I've owned over the past decades I've always parked them in those areas sometimes referred to as, "Porsche Row". I rarely found someone parked next to me when I returned to my car. But with my new MINI it seems to be just the other way around.

It's quite possible, I suppose, that people just want to see what that unique little car's interior looks like or how small it really is by comparison, and thus they park next door for that purpose. Then again, maybe it's psychological. Maybe parking next to a MINI makes some people feel bigger, or, in some way, superior. Who knows?

No dings yet, but this is certainly turning out to be a surprising drawback to owning a MINI.

 

I think it has something to do with magnetism...they're just drawn to it!

 

Groceries and coffee cups?

I've always owned something too high to worry about this kind of abuse from others.

I hope I stilll have that 'Get Out of Jail Free' card.

 

And they wonder how we wind up so OCD/neurotic about our MINIs? Attacks like this will push one to the lunatic fringe, no doubt about it.......it's done so for me!! Aside from extreme defensive parking, consider this an opportunity to network/research to find a really, really good PDR guy. I found one after some hail damage and from then on I've been glad I knew who to call should something terrible happne to my MINI's bodywork. In any case, constant uncompromising vigilance is required.....trust no one!!!

 

Now that I have my MINI, I cannot believe how bad parking is now.
Geeze, talk about paranoid!!
Even the wife is saying, park back there - I'll walk!

 

I've had mine a month now and live in dread fear of the first ding.

 

Just got our second ding....my wife's shopping cart rolled into the driver's side of our 2006 MCS.

 

As much as I hated getting the first one, I liken it to a battle scar. "Bessy" knows she's going to get knocked every now and then but still holds her own to the ones who drive average vehicles.