IMO you did the right thing.

I don't know if I could have remained civil.

It's all a respect thing and until all parents teach their kids to respect others property I will make it known to the people I see doing something like this i will let them know i saw it and that it will have to be taken car of.

 

Its your car YOU get to make the decision and in my opinion you made the right one. People are responsible for what they do to other peoples property that also includes their kids.

 

The kid learned a great lesson on respecting other people's property. You definitely did the right thing.

I don't buy that "kids will be kids" excuse, that just lends itself to raising a careless child.

 

My wife and I have taught our kids the same way.

I got dinged once (not my MINI) while I was sitting in the car. I approached the person and though he admitted to it he said it was too small to bother with and was not going to cover it.

So, I told him that was fine, so long as I could put the same size ding in his car and we could call it even ...at which point I went into my trunk and grabbed my tire iron.

The next thing I knew he was giving me his license and insurance information.

Its not always kids that are the culprits ...more often that not is a full grown a-hole.

 

I agree with your wife. If you park close enough to other cars for this to happen, it's a risk you run. You'll forget the ding eventually or get it fixed, but forever will be known as the guy who freaked out and chewed out a mom on the parking lot in front of her child over a very common and simple unintentional mishap. It doesn't sound like you feel very good about it and that's harder to fix than a ding. Anger in public because of a simple accident just exposes a vulnerability and lack of control of emotions, and your own suffering was increased by your reaction.

 

Okay seriously?

Easy words for someone that is not in that situation...

 

While I don't agree with lightingjcw's approach to this subject, I can say that the video below shows an alternate option.




Guys Click here to see how to protect your MINI in a crowded parking lot.

 

I appreciate your input. I think you may be reading in a lot of your issues about public confrontation, "freaking out," etc., because nothing about my description suggested I "chewed out" anyone. Perhaps you were on the other end of something like this and didn't feel comfortable standing up for yourself. I understand, and I appreciate the input.

 

I like this approach.... now to make that tire iron easily accessible......

 

Park somewhere else where I was much less likely to get dings.

I have gone almost five years with not one ding because I park far from the masses. In the U.S. this is unbelievably easy since most drivers park as close to their final destinations as possible so that neither they nor their type 2 diabetic, rotund children have to aggravate their deep vein thromboses by walking. This is good for those of us who don't want their cars destroyed by lazy, quadruple-chinned breeders because it usually results in groups of empty spaces being left at the most outlying points of reasonably-sized parking lots. There are multiple threads here on NAM about this, but the gist is this: park far away from everyone else and never park in more than one space or do anything else to draw attention to your car.

 

Maybe I just read too much into your use of the word "demand" in your confrontation with the mom and that your wife thought your behaviour was "rude" to "take on" a woman in front of her kids and that you had to force the issue which "pissed" you off. I've heard the same language used in a lot of domestic violence cases and it just struck me that you overreacted a little and that you are spending an inordinate amount of time on this thread trying to assuage your guilt. Come on, it's just a car!

 

I did that twice. I was the furthest car in the lot and both times someone decided to park next to me and ding my car. I wish I was there both times because I wanted to thank them for their lack of respect.

Wncommercial I have to agree with the way you handled the situation. Children need to learn respect. If they aren't contronted and taught then they'll feel as if it is okay to do it.

 

I am with you on that Joep. My wife always made a point to park awy from everyone when possible. Her first new car she ever had was a 2004 Honda Pilot and someone was kind enough to park next to it, let their door hit hers and caused $700.00 in damage to her door. REALLY NICE PEOPLE.... and of course they left. No note, no sorry, nothing but a nice big dent. It broke my wifes heart because EVERY dent in her car was caused by some careless A$$. I do believe KHARMA will take care of people like this even though I won't get to see them get theirs in the end.

 

Yes, I do agree that adults are surely responsible for these type of accidents as well as kids, maybe more so.

Here's a change of pace for you. Yesterday afternoon the Hubby and I show up early to an afternoon car gathering for all sorts of people who just want to have a car like gathering. Everything and anyone is welcome. So we show up really early, get an end parking space, and hug the curb like there's no tomorrow. No one is parked anywhere near us, but we had planned on walking two minutes away to grab a quick bite to eat before everyone arrived. We knew it would get crowded while we were off eating and tried to prepare for that situation.

After our meal, we are walking back to the car and the Hubby makes this comment, "I know that guy is not leaning on my car." He didn't have time to react, I'm walking at a runners pace at this point. As I get closer to his car I'm spouting off about if my rear end is not welcome on that car I'll be darn if someone else's is. You never saw a man two times bigger than me jump out of his Levi's as fast and act like he didn't have a clue what I was talking about. As I'm inspecting for rub or scratch marks I'm commenting that if I find any butt mark I'm going to whip some a$$ royally. OMGosh, this guy was seriously acting like he didn't have a clue. I stood up to him and explained that unless he has over $60,000 to purchase his own Shelby GT500 he better keep his a$$ off mine. No we didn't pay that much, but it sure got his attention in a hurry. We didn't have to deal with paying 15 to 35 thousand over MSRP as most of the dealers in this area were getting. That's another rant for another forum.

Turns out this guy owned the Vette parked next to us. What the heck!!!
So there you go, no respect for others property. His Momma didn't do her job during his childhood!!! (refer back to my original post on this thread, #4, if you don't get this part).

Okay, back to the original subject.

 

Same experience here--chronically. I recently parked in the last row at work, which is about two rows of empty spaces farther than the crowd ever comes. When I came out for lunch, a Z4 was right next to me on one side and an Escalade on the other. Sheeeeesh! The Z4 I can take; I trust another sports car enthusiast to be careful, but the Caddy??

Of course, after Mini Pilot's story, maybe I should worry about everyone.

Makes you want to carry traffic cones.

 

First, I think you handled it perfectly. If someone (or their kids) damages your car (accidently or not), they should be responsible for the repair. As long as they pay for your damage, I think you did the right thing.

This is true but there's always one idiot that will ruin it for us. Many years ago (MANY) I had a mustang. I just did an allover paintjob and wetsanded and buffed it.

I had it done for 3 days (the car was perfect and BLACK) and I went to a Sam's Club. It was 10am and there was hardly any cars in this HUGE parking lot.

I still parked at the FAR end and was only in the store of 10-15 minutes.

When I came out, there was a beatup, rusted, POS orange toyota corolla parked less than 8" from my brand new paintjob.

I immediately looked at the passenger door and sure enough, there was a dent the size of a baseball with orange paint on my door. The entire parking was literally empty (about 7 acres worth) and this moron had to purposely hit my car.

So I backed my car up and moved it about another foot away from his driver's door. I rolled down the passenger window, sat on top of the door edge and with both feet, put the biggest dent I could muster into his driver's door.

I took his wiper blade, spun the blade around backward and slammed it into his windshield cracking his glass.

I left a note telling him if I ever saw him out again, I would do more than that to him and not just the car.

Like I said, that was many years ago when I was young and full of **** and vinegar. Had it been an accident, I would have been upset but when someone purposely damages my car, whoa unto them.

That was when I was in my early 20's, now at almost 46, I still park at the far end of the parking lot and I am still just as **** about my paint.

Mark

 

You did the right thing.

 

Sometimes you never know who is going to park next you.



The red Honda was parked first and the driver of the truck refused to move
his truck for the lady even though she asked politely.
His response was that he would move it when he was done making his deposit at the Bank.

This picture came from a website that is dedicated to bad parking.
If you are interested in the link just send me a PM... I'd rather not post
the website name on this forum because of the language used on that site.

 

Book em, Danno

 

I think I will carry my valve stem remover tool with me and share the kindness with the "NICE ?" people like that pick up driver. Not sure if I would leave the valve stem core or not, maybe just loosen it so the air slowly leaks out. If he doesn't want to move it after being asked in a nice way then I say it can stay there.

 

I note on this pic that the driver of the truck seems to understand the concept of leaving room for entry and exit of the vehicle as indicated by how much room he left himself to get out of the truck.

I would have called the police on the creep. Even though the police would not have or could have done anything, the law asking him for his ID, etc. would make him think twice about being such a jerk.

The police respond to these incidents because they don't want things to escalate to road rage, to where the guns and baseball bats come out.

 

Call the cops or let air out off all her tire, this can be done by finding a tiny rock and putting it in the cap and air will slowly come out....without damaging the tire,,,when see wakes up to 4 flats she will wonder what happened to the tire in the parking lot..LOL

 

I really feel your guys' pain! It seems that no matter what I do, people always wind up parking next to me. I try to park as far away from civilization as possible, AND try to pick an end spot.

In the time I've owned my '04 MCS (just about two years now), it has picked up 3 door dings. One on each door, and one under the left taillight. Sad considering it lived a life in San Francisco/Sunnyvale CA and had NO dings when I bought it. Unfortunately, I have not been able to catch anyone in the act.

I don't know if I would have kept my cool in a situation like that, especially if the person appears to be playing stupid. "Uh door ding, what door ding??"

Now, if I need to go to the store or something, I'll avoid driving the MINI altogether. I'll take my '81 Mercedes 300D (oddly, this car has NO door dings), or my '94 Jeep Cherokee.

It simply isn't worth the headache of getting even more dings on my precious MINI, and it's quite sad because I love driving it everywhere!

It has gotten to the point where I'm almost afraid to wash it! Seems that every time I wash it, I notice a new ding.

Why can't people just be more considerate, and act responsibility in the event they accidentally ding someone else's car?

 

Ps Having a handicap parking permit and 3 feet on each side pricless, bad back, not so much:(

 

You did the right thing. There are no laws that say it is OK to damage one's property.

And your wife is wrong. What happens when another door ding happens, then another, then another?

One time I called a private party to ask about a car she was selling. I always ask "Any chips or door dings."

She said in response [and I never forgot the term she used] "Oh, well it is a used car, so it does have 'love bites' on all sides."

I was disgusted with her term "love bites" that I did not inquire further, simply said thanks and hung up the phone.

There's lots of people who think that door dings are inevitable and that they come with car ownership. Look at public parking lots. All those people parking close to the business, they are the ones who could care less about door dings or dents.

Even Judge Judy addressed this issue. Said on one of her TV cases that damage from door dings was just a fact of life, but she still said the guy gets his car repaired by the defendant. I think the plaintiff was looking for emotional distress damages too, but Judge Judy said "Handle it, you can only get your car repaired."

Sidenote: I hope you don't let the wife drive your MINI.