So, the lesson is, don't ever park next to a Mini or you could get dinged!

 

You guys sound like parking any car would require major analysis of the parking lot. Do you carry a tape measure with you?? And a guide of the opening radius of every door on every car ever made??


I love my MINI, don't get me wrong. But I live in Wrigleyville. I have fit my MINI in places most motorcycles wouldn't even try. I am not worried about the doors. I am more concerned with the bumpers. Mine actually don't look too bad, (for a city car, that is) I would love to be able to worry about where I am going to park my MINI. I just concern myself with actually being able to park it less then a mile from my house.

 

Where I go to school an open parking spot is GOLD from 9am-12pm, luckily only 2 days a week I have to park at that time. And if I can I always try to park away from other cars or next to cars where the owners might "seem" to care a little bit about their car :smile:

 

Ouch!

Let's see, he/she is parked on the end, and only parked in one spot appropriately.
If they are going to get you, they will get you.

 

Owning a mini will be a huge adjustment for me. I park my 11 year old saturn in a garage where ******* SUV drivers think its OK to not only park in the "COMPACT" labeled spaces, they often park over the lines so that they can open their doors more easily. There's a ford explorer that does this every friggin morning and one day (I wish I had taken a picture), I deliberately squeezed my SC2 between his driver's side and a concrete wall so that his driver's door could not open far enough for him to get in. I could barely get out...not so much because of lack of space...I was also giggling the whole time. I saw no evidence of damage to my plastic car, but ever since then, he has basically centered his truck over the line between the two spaces.

Mini: no plastic side panels. I guess I'll be parking it in the basement level of the garage.

 

It's funny, but I look for all the other nice cars, like Porsche, 'benz, BMW, that are all parked in the same area. I know every one is watching what they are doing and are careful and respectful.


Minivans, SUV's= kids. Paw prints everywhere!

 

It's been awhile since I've been on the boards. I had to post because I had a "parking" accident this weekend. Not my fault at all. I parked in a lot where there were two rows of cars. The row I parked on was completely empty except for my car. And unfortunately, that didn't keep my car from getting hit. I come out of the hotel where I was staying for the night (attending a funeral - I needed to be knocked down further, you know) and a girl walks up to me. "Is that your little blue car?" I say "yes" with a grin on my face because I think she's about to ask me the usual questions. Then she says "I just backed my van into it, I didn't even see it..." Nice. So now my mini is in the shop and I'm driving a Dodge Neon. Poor Felix.

I am curious how much a rear bumper is. They are going to replace the whole thing because she backed into the mini at such a speed that it cracked it/etc. It even messed up the hatch. So I'm depressed and pissed right now. Nothing can save you from a bad driver.

 

Two years in, I'm a little more relaxed about this, but the thing that drove me nuts when Sebby was new (and few folks had ever seen a MINI) was that I could park all by my lonesome way out in BFE and every time it seemed liked I'd come back and find a neighbor...

Seems folks wanted to do a lookie-loo... but how can they NOT comprehend that a car parked out in BFE (and next to islands when available) is out there BECAUSE it wants to be alone! It's like they were purposely trying to aggravate me....

 

gladstone, look for the silver lining, she stuck around to tell you about it.

Not like my next door neighbor who left an imprint of their trailer hitch in my front bumper and refused to admit it. This after scraping my boyfriend's bumper some months before. The color paint from their truck was unique.....and obvious. Low-life scum, guess most every block has one.

 

Not only do I pull into the last spot but, if the spot is on the left end of the row, I usually back in, with my right side as close to the (post, wall, curb) as I can get it. This leaves a large gap between my driver's door and the driver's door of the car next to me. It's worked pretty well so far.

 

Sorry to hear about that. I think the only reason she stuck around is there were witnesses who watched the whole thing - and she was a scared teenager. I hate to hear about your car - hope everything is back to normal again.

The point is no one is safe from idiocy, unfortunately -- no matter what strides you go to in protecting your car.

 

Im so **** about getting scratches, water spots, and possible dings that I don't even take my MINI to work. :smile: ....although my bosses are cool about
me double parking when I do take my hobby car to work.

I think when you love a car this much, having a second or even a third car to carry you to the mall or to work, etc. becomes a necesity.

 

I have water spots,scratches,and one ding.I love taking my MINI out,dirty or not.

 

The best way I've found to park is to not pull in any further than you have to. That way most car's doors are in line with your mirrors or your front plastic wheel arches.

 

Good tip...have to remember that one

 

My MINI is my only car, so she goes with me everywhere. I plan to keep her well into the vintage years, so eventually I will get a second car that will become my daily driver/beater. Until then, I do as most of you all do when I park: check her for dings/scratches every time I come back to her, park as far over as possible in an end space to prevent door dings, park far away with no one else near, etc. But at work, I got really lucky... they recently resurfaced the parking area and created a handful of compact spaces that are just perfect for a MINI:


Am I lucky or what?

 

wow thats the Holy Grail of parking spots...

 

Oh ya an update, I have found that in the new parking structure that they are building at my schoo, there is a whole long row of spots that used to be meant for HANDICAP people but the blue paint has been painted over. So for every parking spot on either the left or right there is a huge space meant for wheelchairs (or was anyway but they haven't changed it yet). This has been perfect for me to park at if I get to school early enough :smile:

 

2 1/2 weeks of ownership, 3200+ miles, many grins and no dings. I am very careful where I will park and I don't want to let the MINI Cooper S out of my sight. So far so good...but sooner or later I will get dinged. Car is garaged every night. I am not obsessed, but I love this car.