One of my nightmares is getting a dent on my car from a careless person parking too close to me.
I just found a great little tool at Home Depot:
These are actually magnetic vent covers for HVAC air ducts and a 3 pack costs only $4.50! They are 8x15 and that's the only size you can buy.
I am going to carry one or two in the trunk with me and whenever necessary I'll just stick it on the door after parking the car.

 

Great idea but dings seldom occur in that area of the car. They are common on the highest point of the door body line crease. plus, You're only going to invite people to put dings. Sorry man, people suck.

I'm actually getting estimates for PDR this week to pop out dents. Btw, I park miles away from people and seldom leave my car alone for more than 30 minutes. Im ridiculous **** about parking. Still I have this...

You can guess which one is the most annoying.

 

Those vent covers don't look thick enough to keep someone from denting the door, maybe keep it from getting scratched, but not dented.

 

If you don't clean the car and the pad before you put it on, you WILL scratch up your car with those...

 

Getportfolio is absolutely right, I'm a PDR tech and I've done a few mustangs and they always get the dent on what protrudes the most... Which is the lower and upper hard body lines... And the front fender and rear quarter panels right above the wheel... If u love your car I highly suggest that u park away from ppl... I know it suck bit I always do it, even with my other DD... ppl can really care less unfortunately, if they don't care about their own car, chances are they will care less about your shiny Mustang

 

^ This is how I see it as well.

Short of wrapping your car in bubble wrap when parked, the best way is to try and park away from those who don't use care. Where I work, there are several of us that pride ourselves in how we take car of our car. We have a section of the work parking lot that we use to all park at.

 

bubble wrap eh.....

 

Park farther away.....exercise is good for you

 

That only makes the **** want to park near you even more. People suck so bad these days.

 

Of course I forgot to mention that I try to park as far as possible. And you're right, a lone car in the far end of a parking lot seems to be a magnet for some people. "Dude, did you really have to park right next to me when there are, like, a 1000 empty spaces between my car and the entrance?"
It's a like when I sit down in an empty fast food joint and some weirdo sits right next to my table.

 

Maybe advanced notification is in order...

 

Sometimes I prefer to park to nice cars (ie. a new BMW, Mercedes, etc.) than park way in the back. The only problem with this is if the car next to you leaves and you get suzy somebody with her 3 kids in a 96 honda civic parking next to you you might be in for a trip to the dent doctor

 

Ugh this thread gets me riled up. I'm so sick of people dinging my cars!

Furthermore I hate when people (wife) tell me I should just live with the dents because they will happen again regardless and it's not a necessity. I feel guilty and selfish after she says this and calm down. However, I walk outside, see the dents and get pissed all over again.

Ever notice how we (owners) react to damage that we put on our cars ourselves? If we scratch, dent, or break something tinkering with it, we passively regard it as a "wear and tear battle scar that adds personality and history."

...Some anonymous pud does it and we turn into Cathy Bates on a bad day!

 

You have a point there. I can still recount the marks I put on my '07 during maintenance.

 

I agree that the fact that I make the damage is okay because I'm the one paying the bill. I have a few battle scars from having to park outside now since I don't have a garage. Parking on the street doesn't help either. Good thing I'm pretty good at paint repair and correction or I would be even more pissed. I can tell if it's something I can buff out or not. Mostly I can so that's why I'm not too worried. It still bothers me but not quite as much.

 

park far away and double park...that's what I do...

 

Double parking is just asking for scratches on your car.

 

I am always afraid of double parking...i just know someone will get my car towed.

 

X1000!!!

 

The only thing I think of when reading this is I
a) Always parked in bumbf*ck
b) Keep my car in the garage when not driving or washing
c) washed and kept away from everyone!!

Reality.. Stupid non-paying attention woman slams into you at a stop sign.. *SMH*!!