It amazes me that no matter what i do to keep a car looking good, there's ALWAYS someome backing into my car, who doesn't give a **** about anything. It's been the same since i've started driving. When i bought my C180 two years ago it was in mint condition. It is starting to fall under the "reliable POS" category pretty fast and this wasn't the plan. It already has a very deep gouge in the paint, door dents everywhere and slightly broken corners on every bumper. This morning i had my rear right fender heavily dented and scratched by my mom maneuvering while looking at her phone. I park my cars as far as i can from other cars, do everything i can but there's just no way around it, i have to drive around in cars looking like trash and i don't know how some people keep their cars looking so fresh. This is a bit of a rant but why can't people have any respect for what's not theirs? Not that i have very interesting cars but i'm utterly pissed.
Why can't i have a good looking car
- Thread starter OM605
- Start date
The odds are against you. We're all outnumbered by the people who couldn't give a tiny rat's hiney about what their car looks like. It would be like a study in human behavior for me to have a bird's eye view of a Walmart parking lot to watch all the lowlifes door ding the car next to them, and barely acknowledge that they noticed. The ratio of don't care / care is about 90/10 in my observation. I barely got my Focus out of the body shop after having been sideswiped on the street, when someone door-dinged the same fender that had just been painted. It makes me seriously consider buying a real POS K10 pickup with no paint, just to drive to work and shop with, but I'm too picky, and I must have A/C in Texas. But it sure would be nice to dare someone to hit me when they change lanes without looking, then rip their quarter panel off and keep driving, because......I don't care what my vehicle looks like.
I had a car like that - a red '78 Ford Fiesta. Everywhere I went, someone clipped a corner, sat on and dented the hood, even took a shot at the back window (while I was working late at night at a hospital) leaving a dent in the sheetmetal. [They weren't much of a shot either missing a window that size!]
I got rid of that car and the "car-nage" stopped. Coincidence? Possibly.
I got rid of that car and the "car-nage" stopped. Coincidence? Possibly.
Obviously it depends upon where you like and park. And if you have a young driver in family learning to drive. Parking in a parking garage is looking for trouble. Look what kind of car you are parking next to. If its a POS then good chance they will open the car door wide and chip your car.
I often park my pickup in the far-to-walk section of a parking lot where I can take the middle of two parking spots and no one will care.
I often park my pickup in the far-to-walk section of a parking lot where I can take the middle of two parking spots and no one will care.
Learn to park in the far parking spots away from everybody else, a little walk is good for you and your car, but this is no guarantee that some IDIOT won't be parked next to you when you come back, this has happened to me before, but I always left them a little something before I left. 
As great as my used 2016 4Runner looked when I got it, it's getting beat up simply using it for its purposes these days.
Reliability over looks wins every time.
Anyone who looks at me would agree!
Reliability over looks wins every time.
Anyone who looks at me would agree!
I just googled Brittany France.. who cares what your car looks like when you live somewhere as beautiful as that.
It can be pretty frustrating how careless many people are in parking lots, and out on the road, which is downright dangerous.
I think you've already identified the problem!
I hear ya. Seems like every time I am sitting in our FJ waiting on my wife to come out of hobby lobby someone hit it with a door or cart. While I am in it.
Sounds like you have the ages old, sometimes unavoidable bad Kcarma. 
My wife and I once took a week and drove from Rouen to Nice, France and I was amazed at just how beat up a lot of folk's cars were. We saw a LOT of newer Renaults and Peugeots that had a lot of battle scars.
A lot of towns and cities in France seem like an absolute nightmare to drive a car in, much less park one. If we assume that French drivers are as bad as American drivers but in closer proximity to one another that sort of explains it.
A lot of towns and cities in France seem like an absolute nightmare to drive a car in, much less park one. If we assume that French drivers are as bad as American drivers but in closer proximity to one another that sort of explains it.
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I can sympathize with you. It seems they seek you out. I have a pickup with the crew cab and 8' bed and a small RV. I always park far away from others so I dont have a problem maneuvering in or out. there can be 20 spots between me and the closest car when I park but by the time I come out there is always someone parked next to me with all the empty spots still open sometimes 2 parked one on each side. WHY
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
You're parking too close to the store Chris.
OP's parking situation in France might make it impossible to keep any distance from other cars. While blaming other's carelessness is correct, isn't all of the story. The 2014 RAV4 I sold in January we bought new and it had zero door dings or other scars from the uncaring masses. It's possible to keep a car nice if you want to. Maybe not if you live in NYC or one of those castles in the France pic.
Walking the streets in Manhattan is a real eye-opener. Everybody's, and I mean everybody's bumpers are messed up.
Move to Canada or the US. While that doesn't safe you from encountering idiots the parking spots are significantly wider at least. Parking spots in France, Italy or Germany are as tight as they've been in 1960, when most cars where much smaller. Quite often you can't even open the door when you come back to your car. I too try parking my car at the farthest spot of the lot. It doesn't help though. Even if my car is the only one in the entire row - some idiot will place his car right next to mine. As tight as possible of course.
Where do you live in Brittany? In the middle of Brest or out in the countryside? You're more likely to get door dings living in town. If you live in the walled part of St Malo, I imagine you're really likely to get door dings.
BTW to my fellow Americans I highly recommend touring Brittany and Normandy if you get a chance! I did so 14 years ago and I would go back in a minute!
BTW to my fellow Americans I highly recommend touring Brittany and Normandy if you get a chance! I did so 14 years ago and I would go back in a minute!
In my experience French drivers are very good, better than North American drivers. When they're driving they're driving, it's serious business, as in no looking around, you're driving.
The roadways are for the most part quite good too. But small parking spaces may be an issue.
