What Do You Do When Someone Opens Their Car Door into Yours?

thanatos350 on 02/03/2021 - 13:25

Hi guys,

This post isn't really for advice, but more out of interest.

I was sitting in my car having a coffee, while a small SUV entered the parking spot next to me. The driver parked very poorly, and their front tire was quiet obviously in my space.

The driver was a short, rotund lady who appeared to try to prevent her door from touching my vehicle. As she stepped down from her seat, the limited space between her car and her open door was obviously insufficient for her body - so the door kind of popped open and hit my car.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened. I don't doubt that it has happened numerous times when I haven't been sitting in my car too.

I put a lot of effort into caring for my car, so this kind of stuff makes me rage. For this reason, I avoid confronting these people as to prevent myself from causing an affray.

I do wonder, however, if you guys handle these situations differently? Do you just swallow it? Do you jump out and abuse these people?

Automotive

Comments

            • Zachary on 06/03/2021 - 10:59

              @GG57:

              Not like some on here talking about keying cars, deflating tyres, etc. That is intentional and should be prosecuted.

              Oops, I accidentally left my key out hanging whilst I was passing by your car.

    • thanatos350 on 04/03/2021 - 09:47

      It defies logic, doesn't it? My car is nice, but it isn't a luxury vehicle or anything. I'm not sure what you drive, but given it is 1 of 400 I would assume that it at least looks valuable and like something the owner wouldn't like to be damaged. Imo, you got off lucky with the rim, and to be honest, I'm surprised you managed to repair the key scratch without a full respray.

      I can understand other people who hold the opinion that these are just cars, and honestly, I agree with the fact that they are there to be used. I just don't want damage that could have been avoided with some care and a bit of respect.

  • buckster on 03/03/2021 - 22:11
    +1

    Depends on whether they 1. Admit to it, 2. Show any remorse or apology. If they're honest and apologise, and the damage is minor I'd let it go.

    In saying that…have let the air out of their tyres before when people have rudely denied it even though I watched it happen.

  • Kranbone on 04/03/2021 - 00:46
    +1

    If I had a nice new car, I'd ask for the owners details and try to follow it up, go to police, event number, insurance, etc.

    If I had a shitbox/beater, I'd just return the favour (and have done so in the past).

  • Mosher on 04/03/2021 - 08:27

    You can tell when it's a brand new care as I have seen a car parked right in the middle of 2 spaces

  • Damnsmart on 04/03/2021 - 10:00

    lets look at the real root cause here, current car parks are too narrow and even if you park them 100% in the middle….if you open the doors without paying attention to it, chance of your door hitting the car next to you is >90%.

    shopping malls either have to meet the min number or parking lots or they boast about number of parking lots, when you are in a shopping mall, you are there to buy stuff and your movements are quite limited with shopping bags in your hands.

    parking lots should be bit wider to remove these kinda issues in my opinion.

  • Betamaxx1 on 04/03/2021 - 10:28
    +3

    About 15 years ago, Someone parked next to my dad, Their kid opened the door into my dads car and left a mark. The fat bogan mother got out and said "its only a scratch and your cars not worth much anyway". Dad waited until they went into woolies then lay across the bench seat (XD falcon) and booted his door into their car and pretty well smashed the door in (VT/X Commodore). One of the benefits of driving a old bomb…

    • Zachary on 06/03/2021 - 11:06

      HAHAHAHAHAHHA nice! Did the fat woman come back for revenge? Hahahaha

  • capslock janitor on 04/03/2021 - 12:28

    How about them rubber mouldings?

  • Herbse on 04/03/2021 - 15:56

    What do I do if someone hits my car with a trolley? It happened right in front of me once and the lady apologised, all I could say was wtf and let it go since there's no chance of any insurance involvement on her part. but is there any recourse there? Other than hound her for personal damage repayments? 😅

    • Mosher on 04/03/2021 - 21:05
      +2

      follow the person who hit your car with the trolley and then hit their car with your trolley and just apologise

      • Herbse on 04/03/2021 - 22:24

        Brilliant

  • Mintee on 04/03/2021 - 18:11

    So over this happening… Happened to my 3 week old car left a nice dent and scratch on my car…

    When you work so hard for stuff and other dont care…

    I end up always parking SUPER far away, and literally ALWAYS manage to get one side right next to a gutter and get SUPER close to the gutter also, so you can literally fit a motor bike in between and yet still manage to AWLWAYS have someone park next to me when theres 100 free car spots…. soooo frustrating

  • Jackson on 04/03/2021 - 20:05
    +1

    Usually there's no damage on either car and I just hive a sigh and they apologise. Rarer they have a mark on there's but I don't have one on mine. That's all the cases I a have experienced

  • Oofy Doofy on 04/03/2021 - 20:49

    Nothing, it's car park normal wear and tear. The only time I'd say it would be more of a concern would be with a hire vehicle, but not even those places are that pedantic IME.

    • GG57 on 05/03/2021 - 09:53

      Yes, I've had plenty of hire cars and noted some minor door dings at the time of pick up, and they always say that it is just wear-and-tear.

      Maybe that is the standard that we should all adopt. If a hire car company wouldn't worry about it, neither should we.

  • Oz em on 05/03/2021 - 00:21
    +2

    I accidentally pressed the wrong remote and shut the electric gate into my car. Only myself to blame. I didn’t give my details or pay for repairs though.

  • kaleidoscope on 05/03/2021 - 07:17

    Happened to a friend of mine. Except it was her door which slightly touched other rotund woman’s car. The rotund woman had apparently threatened her, took her details by force and called their insurance.
    My friend was really in shock but had managed to take photos of so called alleged damage. When I had a look at photos noticed the so called paint marks weren’t matching my friend’s car yet she ended up paying excess as she had responded poorly for the insurance mob (she was still at shock how the rotund woman behaved at the incident and when insurance called her she wasn’t in good state of mind to respond clearly with details)

    • GG57 on 05/03/2021 - 10:49

      How can someone take her details "…by force…"?

      • kaleidoscope on 05/03/2021 - 10:54

        The rotund women had grabbed the handbag of my friend forcefully and taken a photo of license. It wasnt like my friend was resisting anything but other woman was being an a**.
        Hence why she was kind of shaken about the whole incident.

  • kylarstern on 05/03/2021 - 10:37
    -1

    Happened to me right in front of me once at my work car park in the CBD. Left a mark.
    Solution: I also left a mark, albeit one bigger with my keys

  • serpserpserp on 05/03/2021 - 18:41

    Bikies.

  • Other on 05/03/2021 - 21:02
    -1

    I develop a relationship, date them for a year and then breakup a day before valentines day and ghost them.

    VERY EFFECTIVE!

    They almost never forget why!

  • earth worm jim on 05/03/2021 - 23:58

    When car doors touch what happens. Well I'd assume it leads to sex eventually.

  • tanastra on 07/03/2021 - 21:25

    True story , she parked the car next to me so close , tried to get out from the car and bang my door , ended up going out thru the passenger front door, came over to me and blame me for parking too close to her car , and I just pointed that I parked within the line before her . And the Fat lady ( she never realised this as she was trying to squeeze herself out from the driver door and banging on my door more than 2 times ) still blamed me and never apologised . Don’t worry people, this kind of behaviour is quite common in Perth where I park my car . Perth driver are the rudest in oz . They will never thank you for giving you a way and and will never apologise for their mistakes . Lucky you lots as Perth is far away from the rest of the world

  • birdnw on 08/03/2021 - 23:30
    -1

    It's an interesting topic. It happened to my mum once when we were in a car park. She opened the door for a bit but it was a windy day so the winds blew the casr door wide open. I guess it's her fault that she didn't hold onto the car door but we also didn't expect it to be so windy in the car park. The other driver just came back to got her car so she was very angry and told her off.

    So, I guess if the other person did it accidentally and apologise, I guess I will just move on.

  • sunnyc on 13/03/2021 - 00:27
    1. don't park near old dented cars.
      people simply don't care, they dont care enough to make enough to buy a decent car, they won't care if they dent you either.
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