How To stop car park dents

[ArunAlec]

Oh and avoid parking in Paris. The Parisian "touch parking" technique involves owning a small car and using it as a low speed battering ram to get into a parking space that's clearly too small. The average Parisian seems to treat their car with utter contempt and it's almost a fashion statement to drive a small car with every panel bashed or scraped. My sister in law lives just outside Paris and I used to think she was a useless driver as her car looks like that one from Father Ted. However, it seems to be an accepted practice in that city.

Heard a story of an old Citroen with towbar and Hydropneumatic suspension having been parked bumper to bumper, started up, suspension lifted and towbar caught on car behind, drove off towing the other car!

 

[Borris]

Heard a story of an old Citroen with towbar and Hydropneumatic suspension having been parked bumper to bumper, started up, suspension lifted and towbar caught on car behind, drove off towing the other car!

On a similar note a friend of ours has a large van that he uses for his fencing business. He recently backed into a parking space and without knowing it, caught the rear tow ball under the front bumper of the car parked behind. He only found out when he attempted to drive away. He heard a strange noise and upon investigation discovered that he had torn the front off the car behind.

 

[Paulfwb]

Never park near the entrance of whatever your visiting. Ie supermarket or attraction. If it's not a busy car park like a Doncaster Tesco's you could straddle 2 lines. Other than that your running boards etc wont protect you from door dings. Take another vehicle or walk is best.

This is what I would call strategic parking and is the best first line of defense.
#ParkingStrategy

 

[acer]

These should be the type you require, in theory they could be painted but then car door bumps would show defeating the objective.
They are at the height that I've had door scrapes. Anything lower gives little or no protection to door dings especially rear passenger doors.
There are others on the market.

Textured Black PU Side Door Bump Strips SWB LWB - VW T6 2015-2019 - Vanstyle

www.vanstyle.co.uk

I can imagine using something like this, but with some of that magnetic strip attached instead of adhesive. When parking in a less than perfect position, you could retrieve the bumpers stored in the boot and slap them on. Ok for when you're in second car mode, rather than on a fully-laiden camping trip. Has anyone seen something like that. I bet someone on here has made some. I bet some could even be knitted.

 

[MrRHedgehog]

It's a Cali, not a multi million dollar Rembrandt painting...

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

 

[acer]

It's a Cali, not a multi million dollar Rembrandt painting...

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

mine is more of a monet - in fact it was a lot of monet

 

[WelshGas]

Heard a story of an old Citroen with towbar and Hydropneumatic suspension having been parked bumper to bumper, started up, suspension lifted and towbar caught on car behind, drove off towing the other car!

Been there done that on a GSA. Park nicely, space fore and aft and came back to find a Ford Cortina front bumper almost touching rear bumper. Unfortunately for him I had been away for a few hours and the hydropneumatic suspension had dropped. In the car, engine on, tearing noise from rear, got out Cortina bumper detached and balancing on tow hitch. Removed bumper and drove off. Happened 3 times during 6 yrs. Although you could vary the height of the suspension the engine had to be started before that function could be used and so the suspension would rise first.

 

[motacyclist]

Leave yr Cali on the drive then you will never get a door dink.

Mine did, suspect an in-law

 

[motacyclist]

If you can catch them you can claim off their insurance. Unfortunately the Cali doesn't have side cameras like this Tesla

 

[Pips Dad]

What’s the best way to stop the side of the Cali being dented by other car doors that are used by Zombie heads / normal people accidentally losing grip on other car door handles whilst opening / drug users / people / kids / animals / A.N. Other in car parks ?
Need a vote type chat thingy.
Side plastic rubbing strips. Colour coded.
Large round chrome bar running boards
Running boards
Foot steps
Chrome strips. (VW or eBay ?)
Any other suggestions ?

I was sat in my 12 month old Cali in a sloping car park. About six spaces on the upper side was a young mother lifting out her child from the supermarket trolley and it flashed across my mind what would happen if she didn’t control the trolley. It was like deja vous as she completely ignored the trolley as the child was lifted out and it rolled with increasing speed towards my campers side. I jumped out and managed to stop it just before it did serious damage to the side panel and door.
When I pointed out to her what had happened she told me off for not getting out sooner and warning her of what might happen!!
It seems many people have no real concerns or worries about bashed bodywork etc and leave all the worrying to those of us who have worked hard for what we have and respect.
I came away confused thinking that the incident was all my fault. Crazy!

 

[Nathz]

6. Try to avoid school runs in your Cali. A significant number of the mums either don't care about cars, yours, theirs or anyone elses, can't or won't park carefully and are usually in a hurry with their minds elsewhere.

Borris, isn't it kind of a sexist comment ? Dads would be different ?...

 

[Californication69]

I was sat in my 12 month old Cali in a sloping car park. About six spaces on the upper side was a young mother lifting out her child from the supermarket trolley and it flashed across my mind what would happen if she didn’t control the trolley. It was like deja vous as she completely ignored the trolley as the child was lifted out and it rolled with increasing speed towards my campers side. I jumped out and managed to stop it just before it did serious damage to the side panel and door.
When I pointed out to her what had happened she told me off for not getting out sooner and warning her of what might happen!!
It seems many people have no real concerns or worries about bashed bodywork etc and leave all the worrying to those of us who have worked hard for what we have and respect.
I came away confused thinking that the incident was all my fault. Crazy!

That’s the problem with some people. They are just not wired correctly in the head. The electrical pulses don’t go to the right place for them to think they are going to cause £1000’s of pounds worth of damage to someone else’s property.

 

[Californication69]

6. Try to avoid school runs in your Cali. A significant number of the mums either don't care about cars, yours, theirs or anyone elses, can't or won't park carefully and are usually in a hurry with their minds elsewhere.

Borris, isn't it kind of a sexist comment ? Dads would be different ?...

I live in the same road as a Primary school.
I can ascertain around 95% of child hand holding walking round to the school gates are women.
I think Boris is just being realistic. The problem stems from the difference in salary for men & women. If my wife could earn what I earn, I’d have happily stayed at home and being a home dad

 

[Nathz]

I live in the same road as a Primary school.
I can ascertain around 95% of child hand holding walking round to the school gates are women.
I think Boris is just being realistic. The problem stems from the difference in salary for men & women. If my wife could earn what I earn, I’d have happily stayed at home and being a home dad

OK, but dads would certainly behave the same way, that was my point.

 

[Californication69]

OK, but dads would certainly behave the same way, that was my point.

Yes true, maybe a lower percentage, as we all know the percentage of male to female petrol heads! Just seems to me and from my 50 years of being on this planet that blokes take care of their motor transport more so than the ladies. For eg: my wife like to change her car every 3 years as it needs a vacuum

 

[ArunAlec]

Been there done that on a GSA. Park nicely, space fore and aft and came back to find a Ford Cortina front bumper almost touching rear bumper. Unfortunately for him I had been away for a few hours and the hydropneumatic suspension had dropped. In the car, engine on, tearing noise from rear, got out Cortina bumper detached and balancing on tow hitch. Removed bumper and drove off. Happened 3 times during 6 yrs. Although you could vary the height of the suspension the engine had to be started before that function could be used and so the suspension would rise first.

I have to smile when I see old 70s films with a DS or CX being jumped into and driven off at speed...... without the wait for pressure, so no suspension, steering or brakes!
Dropping the suspension was a good ploy to fend off wheel clampers.

 

[Mickyb123]

Mine did, suspect an in-law

Can’t argue with that one

 

[Ladymuck]

Oh and avoid parking in Paris. The Parisian "touch parking" technique involves owning a small car and using it as a low speed battering ram to get into a parking space that's clearly too small. The average Parisian seems to treat their car with utter contempt and it's almost a fashion statement to drive a small car with every panel bashed or scraped. My sister in law lives just outside Paris and I used to think she was a useless driver as her car looks like that one from Father Ted. However, it seems to be an accepted practice in that city.

The same parking technique was used when I lived in Lyon, cars were frequently shunted forward to fit in a space !

 

[Karlos]

I live in the same road as a Primary school.
I can ascertain around 95% of child hand holding walking round to the school gates are women.
I think Boris is just being realistic. The problem stems from the difference in salary for men & women. If my wife could earn what I earn, I’d have happily stayed at home and being a home dad

She did and I did for several years which is probably why I am so close to my daughter, and I enjoyed chatting to the yummy mummys

 

[Borris]

6. Try to avoid school runs in your Cali. A significant number of the mums either don't care about cars, yours, theirs or anyone elses, can't or won't park carefully and are usually in a hurry with their minds elsewhere.

Borris, isn't it kind of a sexist comment ? Dads would be different ?...

Read into it what you will but I can only report what I've witnessed outside of our grandchildren's primary school. Further more I doubt if the picture is that much different elsewhere.

Firstly, the vast majority of children are dropped off and collected by women of which most are their mothers. I know this for a fact, as three of our grandchildren have attended this school since reception class. Through them I have got to know their class mates and their families. There aren't many drop offs and pick ups done by men.

Secondly, on the occasion that our Cali was damaged it wasn't done by a male but a mum driving a battered Renault Clio.

The situation isn't helped by the fact that this village school can only be reached by driving down a single track walled dead end lane which terminates in a small car park outside the village hall. There was parking in the school grounds but since the decision was taken to ban parking and turn it into an open prison by installing electric gates, things have become alot worse. Being retired I usually aim to get there at least an hour early, so I can assure you that I've had adequate time over the years to observe the standards of driving and who the main risks are.

 

[Karlos]

Read into it what you will but I can only report what I've witnessed outside of our grandchildren's primary school. Further more I doubt if the picture is that much different elsewhere.

Firstly, the vast majority of children are dropped off and collected by women of which most are their mothers. I know this for a fact, as three of our grandchildren have attended this school since reception class. Through them I have got to know their class mates and their families. There aren't many drop offs and pick ups done by men.

Secondly, on the occasion that our Cali was damaged it wasn't done by a male but a mum driving a battered Renault Clio.

The situation isn't helped by the fact that this village school can only be reached by driving down a single track walled dead end lane which terminates in a small car park outside the village hall. There was parking in the school grounds but since the decision was taken to ban parking and turn it into an open prison by installing electric gates, things have become alot worse. Being retired I usually aim to get there at least an hour early, so I can assure you that I've had adequate time over the years to observe the standards of driving and who the main risks are.

Pole position every day Boris, when I took our daughter to school a family friends daughter was there at the same time who was picked up daily by her grandfather who held court at the school gates every day. he recently turned 92 and still going strong.

Happy memories and I feel very fortunate to have been a house husband for 5 years being able to take our daughter from the age of 6 to 11.

 

[Borris]

Pole position every day Boris, when I took our daughter to school a family friends daughter was there at the same time who was picked up daily by her grandfather who held court at the school gates every day. he recently turned 92 and still going strong.

Happy memories and I feel very fortunate to have been a house husband for 5 years being able to take our daughter from the age of 6 to 11.

When our four children were young I was working shifts in the Fire Sevice. This meant that I was at home during the daytime much more than other dads. This enabled me to take them to nursery and school etc and take a much more active role in their early years. I've always considered myself tremendously fortunate in that respect.

Now it's three of our eight grand kids. The others live too far away. This involvement is also a total joy. We've been heavily involved with all three especially the youngest girl who we've looked after regularly since birth. It's a pleasure seeing them grow up despite the girls turning into ideal candidates for St Trinians.

 

[WelshGas]

Any one interested in Body Coloured Side Mouldings, as the T5.1 had as standard, should check out this supplier.
I am led to believe the mouldings will fit the T5/6/6.1.. As the California has the sliding door on the OS they still fit .

Additional cost for colour coding.

Volkswagen Transporter Side Protection Mouldings

Volkswagen Transporter Side Protection Mouldings

shop.automotiva.co.uk

 

[B16 JOG]

Machine gun turret on roof and drop down razor wire fence?

You beat me to it!

 

[PIERPO]

These are the my Cali parking tips:
1. Never use a parking bay between two other vehicles even if it's the last space. That exposes your vehicle to maximum risk.
2. Always park at the far end of the car park away from the entrance. Most people will park as close to the entrance to the supermarket or attraction as they can.
3. Never park next to any vehicle that's parked higher up the slope. If someone lets go of a door it's likely to hit your Cali.
4. Never park at the bottom of a sloping carpark. Any run away trolleys are likely to head straight for your van.
5. If parking at night always try and park under a street light and not in some dark unlit place.
6. Try to avoid school runs in your Cali. A significant number of the mums either don't care about cars, yours, theirs or anyone elses, can't or won't park carefully and are usually in a hurry with their minds elsewhere. Also they are dropping off offspring that are either unaware, careless or too small to control the weight of a car door. Having suffered expensive damage to our Cali I now use a cheap battered fifteen year old banger for school runs.
7. Never park near to any vehicle that has a comprehensive collection of minor bodywork damage. Either the driver can't drive properly or just doesn't care.
8. Try to limit risk by picking a corner spot at the far end of the carpark or single parallel parking bay.
9. Park it as if you've abandoned it, semi diagonally so that it takes up one and a half bays. Only in a carpark where there's plenty of free space.
10. Don't park near the recycling area where there will be plenty of traffic.
11. Once youv'e picked your corner spot you will have protected at least two sides. Limit the cost of repairs by leaving the o/s exposed as that should be the cheaper side to have minor damage repaired.
12. If poss leave someone in the vehicle to glare at drivers tempted to park near your van. If they have the features of a rabid Rottweiler then that could be an advantage. Or stay in the Cali whilst they shop.
13. If someone starts to park very close to you, turn on the ignition to activate to the dash cam and horn just in case. They should then also be aware that there will be a witness.
14. If you have to park next to other vehicles look for something shiny new and expensive. The chances are they won't want to bang their doors either.

Alternatively ignore all of the above and carry on regardless. Expect the odd dings, dents and scrapes. Don't bother checking the windscreen for a note admitting guilt and given a name and contact details as that rarely, if ever happens.

Great minds think alike