i like what a lot of people have said here. most of the XKs like my S type arent very large so if you park in 1 end place close to the curb there will usually be plenty of room for the other car to open a door etc without getting too close.

however in an XJ, 7 Series etc thats not nearly as possible and 2 places is a lot more safe. I just do it when there are lots of places around so no one has an excuse to get mad at you and you dont have to feel guilty some 1 else might not have a place.

I thinkt he people that look down at you taking 2 places are really just jealous but I dont thinkt eh majority of them would go out of their way to leave oyu a nasty note, scratch your car or whatever. Most of them are the fat and useless who want to be closest to the front of the store lol so if youre at the back of the lot they would have to walk the opposite way.

Ive also tended to do this in my corvettes, vipers etc since they sit low to the ground you really need to open the door a lot more to comfortably get in and out.

I also like what MJW said, I try to not drive any of my personal cars and even a lot of my dealer cars when i go somewhere i know parking might suck like a sports game or questionable places.

I prefer to be able to see my car from the business Im in even if its in a distance or within view of security cameras.

Im also legally handicapped and prefer not to use it but you better believe I will if there is no good place. lol ironically the 1 place i have to use it on a regular basis is at the athletic club i belong to. parking there is horrible, but i use the 1 farthest from the building.

 

I was wondering how many of you have actually witnessed someone open their door into the side of your car and put a significant ding in it?

I don't mean only your Jag, but any really nice car that you have owned.

For me, I have actually seen it happen four times, and once it was a four door, so they put two big dings on a car with a custom paint job and not a single ding anywhere else.

 

Kevin, I don't think it would be a good thing for me, or the person who did it.

 

I take one spot and either park far away or next to somebody else with a nice car: BMW, JAG, Corvette, etc.

 

i only take one spot, try to find the end of the lane or near a curb, then park as close as i can to the curb as to leave as much space on the only side another car will be. I typically cant stand when people take up 2 spots, especially if the lot is full up.

 

very relevant to this poll http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...ic-inside.html

 

I take one space. I only park were I feel safe from dings. I don't mind walking. It just means, when I walk back out, I get to look at my car as I approach it.
On another note, when I was younger, I had a '68 RoadRunner painted. After about a week, I came out of a grocery store to find a white ding in my door. I opened the unlocked door of the white pick-up next to me to find it lined up pretty well. I calmly took the tire tool out of my trunk and removed his mirror for him. When I got home, my wife imformed me that she might have dinged it with her white Firebird. Thats when I started thinking about better anger management. Now, if someone dings my Jaguar, Ill use my bare hands.

 

Be sure to clench your fists so there are no fingerprints.

 

or use the heel of my boot.

 

Back when I was in college (when Europe was still cooling), the parking was difficult at best and small cars had the annoying tendency to create parking spots where there weren't any. I remember seeing a VW bug once with a message scratched in the side: "You parked too close."

I guess I have the best deal going. The wife and I have "handicapped" passes (although I don't really need mine anymore). The wheelchair spots are generally wider and most of them have a sort of "no-man's-land" hatched area between them. Easy to position the cats so they don't get dinged. It's a small reward for enduring some of life's tougher moments, but hey, ya gotta take your bennies where you find them.

Cheers,

 

Years ago I used to park far away and in 2 spots, new Camaro. I came out and someone had parked just close enough to have their door almost all the way open before it hit mine. BIG SCRATCH AND DENT. Now I search for a parking spot with the following attributes:
1 - Uphill from any shopping carts or the place where they park carts.
2 - Beside a curb, preferably one with 2 foot extra width X'd out beside the curb. Not big enough for a car but I can park on that without taking up 2 spaces. A lot of times the end spots are a little extra wide.
3 - If I have to park near other cars, I pick next to really nice ones with no dings and hope their owners respect and love their car as much as I do mine.
4 - Take my wife's car if I know we will be in the store or whatever for a while and the parking situation is not good or there will be a high level of cars coming and going and several cars could be around my car while I am away.
5 - Make sure you are on good terms with your local paintless dent removal expert.

 

I must admit I have been caught parking over two spaces before, but like others have said only when the car park is pretty much empty.

I've found myself parking in some obscure places in the past only to arrive back at my car and some idiot in a car which looks like it barely passed it's MOT has parked next to me.

All other times I now look for cars I believe to be of similar quality (I know that sounds arrogant but it's true) or relatively new cars.

 

Yeah. My wife's car is going to absorb a lot of abuse for the Jag. I think its called "Taking one for the team".

 

It's funny, I've gradually started parking my other cars out further ever since I got the Jag. I used to always look for the closest spot to the store, but nowadays I usually park at least two spots past the last car in the row, even when I'm driving my Expedition. Walking from the far corners of the lot no longer seems like the inconvenience that it used to be.

 

its not the vandels you have to worry about in the uk its people driving old knakers that should be at the scrap yard.they open there doors on your car and dont car because there cars only worth a fiver scrap value.

 

I park way out too, next to a curb. But it never fails some yahoo has to park next to me, so far no dings but I always look to make sure when I've gone shopping and come back out.