How to Add Color to Your Car While Shopping

There is a plague sweeping the nation as millions of drivers exit their cars only to return and see that they have been hit by an artist who thinks their car needed a little decorative touch. What do I mean? Well lets say you arrive at your local store and you go in and complete your 45 minute shopping spree. You go through the check out in a record speed, you approach your car to find a red vehicle has parked next to you. The only problem is this vehicle is no longer there. How did you know it was red? Was it the parking spot marked red cars only? Nope it was the big red streak across you clear coat that they forgot to take with them.

I have never got past the fact that when you drive you always have to park some where. The amazing part is you generally have to park next to someone else or vice a versa. The sad part is that we all have one thing in common. We have parked or been a victim of those who have parked next to the gear shift in our vehicles.

Nothing says I don't care like someone exiting their vehicle and slamming their door into yours or backing their vehicle into yours. My all time favorite is the hybrid method. This is when your coming out of the store and you see one of the store's shopping carts that has been strategically placed by some moron into your vehicle. Comes in handy if you shop at a drive through and just want them to throw it into your adjoined buggy.

How and what do we do to try and help prevent these little works of art to our 3 and 4 hundred dollar a month payments. Well a few things I have learn have help me. One is remember the closer to the front of the store you park the closer you are to getting dinged. Most people who park toward the front of store's are in a hurry. They exit their vehicles the way they drive at the speed of light. They would not notice if they left a wheel off let alone dinged your car because they are thinking that they have parked in a field and no one is around them in their universe.

Another is if you see a car load of children and by this I mean 3 to 13 exit a vehicle on their own remember their on a mission to the toys or food and they are not really paying a lot of attention. As for the parents...well they are celebrating the gift of walking on their own for the kids so they may not be watching how the kids exit and enter. You might want to park a little further down. Parking a little farther down most of the time may prevent some of the paint trading you will receive.

What if you catch the person who dings your car...WOW this would be one of those moments right!? This could be a very bad situation if approached hot headed. If the vehicle is present when you get to your car and you can clearly see they are responsible for the damage the smart approach would be to go inside the store and have the owner paged to the counter. Calmly explain the situation and if agreeable get the needed insurance information. If the damage is sever or not it is good to get a police report for damage. If there non agreement as in one party disputing the other than have the store pull video footage if available and have it viewed by the police as well as both parties involved. Now in the event the damaging party tells you to jump in a lake that they are leaving because they did not do the damage then the best step would be if you haven't already is to write down the tag number of the vehicle. If video shows they are responsible when the police arrive then there could be more sever punishable offenses at hand.

If you find yourself having to park in a known (ding area) than you may want to jot down the tag numbers around you with the vehicle color. Also try and park a little further out if your case allows. Also to everyone who has the squeeze park down to an art and we have all been guilty, just remember this type of parking almost always screams retaliation by those around you. As for the shopping cart hit and run there is not a whole lot you can do. Some stores in a sign of parking lot safety have equipped their carts with coin operated releases. This means you insert a coin and to get your coin back you have to place the cart in a holder and insert the key into the cart in front to retrieve you coin back. In any case with all fundamentals of the driving world parking is a necessity and so is the use of a little common sense.