I give up, it`s impossible to keep a car nice

[trmiv]

I`ve had this 2007 Ford Escape for a bit over a month now, and it`s gotten ridiculous. It started a couple of weeks after I got the car when I discovered a mystery dent on the hood. I was just about to get that fixed when some jerk keyed my passenger door (see this thread (http://autopia.org/forum/showthread.php?t=79240) ). So lately I haven`t even been driving the Escape to the train station, instead taking my wife`s old POS and leaving the Escape at home. So today I head out to detail it a bit after a light rain the other day, and I find a 1" dent on the rear driver`s side fender! Argh! I can`t keep up with this anymore. A bit over a month and I`ve gotten two dents and a massive scratch. And this is all while trying to take great care of the car.



I realize I can get PDR for this dent, but after not owning the car very long and I`ve already had two dents, where does it end? I can`t keep forking over $100 every time I get a dent on this car. It doesn`t matter how well you try to maintain a car, all the morons out there are going to mess it up.

[Joshua312]

Sounds like you need to start parking away from others...I have a 99 Grand Prix and it only has one minor dent. I park away from others now...too many people just slam their door open and don`t care if it hits the person next to them.

[trmiv]

Thats the thing, I DO park away from others. The scratch while it was keyed happened when I was parked at the end of the row, with a good distance between another car. The dent on the hood must have been from something falling, I don`t see how that happens from another car. And the new dent, the car was parked in one spot at my apartment complex all week, away from other cars. When I go to stores, I always park far out in the lot, never by other cars (ask my wife about that one, she hates it). The problem is, no matter where you are, some nimrod WILL park next to you. These dents are not from lack of trying to prevent them, that is my point. If I was being reckless and parking wherever, I wouldn`t stress, because that is the risk you take, but I make every effort to keep it nice, but it`s apparently impossible.

[velobard]

I kinda know how you feel. I bought my car a year ago and it`s what got me into Autopia, really trying to take good care of it. This is my track record so far.



-Last December the car in front on the highway of me kicked up a rock that came straight through the glass in the sunroof. Fortunately the shade was closed so broken glass didn`t go all over the interior, but broken glass flew back and scratched the paint on the roof and trunk. I had to pay for that repair out of pocket since my deductible was too high.



-Accident in March damaged the rear bumper and trunk. I paid the shop extra to paint the hood to take care of rock chips.



-Storm in July blew tree branch onto car. I paid extra to have them repaint hood (problems with last paint job in March), front bumper, and left side just so I wouldn`t have problems with mismatched paint or blend lines.



-In August got car back on a Wednesday, storm came through Friday night, next morning found 3 or 4 minor hail dents on roof. Filed another claim for that one.



-Stalled taking car into shop for hail dents, then in September a car lost control in heavy rain in front of me on the highway. When he spun into the median, a shower of rocks, dirt, etc bounced onto the highway, causing minor chips virtually all over the car, plus a few minor dents, etc. Car is back in the shop again right now to take care of that damage, plus warranty issues from paint job in August.



I would SO love to break my string of lousy luck once I finally get my car back this time.

[fdizzle]

it is impossible to keep a car nice . . .



unless its covered in a air bubble in a climate controleld garage with nothing else inside it . .



but how many of are so fortunate . . .



i have three cars that stay outside, all day everyday.



my moms accord has been in 6 accidents, my dads 03 truck that only has 13k miles on it because he never drives anywhere has dents, dont ask me how they got there, and my new nissan truck has two dents, from incosiderate fat people and soccer moms who thrust open their doors of their cadillac land yachts ( no disrespect to caddys) and oversized suv`s (no disrespect to lifted vehicles)





it makes me want to spray armor--all on their paint and glass, and write nasty messages in their window, reminding them how terrible a person they are . . .



but the autopian in me realizes that that would actually be doing their car a favor, because their vehicle probably has no wax or surface protectant on it anyway . . .



you just cant win

[paul34]

I have a spot of paint on my rear bumper that I swear just simply "fell off." I really have no explanation for what happened.



Seems like even if you keep a new car garaged, things can still happen :nixweiss

[imported_agentf1]

I feel for you. I go out of my way trying to keep my car nice but some people are just #$#%. I even look at things parking next to a 4 door instead of 2 door and look at where cars are coming from and going and always pick the spot where it is least likely to get hit. :nixweiss

[scttsmn06]

I have a 2004 Honda Accord and I too try to keep it in pristine condition. I was cleaning the front bumper and noticed there were scratches on each side! I think I ran into sage brush on the highway! Approximately 3 weeks after that, I was opening the trunk and noticed that I had a deep gash in the bumper, and have no idea what caused it. I thought the damage might resulted from a grocery shopping car, but when I put it along side my bumper I notiiced that the cage was higher than the bumper. I too park far away from other vehicles, but some numb skull all ways has to park beside me.

[Zrex61]

There comes a point where it stops being fun & becomes diagnosable OCD. I think you reached that point, what you now have is a show car that you`re afraid to park anyplace. Thats understandable if you have a Ferrari or a Duessenberg etc, but a Ford Escape?????

Now you have a dent you can stop fretting about minor stuff & just enjoy driving it.

[Grimm]

Things are always going to happen to our cars. While they are large investments of our income and want them to stay pristine, it just isn`t going to happen. You just have to keep up on taking care of your stuff no matter what. I cringe when I see imperfections in my car, but I just have to tell myself that 99% of everyone else around me isn`t even going to notice. And if you take especially good care of your vehicle, then I`m sure people will be too busy oohing and ahhing over the nice shiny paint. While I don`t usually care what other people think, I just figure if most other people wouldn`t notice, then I shouldn`t worry about it so much.

[cute02spec]

There comes a point where it stops being fun & becomes diagnosable OCD. I think you reached that point, what you now have is a show car that you`re afraid to park anyplace.



I kinda feel that way about my car. But it`s not the parking of my car, it`s the driving of it in traffic. I am so paranoid of it getting hit by someone else that I really don`t drive it. Mostly I just don`t want my thousands of dollars of modifications to get damaged. I know I am OCD about my car to the point I`d need therapy if something happened to it and I`ve had nightmares of it getting smashed, but hey, my car makes me happy so oh well.

[WaxOn1234]

Just like everybody mentions, something is going to hit or scratch the car no matter what you do. I`ve had my truck for only 8 months now and 2 months ago i found a scrape on my real bumper. I knew it was someone else who did that, but i let it go after fretting about it for 5 min. I still love my truck though. Before i traded my last car in, i had it for two years without a single ding or large scratch (mostly luck and parking far far away from others whenever possible, im sure it helped on the trade in value a little). Here`s my tips for minimizing "accidents":



-dont travel behind cement trucks, buses, tractor trailers

-avoid parking next to other cars where theres most likely child centered events (Chuck E. Cheese, soccer games, etc.

-when parking away from others isnt an option, always try to park in the end spot, where you can`t get possibly dinged on both sides.

-whever possible, take your handicap placard mother-in-law with you on crowded shopping days! :)

[deadlock32]

you shouldn`t let dents worry you so much... as long as the paint is still good and there is no rust.

[BlackElantraGT]

When I first got my car brand new, I used to be anal about it, such as parking really far away from other people. But over time, I began to realize that I could park in BFE and some idiot will find a way to put a dent in your car. Sometimes I began to wonder if some people got a kick out of it and doing it on purpose.



The breaking point for me was when I had to drive down to San Diego really late one morning, and when I arrived in the small underground hotel parking lot, I was so groggy and not thinking straight that I scraped the right side of my car against one of those concrete column support. Luckily only the rear passenger side door was damage, but I`ve never had the money to fix it.



Ever since making that mistake on my own, I haven`t gotten all bent out of shape whenever I see a new dent, ding, or scratch. In a way, it`s almost like my car has battle scars and gives my car some personality.



If it`s your daily driver, don`t fret over it. Don`t worry, be happy.

[bill57]

Bite the bullet and enjoy the car as much as possible, knowing that when you leave it for a minute, a dent might appear. I`ve resigned myself to addressing what seems to be daily nicks with polishes with loads of fillers until an annual visit to the body shop, at which time I have the dings pulled out and anythig that I couldn`t correct properly, addressed at that time. In spite of my efforts to park isolated, I created a dent, myself, when a shopping cart got loose after I thought I secured it in a corral!