The entrance to my driveway is too small and I scrapped my new car

[Judge]

I've never heard of this! Is this common?

New technology that's been somewhat standard with various models in the last three years. Stuff that's being advertised on television quite a lot lately.

Though it's geared to detect things like other vehicles and pedestrians rather than objects like walls. But hey...forms of radar are just that. So it's quite possible for it to interpret a wall as another vehicle.

 

[Streetwise]

I've never heard of this! Is this common?

I’ve never heard of it very often, I’ve only heard it on supermarket delivery vans

 

[Aspychata]

Piers have them so that boats aren't damaged when tied up to pier.

 

[AMANDA DESIREE WILSON]

I used to work in a body shop fixing cars. My suggestion is to go to a auto store and get some plastic mouldings that come in the form of strips. Place them along the side of your car that is furthest out. That way, if you do scrape the car again, it will only damage the moldings. As far as the present damage is concerned, if the scrapes are not that deep, they may be able to be buffed out at a body shop. A quick fix would be to go to Canadian Tire if you live in Canada or another store in the United States and get some touch up paint. It won't make the scrapes go away, but it will make it less noticeable. I am sure you will put more scratches and dents on your car over time, but don't get upset.

 

[Mary Terry]

Yeah. Something I learned in trying to park in San Francisco. Something for the the rich and crazy, and I was neither. So I learned to use public transportation (BART) instead. - Avoidance. Truth is, I don't even recall the last time I attempted to parallel park much of anywhere in the last 20 years.

Parallel parking in SF would be dangerous if you're on a hillside!

 

[Mary Terry]

I've never heard of this! Is this common?

My car has a beeper warning for the front and rear of the car. No sensors on the sides that I know of.

 

[Judge]

My car has a beeper warning for the front and rear of the car. No sensors on the sides that I know of.

The sensors on my vehicle's front and rear have about a 200+ degree radius. Sufficient to sense cross traffic.

A feature that comes in quite handy each time I must back out blindly of my carport with two SUV's often parked on either side. If there's any cross traffic I can't even see, it beeps first and then will hit the brakes hard in the event I don't react within one or two seconds.

Pretty cool to have given that these sensors can react faster than I can.

 

[Frostee]

I used to work in a body shop fixing cars. My suggestion is to go to a auto store and get some plastic mouldings that come in the form of strips. Place them along the side of your car that is furthest out. That way, if you do scrape the car again, it will only damage the moldings. As far as the present damage is concerned, if the scrapes are not that deep, they may be able to be buffed out at a body shop. A quick fix would be to go to Canadian Tire if you live in Canada or another store in the United States and get some touch up paint. It won't make the scrapes go away, but it will make it less noticeable. I am sure you will put more scratches and dents on your car over time, but don't get upset.

Thank You. I don’t usually scratch my car, so this is unusual.

I will look into the strips, although I wonder would they look bad?

 

[Frostee]

I used to get scratches and dents on my car regularly. I just painted a mural on the sides of the car making it into a waves/surfing scene.

 

[Frostee]

Doesn't your car have sensors that beep at you when you are near a wall to help you guide it in? I guess not... I guess the rubber bumpers are the best option.

My car does have sensors but not at the side, which is where it was scraped.

 

[Mary Terry]

Don't beat yourself up over it. Everyone has done something like that. It takes time to learn the dimensions, turn radius, braking capacity and limitations of a brand new car, especially if you have to maneuver through a narrow, walled driveway. Fortunately, it sounds like the damage is superficial and can be repaired. And you weren't hurt in the process!

Would it help if you got some of those reflector lights to place along the wall to help you gauge your distance from the wall at night?

 

[Judge]

Don't beat yourself up over it. Everyone has done something like that. It takes time to learn the dimensions, turn radius, braking capacity and limitations of a brand new car, especially if you have to maneuver through a narrow, walled driveway.

LOL. How true.

The new car I bought was about two inches wider than my previous car. Oops. Never gave it a thought until the first time I had to guide my car into a somewhat narrow carport. Where I have to negotiate past a post on just inches to my left, and my neighbor's SUV inches away on the right.

I've also learned to use the post as a way of lining my car up with my own shoulders as I sit in the car so the front tires are close to the edge of the curb without touching it and impacting my wheel alignment. I've had this car for two years now, yet I cannot seem to properly judge the very front end of the car! Must be my declining depth perception, I dunno. So lining the post with my own shoulders seems to work.

It's an apartment complex carport, so it's not like I can use a tennis ball in a garage.

 

[AMANDA DESIREE WILSON]

The moldings might not look like they belong, but if it stops your car from getting scrapped again.