What's up with with parking/leaving your car?

Protecting your investment is paramount!

Rule: Don't take or park your Ferrari where you would park a daily driver.

 

You cannot park a Ferrari at the mall.

It will get vandalized.

Lots of haters.

 

If I need to stop by the mall after a cruise to pick up something quick, I would think it's okay as long as you park in a nice spot. If you are going to shop for a while, I would use a daily.

 

I park my 355 just as a "normal" DD since for the most part it is my DD (over 7k a year) I've yet to have any problems.. (knock on wood) Now that's not to say I don't look for the best spot around but if the lot is full and there's only a spot between two big trucks then so be it. I have yet to look at any of my cars as an investment since NOT one has ever gone up in value... They are just cars!!!! If you drive it at some point sh$t will happen all you can do is hope for the best and do what you can to park it in the best place possible...

 

If they have premier level valet with protected area, you might consider it. I have seen some really high end cars parked in places obscure enough that anything could have happened to them. It freaks me out to see that. I had a 48 hour old paint job on a classic MG, parked outside store for 5 minutes and returned to find the whole side keyed. At last National Ferrari meet as part of the 04 Car week in Monterey, the down town streets were filled with cars parked at city meters. Some of those cars over 500K. Personally my budget is not of the nature that I would ever risk it. I agree with the jealousy thing, you will have 1000 admirers and always that one creep.

 

I wonder if the jealousy thing will increase in this bad economy? I don't own an F car yet but I did experience a big wad of sticky chewing gum on the back of my 997 while parked in a restaurant lot.
Jim

 

It probably depends where you live. I was in Manhattan last week (SoHo) and saw a 430 with the top down parked on the street. No one gave it a second look. I've never had a problem with any of my cars being keyed, dinged, dented, etc, although I've never owned something as high profile as a Ferrari.

 

just got my 430 keyed this month.

gave me heartache for 2 days till my workshop relieved me of the pain.

i used my 430 as a daily car but now i dun. only used Valet service now. so it all depends on your luck and personal experience.

 

Sadly, it does seem that there are more than a few folks who either envy the cars, or have some other mental short circuit that causes them to do harm to these fine cars when they see them parked and unattended. I had my car parked in front of a very fine restaurant recently, visible throught the front windows/door of the restaurant, went inside and some jack&*(came strolling up to me, didn't realize the car was mine and said to me, "would you like to see me smack by wife's baby stroller into that. . ." and laughed. He went on to say how much he hated Ferraris. This was a middle aged individual, not some punk kid.

I asked him what his problem was and told him it was my car, and that I'd be happy to beat him senseless if he put a scratch on it. Needless to say, he was taken aback and slinked away like the gutless tool that he is.

I have to say, it is truly a pathetic state of affairs when you have to worry about taking these cars into the public and not watching them to ensure their safety. When I was growing up, it just seemed like most folks had the proper level of respect for other people's property, whether a Ferrari or anything else for that matter.

My 2 cents.

 

I don't care what year or model Ferarri you own, V-A-L-E-T it. There are haters everywhere from Al-qaeda to your neighbor. I'm not saying be paranoid, just take the proper precautions depending on where you are parking.

 

I park my Ferrari where ever I can find a spot. Right up in front, 6 inches away from a hummer on the left, blue mini-van on the right. Whatever.

Who cares. Door dings are $50 to fix and if someone keys it that would be a bummer. If you can't afford a door ding or you are so emotionally attached to your car that you can't park it you should not drive a Ferrari. Maybe a Prius, or perhaps a Subaru.

Haters hate, I don't lose any sleep over those guys. Not my fight. Ultimately if you can't enjoy driving it and using it, what's the point?

--joe

 

I dunno.

I take the 360 out all the time.

It's been parked in the K-Mart lot, Home Depot, King of Prussia Mall, Starbucks, several local municipal lots, and a good dozen restaurant parking lots. Parallel parked in the city, and in several suburban shopping districts. Knock wood, not a ding, scratch or bump. Plenty of ogling, lots of questions, a couple requests to sit in it for a picture (always say yes) but no damage, and no "go **** yourself" comments either.

Maybe it's that I look like a regular guy, maybe I'm just lucky, maybe it's karma (I try to share the car as much as I can with rides, look ins, sit ins, etc., but so far I've had no problems.

I did not take the Dino to the mall or to Home Depot, but it went all the other places.

I did get a little twitchy the last time I took it out. I needed something at Auto Zone, I hopped in the 360 and off I went. I had never been to this Auto Zone before, turned out to be in a pretty tough part of town. Went into the store, looking for touch up paint, guy runs in says, "They're towing a Ferrari out of the lot." I take it in good spirit, shoot the breeze with the guys for about 10 minutes, show them the car, etc. Despite my initial trepidation, turned out car guys are car guys are car guys. Even in a nasty part of town, the guys there appreciated the car, and just wanted to see/hear it go.

DM

 

I got a nice big door ding about a month ago. I was... well... UPSET. But, a ding removal guy got rid of all traces of it. It's impossible to see where it was. I've asked others to look and they can't see anything wrong.

Sure, it costed me a few bucks. But, it makes you realize that aside from the hassle, it's not a big deal. So, enjoy your car and don't sweat the little things.

 

I take my f-cars and park them pretty much wherever mall lots, valet at hotels, never had any more problem in a nice car than a regular car. Have a door ding in my 997 TT, but will eventually get round to having it fixed. IMO the dirty secret of the Ferrari world is that every second hand Ferrari is painted, at least the bumpers. The paint from the factory is not great, it does chip, so you repaint it, a few $$ no harm no foul. Everyone that does that then doesn't mention it at resale since everyone is so anal about paintwork. Its an attitude thing, if its a museum piece that you polish and clean with toothbrushes and q-tips, by all means don't drive it to the mall. One quote here was "protect your investment", if you are buying a classic perhaps I'd agree, with a late model or new car, its a depreciating thing drive it enjoy it and worry about smiles per mile.

 

At one time I parked mine at malls etc out of the way never double parking. That was until I was at dinner one night and my car was keyed. 30% hit out of my pocket car sold. Caught the guy but still had to deal with HA. Now I drive mine much less and am aware of my surroundings. Not worth the risk and worry to much now. IMHO there are the haves and have nots and people have no respect for others properties. There is class envy and social stratification despite someones attempt at socialism in the US. You will have problems Ferraris just attract to much attention and to many nuts.

 

Might just be a Canadian thing, but I've taken the car to even sporting events and never had a problem.

Mall, grocery store, sporting events, everything. People have asked to take pictures, allowed them to sit in the car, never an issue.

 

Any time to give a quick review of how this happened? Specifically. Did you catch the guy in the act? Or did someone see him. Was it a stranger in a mall parking lot. Did you call the police and they handled things? I've always wondered how one would handle this situation. What kind of idiot does this sort of thing?

Except in the instance of multiple people seeing the act, it would seem pretty easy for the perp to just say: "I don't know what he is talking about."

These people are cowards. The Harley guys don't have to worry about this stuff. Most others do.

 

lol... I would have said the same exact thing. Good for you.

 

parking is a full time job! I always park as far away from everything as humanly possible. I also kick out the rear end just slightly to discourage anyone from parking next to me. But I only do it when I'm far away from the crowd. I would never take up 1.25 spots where other people are trying to find parking spots. Walk a little, save a lot. Never had any problems.

Ray

 

Parking does add a level of stress.
I won't park my car between the H2 and Minivan because that's just inviting dings and other issues. I don't care if the door-ding guy can work his magic on my car, I don't want to have to deal with that.
I will park my car at restaurants and other places where I can get a decent spot. Wherever I go (with one of my exotics or not), I'm always looking to see if there are good spots there so when I come back with my F or L car, I'll know where to park.

I spend too much time and energy making my cars look beautiful, I would die if I got lazy, parked up-front and some knuckle-head kicked their door open (which I've seen SO many times) and banged my car's perfect door. Nope, sorry... I'll spend an extra 5 minutes to find the right place to park every time.

 

Same here; I will park far from the crowd and not for very long. My Fcar just for fun ride, track , golf & health club etc but not for shopping !

 

Some people will never drive a ferrari for one reason or another. Some of those people inevitably are idiots. Door dings or other accidents, although costly and irritating are understandable. They can for the mostpart be avoided. It's however the idiots one has to watch out for. It can be a valet guy with an agenda or some poser trying to impress a chick. At the Custom hotel valet (near Marina del rey), some guy must have sat on my front fender with the foot resting against the lower quarter. Luckily its venture shielded, but his boot left a superficial scratch on the film. Where was the valet that I tipped out 40 bux, on top of the $20 valet fee? What was the guy trying to do? Pawn it off as his, while trying to impress a girl? What about that vid from London that everybody has seen where a kid runs across the hood roof and engine cover of a lambo? I don't buy the above posters comment that one shouldn't stress parking the car. I'd get pissed if my beater got scratched, dinged or vandalized too.

-Peter Oh

P.S It irks me when people spill food or drinks in my cars. I told an ex off, after she spilled cheetos (the red kind) on the carpet of my denali xl. After I told her to not bring snacks into the car, she was pissed for days. Ironically she also got pissed when i picked up her Gucci bag with my hands which she thought were dirty. What's even more ironic is that I bought the damn bag for her. Oh well, the car is gone and so is the girl.

P.P.S There's a thread about bad experiences with valets. Here are my spots: Le Cercle (used to be Le Prive), Urth Cafe Melrose, Custom Hotel Marina del Rey, Koi, and the list goes on...................

 

I agree, why park your Fcar where it can be damaged? Shopping mall? are you crazy? Sporting events? are you crazy? There are lots of not so nice people out there. My truck gets dinged in parking lots all the time. So what that it can be repaired! Its a hassle to take it in to get the ding fixed, or the keyed side repainted, I don't have TIME for that. Do you really trust the Valet guy??, does he know how to use a F1 paddle or a gated shifter?? Even if he lets you park it out front while you eat, he really has no obligation to look after your car even if you give him $50 before you go in to eat.