PARK OFF
Drivers are damaging their motors through common parking errors – it leads to costly repairs & even car-killing problem
Some damage can be “quite severe” and may need immediate repairs
DRIVERS are damaging their cars through common parking errors and its leading to costly repairs and even write-offs.
Motorists are making mistakes that should be easily avoidable and then not acting quickly enough to fix the ding.
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James Hill, spokesperson for , said drivers were regularly catching their car on bollards when swinging the door open.
Hill said damage could be "quite severe" and sometimes leaving drivers needing to visit a garage immediately.
With a bollard car ding, a car needs quick repair as it starts to rust or galvanise on the aluminium panels, Hill said.
Speaking to the BBC, Hill said: “Almost every single car that sort of comes into the shop has had like a minor car park dent.
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“Someone’s opened the door, caught the panel, took the paint off and it needs a repair.
“The most common that we end up seeing is the bollard damage because it’s quite severe.
“Sometimes the smaller car park dents where people open the door on the car, people just leave it and think I'll pass it on or leave it until a later date when it needs fixing.
“Whereas with the bollard damage, it sort of needs instant repair before it starts to rust or galvanise on the aluminium panels.”
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New research from Churchill, according to , also shows that the average cost of repairs from parking damage is £223.50.
That costs the nation £424million a year as two in five drivers have struggled to get in or out of their vehicle and least once a month.
I’ve been hit with £80 parking fine after failing to spot hidden sign – I only pulled up for two SECONDS
And like something out of a movie, a whopping 22 per cent said they had been forced to exit their motor through the boot on at least one occasion.
Churchill boss Nicholas Mantel explained: “Widening cars combined with parking bays that haven't been redesigned to accommodate today's models means motorists all over the country are at risk of damaging their cars, through no fault of their own.”
The British Parking Association says parking bays should be a minimum of 240cm wide leaving just 30cm extra space on each side for drivers.
Meanwhile, drivers in one UK city have been warned that "heavier" cars are set to face paying more in parking.
SUV drivers in Oxford will face hikes under a new plan being brought by the city council.
A former cop is also waging war on annoying drivers who park their cars in the wrong places at a picturesque seaside town in the UK.
Andy Stewart has been hard at work in recent months cracking down on dodgy parkers in the Cornish village of Polzeath by laying down hundreds of yellow traffic cones in the street.
Paris hikes parking fees for SUVs
Parisians voted in a referendum in February to tripling the parking fees for large SUVs.
Over half, 54.5 per cent of denizens voted in favour of the measure, while 45.5 per cent rejected it.
Cars over 1.6 tonnes are set to pay £15 an hour in order to discourage "bulky, polluting" cars, City Hall said.
The tariff will also apply to electric cars of two tonnes and more.
Deputy Director of Clean Cities Jens Mueller said that the new rules showed that SUVs were “incompatible with urban life”.
Mueller said that the vote was “an important message from Parisians that monster SUVs are simply incompatible with urban life.
“Paris has already leapfrogged towards a city where people can easily walk, cycle, and enjoy liveable neighbourhoods.
“Cities across will hopefully be inspired to follow the example of the French capital.”
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