How To Avoid Damaging Your Car In Shopping Malls Parking Lots
Nasty accidents rarely occur in parking lots, but many parking lots still witness dents and crashes that are costly enough to trigger auto insurance claims. Here are a few practical tips for avoiding such accidents:
Slow Down
Parking lots are usually packed full of automobiles, shopping carts, and pedestrians, among other things. Therefore, you need to slow down considerably while navigating a parking lot. Slowing down gives you the opportunity to react in case of a looming accident; it also reduces the severity of any accidents that do occur.
Make Use of Technology
Parking is not easy even for experienced drivers; this is especially true with crowded parking lots or tight parking areas. This is why there are a plethora of parking technologies such as rearview cameras that place views of the rear of the car in front of the driver, radar systems that detect objects that the car might hit, and even parking assist systems that automate the parking system. If you are driving an older car without one of these technologies, look for an appropriate one that you can add to your car.
Park Away From Other Cars
If a parking lot is not crowded, then it is safer to park away from the other cars than to park next to them. Leaving a distance between your car and the other car reduces the risk of a collision when during parking or when pulling off.
Mind Cart Pushers and Stray Carts
It is not just the risk of collisions with other cars that you need to worry about; you should also worry about the risk of crashing into pedestrians (for example, those who are pushing cars to back to their cars). Stray carts that have been carelessly left by other shoppers may also ding your car or damage your paint, so you need to mind them too.
Park Where You Can Pull Through
Parking where you can pull through is safer than parking where you have to reverse the car when driving off. Therefore, if there is such a place in the parking lot, it is better to spend a little extra time to look for it than to park in a "convenient" place where you have to reverse. Reversing is typically trickier than driving forward.
Park at the Center of the Parking Spot
Lastly, you will be safer by staying within the parking lines compared to when you encroach on them. When you encroach on adjacent parking lines or even when you park too close to the lines, you risk getting dinged by the adjacent cars when they are driving off.
Contact a company like Oliveira Insurance Agency for more information and assistance.