We've had so much damage to our cars over the years from parking lots, where people dent and scratch your car without so much as leaving a note that now with my new Prius and my wife's newly dent fixed Solara we park as far as you can get in parking lots away from everyone else.
So a side benifit of owning a new car is that I get more walking in
I have noticed though that sometimes when you go to lengths to park away from everyone,someone who aparently also wants to park far will park right next to you, but in that case I assume they are careful parkers, not wanting their cars to be dented either.

I've seen amazing things happen in parking lots, such as a woman who had her teen aged daughter try to un park her monster truck in a grocery store parking lot. She swung it too soon and litterally pushed the adjacent car up almost lifting its back wheel. They just left without saying anything. The good thing is that there was no damage to the car they pushed for some strange reason.

 

Be careful, those of you who park FAR from any other vehicles/at the far ends of a lot. This is prime vehicle theft territory. The one and only time my husband parked his vehicle that way, he went in to a store for no more than 5 minutes and when he returned his full size spare tire had been removed (bolt cutters) from underneath his pickup.

Another incident was where I used to work, in the corporate parking garage, where someone had their pickup truck's TAILGATE stolen. They'd parked on the top of the parking garage, which was generally the last place to fill up since it afforded no shade, no cover from rain, and was a long walk to the entrance escalators/security check-in for the building.

And sometimes, vehicles parked in that manner stick out like a sore thumb and attract gawkers or worse, criminal types who will key your car for no dam*ed reason (generally only the high school age set... it's the last time I've heard of someone doing it, but still...)

 

I live and travel in low crime areas. Having my vehicle stolen is possible by remote chance, however having it dented in a parking lot incedent happens two or three times per vehicle I've owned. So on balance I now park far and do not worry about theft.
Also owning a Prius, its hard to see it stolen short of being taken away by a flat bed truck due to the fact there is no way to energize the hybrid system at all without one of the keys being present.

 

Normally I'd agree with parking and walking the distance, but still I feel its safer to park as close as you can and in as public a location as possible.

Dings and dents are a given fact of driving, parking to far away makes you a target for things worse than mere body dents. An example here in CT would be during Madonna's tour that came by last year. I choose the parking garages around the civic center area where the concert was. Leaving these afterwards may be a nightmare but I feel safer than even a city owned lot that requires walking the Hartford streets. The same night I went a couple who parked in a outdoor lot was shot to death during a carjacking. I know the chance of being a crime victem are lower, but I feel its better to increase your odds by sticking to the crowded areas.

 

What is safe? Whats realistic?
Park Far-> get killed has .0000001 percent chance of happening (one in a million, and thats generous), park close -> get dent has .008 percent chance (3 times in seven years of weekly shopping).

You have a far greater chance of driving the car and getting killed doing it than parking it far at the grocery store and getting killed doing it yet we all are driving our cars arent we?

Having said that, if you feel better parking close, then by all means do that.

 

As much as I love my hybrid, if it ever came down to my or my child's safety vs. my paint job's integrity or vehicle's "safety" (not getting stolen), believe you me it's the paintjob and vehicle that get sacrificed.

Thefts and vandalism are a fact of life everywhere, so some folks are just waiting for the bad end of the statistics to hit them with some of the more excessive parking measures (lone car way off at the edge of a lot, etc.)

My being female might have something to do with parking closer to well-travelled, well-lit areas, as well... statistics don't mean squat when you're the one a punk decides to target, so why make yourself a target?

 

You missed my entire last paragraph... you're not entirely out of the woods with your particular parking methodology. A vehicle can get keyed, egged or intentionally swiped when they stand out like a sore thumb, and since you're parked far from heavily travelled (foot traffic) areas, you are unlikely to have any honest passer-by note who did the deed to your vehicle.

Basically, you take a risk any which way you choose. I choose closer but with protection on one side or equally well-kept vehicles as my neighbors.

 

I'm very sorry to everyone who is reading my posts. I am from another planet. We do not have these problems, just people opening doors and denting things or shopping carts rolling away in the wind and hitting things. In other words, unintentiional damage.

Keyed, egged, stolen, mugged, or killed? It does not happen where I park, so I'll shut up now.

 

No crime or aimless teens where you live? Cool. Are you on the International Space Station or something?

 

Another thought about selecting a parking spot: Park on the right side of minivans. 99.9% have slidding doors so no need to worry about that. And a good portion of the time it's mom getting in on the other side so the passenger door doesn't get opened.