So a few weeks ago I had had a long day and decided to go out with friends for a meal. Getting back to my car pretty late in the evening I had parked in a multistorey car park. The floor that I was on was empty and nobody else was parked around me - bar a few of my friends vehicles.

I got into my car, plugged my iPhone in, set up some music to listen to, looked around me, put a full turn on the steering wheel and SMACK! I forgot that I'd parked directly next to a pillar on my passenger side. See picture below (excuse quality, I couldn't bring myself to photograph the damage so its the garages scanned photographs!)

Instead of the wing mirror falling off, it pulled the door frame out with it. You can see the dent and scratching quite obviously, the door skin had torn too. What made me chuckle though was that when I went around to have a look, the mirror fell out of the wing mirror housing and hit the floor ... I picked it up and it looked brand new ... no scratches, so I'm keeping that as a spare!

It was going to be too expensive to get it fixed privately so I went through the insurers, my renewal was up the start of June and its put my premium up by £150 which I dont think is that bad considering that my excess was £300 and the estimates to get it done privately were between £1000-£1200!

Why am I posting this here you might ask. Well purely as a warning to anybody that when parking in multistoreys be ESPECIALLY CAREFUL ... I was tired and switched off for a split second and I'm £450 out of pocket now :(

Anyway, I finally got my car back after two weeks, and treated it to a good clean and polish - I hope she can forgive me! Pictures below (they're a bit crap - taken on iPhone).

Atleast its all nice and new now though :)

Some of these car parks are badly designed though with the amount of pillars between and in spaces.

You know, I hate those multistoreys with pillars! The one near me in Birkenhead, Wirral has three parking spaces between each pair of pillars but the spaces are tiny. I refuse to park unless I find an empty bay of three and park in the middle one! Most people seem to do the same so yes, a bad design that doesn't help fill the car park.

Liverpool One has a much nicer (and obviously more modern) open design. A safer place to park with fewer obstacles but it comes at a premium and is pricey!

I am yet to venture into a multi storey even after nearly a year of passing!!!

I am yet to venture into a multi storey even after nearly a year of passing!!!

Meh! You great pansy :P I went in one when I was still learning :D :D

Meh! You great pansy :P I went in one when I was still learning :D :D

Meh! naff offfffff :)