Do you have a parking strategy?

I have been unable to drive recently (still can't) and it is very frustrating.

Now I ask DH to drop me at the door of wherever we are going, supermarket, hospital etc and then ask him to catch me up after he has found a space.
It seems to work quite well, as I am hobbling along and he can walk faster.

The obvious answer is to go shopping when the carpark isn't chockablock as others have said. I park forwards for shopping so I can get to the boot easier. Otherwise I reverse in.

At the supermarket I park as close to the trolley depot as I can. I hate that walk back with the empty trolley and then yet another walk to the car. I try not to shop with DH. That hour in the week browsing the shelves is my precious 'me' time!

Yes anniefrance, parking in France is great. However I have seen many minor crashes in french supermarket car parks involving elderly ladies following the famous french lunch time.

My priority parking strategy? Never ever have DH in the car with me! Seriously, with supermarkets I try to shop around 3- 3 .30pm when mum's are picking kids up from school, makes a helluva difference.

Ask St. Anthony to find a parking spot - works every time. Don"t forget to say thank you.

Say 'parking Angel' when I enter car park. Always works. However parking is still relatively easy in this part of France. Love the way that in the few car parks where you have to pay, there is no fee between 12 and 2 pm. - the Midi is sacred!

We have our own cars - DH has an automatic, I have a manual, and we can both drive each other's (but seldom do). Parking-wise my car doesn't have any gizmos, I just rely on my mirrors and I always reverse into parking spaces as I find it easier. Generally try to get where I want to go fairly early in the day so things aren't so busy, but my town is nearly full to bursting and it's becoming more and more difficult to find a space.

DH is a good passenger, though, and although he thinks I drive too fast is generally very complimentary about my driving/parking.

My strategy is a drive through so no reversing and preferably no cars either side now I've confessed I think I am a little odd?

When you cruise into a spot where you can drive out nose first, a friends OH called it 'girly parking'....to be provoking, I think.

DH is one for driving all round the car park, whilst I grit my teeth. Fortunately we have a car each, so it doesn't happen too often.

I have to park in a disabled spot if DH is with me. Otherwise I park furthest from the store as it's good exercise and I can still walk. Always park nose in and in a spot where I can drive straight out. If parking in town I park in a spot where a double decker bus could park. Never could do parallel parking!

Oh yes- always reverse into space unless it is a supermarket when I drive in so I can load boot with bags.
Recently my husband's firm moved into new premises where the managing agents insist all cars are reversed into spaces for speed should they need to evacuate building & safety in car park in the dark.
Amazing how many people can't do it. Get a reversing camera if it bothers you- brilliant things although I still use my mirrors too.

Not only will I not drive DH unless it is after a party, he has been doing the drinking & I know he will be asleep by the end of the road but I would NEVER go to a supermarket with him.
He goes up & down every aisle & looks at practically every item.He then buys things we never use, don't like & don't need. I whiz in & out as I know what we need.
I go to Sainsburys at times when car park is not busy & shop not too full. I am a very impatient shopper & just want to get in & out quickly.
If we ever have to go down to one car I dread the scenes- he is a back seat driver & I like my own space!

Also meant to say, for on-street parking, I really detest people who mount the pavement to drive into a space vs reversing. If there's enough room to do that, there's enough room to reverse without aggro.

I took my British test 16 years ago having driven in the US since 1965 and my instructor said this was illegal, so I was surprised to see this all the time. I guess it might not be taught by all driving schools.

It's dangerous for pedestrians...if you should lose control of the car (even if by a mechanical fault).

It breaks down the kerbing. The ones around the shops near me are crumbling from this and they are granite!

Your DH seems a bit controlling and his behaviour is verging on the unacceptable. You do not need to ask to get out of your own car, surely! What is 'the look', moreover?

My DH is inclined to be a bit of a bully when he gets behind the wheel but I always let him know I am up for a fight if he is! Mostly, I let him get on with it and just enjoy the free chauffeuring but if he gets tetchy with other road users I usually say something for safety's sake.

However, we are usually in harmony and have quite an effective parking policy. Like you, we know that spaces in full car parks become available frequently so we lurk at the entrance to a parking lane and wait until something is coming out, drive up to it and signal to go in to alert others of our intention. In really busy times I get out with my phone and walk round the car park. If I see a space coming up I go and stand in it and wave and/or phone to signal where I am. The DH then drives to the space.

Bonkers, I know, but it works and beats waiting and getting frustrated.

With road rage, I would be afraid to do what your OH did!

Both DH and myself take the place that has the most room, eg empty bays around, even if a ways from the door. Those places are always taken when raining so we come prepared with rain gear. As long as I am near-ish a trolley park up place, that's fine with me.

Greyduster your post has really made me laugh as we are just the same I need huge amount of space to park in hate reversing and avoid it at all costs rather go by bus as much as possible. My OH gets into the tiniest of spaces and yes we play twister trying to get out without bumping the car door next to us. Glad I'm not the only one.

We have two cars, known as his and hers. Mine is the newer one with the tow bar and bike carrying platform on. Though we can take this off it is such a song and dance that we leave it in place due to the fact we use it twice a week. So there we have the problem, can't open the boot to put the shopping and need more parall space to park. Don't like driving his old car as it is so old it has no power steering! Long journeys we take it in turns, he does the start and finish and I do the middle bit. Never going to have one car or allow him to do all the driving.

My OH has never learnt to drive so the car is all mine, the only downside is having to go on the trips he needs/wants to do. I am keen on the drop off at the door technique and then find a space and park in peace. At the supermarket he always says that I would park inside the store if I could as he seems to think I try to get near to the door. I just look for a space and if I can see it is really busy I head for the quieter areas of the car park.
I reverse in as I find it easier to get out forwards unless it is a diagonal space and then I go in forwards.
I have the rear camera but the perspective is wrong to me so still look out of the back window and the sensors seem very sensitive at times.

MrsP knows what a misery I am about finding a parking place. I need to open my car door fully to get in/out so have to find a place where no one can block me. Could do with a blue badge, but not sure I can get one.

I only ever reverse into a space, as I hate reversing out. I have my own car, but DH usually does most of the driving now. He is terrible driving in town, as he has always been more used to fast motorway driving. Despite having a camera in his car, he never parks straight, but huffs and puff when I point out he needs to straighten up. I cannot drive with him as a passenger, as he even tells me what gear to be in, despite me having been driving for forty years. I tend to use my bus pas more, as driving and parking in our town is becoming more and more stressful.

I've got a Smart car and a Parking Angel ? But I still like an acre if poss.....

Mean person behind you! Our town is starting to be a parking congestion zone, and I gather Fridays get everyone's temper in a twist

My parking strategy : in head-first, preferably in a drive-through so that I don't have to reverse out. Cannot reverse into a space, though I have, on occasions, and hopefully unobserved, tried to back into a space in an empty car park but I always finish up in a differect space from the one I was aiming at.
DD says that she can ONLY back into a parking space, can't go in forward!
OH is another that can't make up his mind which space to use but often selects a really tricky one - he is a good parker though, in his defence.

Lots of different approaches from PPs! NanKate's appeal to her late father reminded me that the Parking Prayer is very effective - "Hail Mary, full of grace, help me find a parking space"!