Can't find my car in the parking lot.

Robert, have I a story for you!

I was a young child at the time, we (as in my family and I) were visiting family in Vancouver BC. Having found a large shopping centre in our travels, we parked the car in the shopping centre lot, which was vast in area and size, with numbers, letters, and colour-coded areas to help shoppers find their vehicles again, but coming from a small community, dad was confident he could find it when we were done shopping, so in we went.

The shopping centre was enormous, and in no time at all, we had gotten turned around, were on different levels, at different ends, and when we emerged after a couple of hours of shopping and roaming around, panic set in. Where was the car...

At first dad was confident that he had parked the car where we were looking, but nothing, and it was sweltering out... the height of summer. We walked and walked, back and forth, forth and back, cross ways, we backtracked, double-tracked, and even went back into the shopping centre in hopes of revisiting our steps to ensure we exited out the same doors we went in, but nothing.

With an hour or more spent on locating our car, all to no avail, dad decided to walk to a much higher vantage point far in the distance to see if he could spot the car from that location, so we all sat and waited. What seemed like eternity, an hour and a half later, dad was back and was positive he knew where the family car was, and sure enough, after walking past and through several colour-coded and numbered/lettered parking areas in the lot, we found our car.

I can't tell you how many times we shared this story with others. An experience to remember, and a summer vacation that none of us would forget.
 
Yes I have lost my car in a parking lot and I often dream about it.

One day I went shopping and when I came out of the store, I couldn't find my car. I walked up and down and was about to call the police and report my car stolen when I suddenly remembered that I was driving my wife's car and I was looking for mine which was completely different from hers.

At the casino, you can ask security to drive you around just in case you can't find your vehicle.

They have three parking lots. Nowadays you can just start your car with your remote and the lights come on. That's what I did in the dead of winter coming back from a vacation at the airport where I left my car.
 
I recently got a new car - and on Saturday spent a good 5min wondering why it wouldn't open outside our local DIY store.

The key was in my pocked so it should have detected it and opened the door. Nope.

The key fob has a real key hidden inside so I tried that. Nope

Then my wife came out of the store and shouted to me from about 4 cars away - stood next to MY car! IDIOT!!!!
 
Yes I lost my car.. I parked my car in the multi-story car park in a town in the next county about 30 miles away some years ago ( before mobile phones were really a thing). Took note of the floor number ( 6).. and saw that the car park closed at 6pm.. I had a mad dash to get into town and get the shopping and race back before the car park closed . I had a bunch of heavy carrier bags, but I still had 20 minutes to go before the barriers came down until the following Monday (this was Saturday evening), so I get up to the 6th floor and the whole floor is empty.. nothing, no car..so I think ''oh jeez. I've got the floor number wrong'', and dash down the stairs to the next floor,..nothing..now I'm panicking.. I try every floor.. flying like the wind despite the heavy bags.. .. Now I know my car's been stolen, and I get down to the ground floor looking for an office or something..nothing no office open...

I dash outside, and only then do I realise there are 2 identical multi-storey car parks side by side... I' have just 5 minutes left...I run as fast as I can..my arms nearly falling off with the weight of these bags..grab the lift up to the 6th..and finally found my car sitting there parked all alone in an otherwise empty car park.. I nearly fainted with relief..I had visions of being stuck 30 miles from home...

The shoppping just got thrown in the boot.. as I raced to get out of there in 2 minutes I had left before the automatic shutters came down...
 
hollydolly said:
Yes I lost my car.. I parked my car in the multi-story car park in a town in the next county about 30 miles away some years ago ( before mobile phones were really a thing). Took note of the floor number ( 6).. and saw that the car park closed at 6pm.. I had a mad dash to get into town and get the shopping and race back before the car park closed . I had a bunch of heavy carrier bags, but I still had 20 minutes to go before the barriers came down until the following Monday (this was Saturday evening), so I get up to the 6th floor and the whole floor is empty.. nothing, no car..so I think ''oh jeez. I've got the floor number wrong'', and dash down the stairs to the next floor,..nothing..now I'm panicking.. I try every floor.. flying like the wind despite the heavy bags.. .. Now I know my car's been stolen, and I get down to the ground floor looking for an office or something..nothing no office open...

I dash outside, and only then do I realise there are 2 identical multi-storey car parks side by side... I' have just 5 minutes left...I run as fast as I can..my arms nearly falling off with the weight of these bags..grab the lift up to the 6th..and finally found my car sitting there parked all alone in an otherwise empty car park.. I nearly fainted with relief..I had visions of being stuck 30 miles from home...

The shoppping just got thrown in the boot.. as I raced to get out of there in 2 minutes I had left before the automatic shutters came down...
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That's another way to find your car.
Wait till everyone else has gone home.
That's not so bad.
 
Pappy said:
Happened to us in an Atlantic City Casino parking garage. Several floors of cars and stupid me didn’t pay any attention to the markings. We must have spent a good half hour walking floors and pushing my horn button. Needless to say, wifey wasn’t to happy with me.
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So she pushed your horn all the way home?
If you have a cell phone with a camera Take a picture of the location where you parked the car.
 
Every time I walk out of Walmart, I have to think about where I parked. Think this is because it is a different location depending where I can find a spot. Other stores, it’s the same general area.

When a teen, a group of us split up for an afternoon of shopping in the big city. I knew the floor & couldn’t find the car. Tried other floors and was feeling mighty panicked. Somehow I finally found out there were two carparks at different ends of the mall. Phew.

Then there was the time we arrived early at Disneyland in our white rental. Turns out everyone had a white rental.

The most worrisome was our lost car, but not by us. We had the airport service park our car. Very cold weather, 1 a.m and they couldn’t find our car. It was over an hour. A long story, but they returned our car the next day. Still angry that the owner lied to us about why it couldn’t be found.

If we’re in a car park, now we take a photo of the location & do the same with hotel room number.
 
Robert59 said:
Have you ever lost your car in a parking lot?
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A better question might be have you ever known exactly where your car is in a parking lot.
My answer would be, rarely.

My husband's inner GPS virtually always retains directions and where he parks. I, on the other hand, walk away from the car and its location is immediately and forever lost to me unless I'd thought to intentionally imprint the information in my brain.
 
Robert59 said:
For the first time in my life I couldn't find my car in a Walmart parking lot and a follow senior citizen came to my rescue which was wonderful. Have you ever lost your car in a parking lot?
Click to expand...

YES! .. it's been many years since it happened, but I remember it well. I walked outside around the department store with many outside entrances, three times! and ready to call police about my stolen car when I finally found it! . a very hilarious day.
... well, not at the time
 
When you go into the woods, it is a good idea to periodically turn around and see what things are going to look like when you come back out. The same general rule applies with parking lots. Turn around and look back at your car and note the background that you will see when you return.

Now if you happen to have any good ideas that will help Pecos remember to be more diligent in following this rule, let me know.
 


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