What possesses someone to just park in their neighbor’s driveway? It’s such an insane breed of entitlement that I can’t even comprehend it. The only way to combat that level of entitlement is to fight fire with fire and these homeowners did just that!
All content has been edited for clarity.
Congratulations You Played Yourself
“I had a problem with someone parking in my driveway, all the way up to the garage. There was no on-street parking in this area. I couldn’t get the garage open, and couldn’t park my car in the garage, but I could park behind him. So one night I finally did. Went inside, went to bed, and came out the next morning to find both cars – mine and his – were gone. He had called a tow service, had my car towed, and then driven off.
The next day his car was in my driveway again. But it took several days to locate my car, as the tow service left no notification and had not informed the police as required in my state. So as far as anyone was concerned my car had been stolen. I turned it over to my insurance company and to the police, so there was a theft report.
When the police finally found the car, the tow operator said the person I had parked in had authorized the tow, so they laid charges against him for auto theft and trespassing.
Long story short, he had to go to court, got six months in prison for auto theft and trespassing, and had to pay restitution to both my insurance company and the tow operator. He was not happy.”
Shoutout To Steve
“I lived in an apartment with a nice lot off of an alley. Problem was, a big complex with an undersized lot and little on-street parking was near our driveway. Folks from the apartments parked near our drive often.
One night I had a date night with my beautiful wife of that time and we were blocked in by about four cars. I remembered that my buddy had just gotten a big old baker’s truck with a huge wood and iron bumper. One call to him and he was coming down the alley with no signs or tag on the truck. Listening to that gigantic 6.5 liter Cummings diesel rev as car one pushes another as the third pushes the fourth into a knot just below my driveway was glorious. My buddy and his truck backed out of the driveway followed by us in our little 1980 Ford Pinto. Dinner was great.
When we came back, the cars were still piled up below our driveway. We laughed as we came in. A police friend of ours saw us laughing and came up to us about how we got out. He alleged that I had something to do with the pile-up since I complained about the parkers all the time. I asked him to bring his captain up to my place. Then I told the captain that my wife had wrecked all of those cars driving our little Pinto. He laughed.
After that, anytime we needed the alley cleared we just called Steve. Worked for years.”
They Seem Friendly
“We just moved into this place like two months ago. Since we moved in, I noticed during the day it’s always the same four vehicles parked in front of our house, but spaced out so that each car is taking up two spots and nobody else can park. Then at night, it’s always two big box trucks just parked in front of my house. I assumed it was one of my neighbors but I’ve never seen anyone driving the vehicles so I haven’t had the chance to talk to anyone about it.
I don’t think I own the road at all, and I know those aren’t my parking spots just because I live here. However, I think it’s super inconsiderate to ‘claim’ all the street parking, especially in front of someone else’s house. None of my roommates nor I have been able to park near our house since we moved in. We have one parking spot in our driveway and four vehicles to the house. We constantly have to jump the curb to get in our driveway because the box trucks stick their nose out so it’s partially blocking the entrance of our driveway. Backing out of our driveway is a nightmare at night because I’m afraid I’m either going to hit their bumper or hit the fence on the other side of the driveway.
I’ve never seen the person before, I’ve never been home when they made the car switch. But this morning for some unknown reason I was up at 4 AM and I heard a loud vehicle running. I look out the front door and lo and behold, it’s my neighbors switching all the cars! I run to put some clothes on because I wanted to catch them but they drove off before I was dressed. I walked over to their house next door and their front gate is padlocked, with a no trespassing sign and no doorbell, and then there’s a no trespassing sign on the front door too. Oh, and their driveway is completely empty. Yet all six of their cars just sit in the street all day.”
Parking Wars
“Okay, I just need to vent a little bit. Here’s the story. We’re in Ecuador and moving to another apartment. For context, a lot of private homes and small apartment buildings here are conjoined like condos and each place has a front gate, so you can park your car in front of the building and it’ll be safe from burglars. Anyway. We chose this apartment, which has a parking space in front.
The day we get the keys, we realize that we can’t open the large gate to park our car inside. That’s when the neighbor from the second floor came down. They briefly introduced themselves and quickly claimed the parking space as theirs. We already knew this wasn’t the case but didn’t want to start a fight, so we simply called the owner to explain the situation and re-confirm that the space is supposed to be ours.
The owner talks to the neighbor, who then goes back to us, basically begging us to let them use our parking space because of the convenience and because they have small children and blah, blah, blah. By now, the neighbor has already planted their car in our space. During all this, it’s discovered that the neighbor changed the locks on the large gate without the owner’s knowledge or permission, sometime after the previous neighbors from the first floor moved out. So what happened?
The neighbor clearly has no intention of budging, we don’t want to cause a fight because we’re not like that, and I don’t know if the owner either can’t or won’t do anything about it, because all the owner did was offer us the parking space of the building next door. It’s like a house I think, with a gate and two yapping little dogs that run outside when the gate is open. On one side, at least we’d have a safe parking space. But on the other side, it’s going to be an inconvenience, and I’m ticked that the neighbor took over our space just like that. Because the neighbor already has a designated spot. It’s horizontal, so the car needs to be parked in reverse and requires more maneuvering. Our spot lets you go straight in, easy peasy. I think the neighbor had always been planning on taking the parking space and seized it as soon as the prior tenants moved out.”
Karma Always Finds A Way
“I had a very old car sitting in my driveway. It had been bought cheaply for my son to drive to school. He drove it into the ground and then bought a newer car for himself. I made arrangements for the Kidney Foundation to come and tow the car away as a donation.
My neighbor parked her car at the end of my driveway to run in ‘for a quick errand.’ She had done that many times before and I always spoke to her about it if I happened to catch her. This time I guess I had had enough. I got the keys to our junker and climbed in. I didn’t even know if it would start, but it did. I put her in reverse and rammed into the side of my neighbor’s car. I jumped out pretending to be all shocked and sorry that I had hit her car. I called my insurance company and told them I had ‘accidentally’ run into a car parked illegally in front of my driveway as I was backing out.
In the end, she was found 70% responsible for her damages. Of course, I had none as my car was later towed away as arranged. I had ‘accident forgiveness’ on my insurance so it cost me nothing. Such satisfaction! I felt like I’d been in a demolition derby!”
He Should Have Just Moved His Car
“We’ve lived in a really quiet neighborhood (a dead end), the road is not marked so we used to park on both sides with 1 lane for cars to pass (2 cars don’t pass at the same time).
Our relationship with our neighbor was good up until now, he used to come into our yard to ask my father to teach him how to garden, and when he goes on vacation he tells us we can park on his land. We never did because we have enough room for our cars but that was nice of him to offer.
One day, he had a friend come over with a really large truck to help him work on his garden, and my father’s car was parked in front of our house. The truck couldn’t pass because our neighbor’s car was on the left and ours was on the right.
The neighbor didn’t want to move his car because it was on his property (in front of his house on the public paved driveway.) He called our home to move my father’s car.
No one was home except my 13-year-old brother. He called my father to tell him about the situation and my father told the neighbor to take his car keys and move his car as he wasn’t home.
The neighbor refused and called the cops. They showed and he explained the situation. The cops were quite annoyed that they had to show up for that and took my father’s keys to move his car out of the truck’s way.
My family was upset but I was enraged because in my country it is quite a big deal to call the cops on someone.
So I took it upon myself to make it right.
I started parking on the neighbor’s side of the road, and he came to me many times to tell me it was his property. But as it was paved by the state, and had plots put there by the city officials. I didn’t believe him and told him to bring me proof it was his land.
He had a survey and went to me one day to show me that this was indeed his property. I said okay and didn’t park on his side anymore.
However, I called the mayor’s office to tell them that I would like the city to pay for plots in front of my house and pave the driveway too, as they did for my neighbor.
Turns out, my neighbor had a friend working at the mayor’s office and unofficially paved his driveway and put plots in front of his house (not his property) to stop people from parking on his side of the road, it was deemed illegal and a few days later, the mayor office sent a guy to take off the plots and the neighborhood had 2 more public spots right in front of his home.
I was petty, but it was worth it.
If he had just moved my father’s car himself, none of it would have happened
No need to say we no longer have a friendly relationship with him and he is not welcome anymore when he shows up unannounced to borrow gardening tools.”
That’ll Teach Him
“For some unknown reason, the neighbor across the street from me kept parking his O’Doul’s work van in front of my home. We lived in Long Beach, California, in single-family detached homes, all with long driveways for numerous vehicles. He would even drag his water hose across the street to wash the thing. Clearly very annoying to look out my living room and see a big drinking advertisement. This went on for a few years, but I knew it wasn’t illegal for him to park there because I called and asked the police department.
My retribution came when my seventeen-year-old son got his first car, a high-performance Mustang with a newly purchased state-of-the-art stereo system complete with a bangin 12″ sub.
When the opportunity presented itself, I told him to feel free to park in front of the guy’s home across the street since he couldn’t find parking in front of our house. This was the 80s and rap was quite popular. That’s all I need to say there.
It didn’t take long. Starting that baby up and a stereo that easily went to eleven finally took its toll. He started to park in front of his own home after that. The end.”
I Think They Got The Message
“I used to keep my car in my garage which was situated in a block. Someone had parked their car against the opposite garage in such a way I couldn’t get my car out.
I knocked on a few doors and tried to find the owner of the car. I phoned the police who said they couldn’t do anything. I waited a while to see if the driver returned. They didn’t.
So I went back into my flat and got some sticky notes, 2 other colors of paper and some sellotape.
The car was quite new and posh (forgotten what it was) and I wrote a different message on 20 different pages, all different sizes and colors, and stuck them all over the car.
‘Get this heap of junk shifted.’ ‘What makes you think you can park it here?’ ‘You have stopped me from going out for something important.’ ‘Police aware.’ ‘Full details of vehicle recorded.’ ‘I will key the paintwork next time.’ ‘I am so angry I am close to kicking the panels in.’
Then I calmed down and phoned my friend to come and pick me up. When I got home the car had gone and so had all the notes. I never saw that car again. I didn’t find out whose it was either.”
You Have Every Right To Complain About This
“My neighbors own five cars. One large box truck, one cargo van, and then three regular cars. None of the four people that live in my house have been able to park near our house. We have four cars, and space enough for one car to park in our driveway.
At night, our neighbors park all of their cars including the work truck/van on the street and don’t park any cars in their driveway. Sometimes at night, they’ll park the box truck and half the nose of it is blocking the entrance to our driveway, so we have to hop up on the curb on one side just to get around and into our driveway.
During the day when they leave, they space out their cars and whichever work vehicle they didn’t take so that nobody can park in front of our house and their house. They literally take up 6 parking spots with 3 cars during the day. I’ve gone over to their house to try to talk to them multiple times and nobody answers every time I knock. I’m not that neighbor that thinks they’re entitled to the public street in front of their house, but I think it’s absolutely wrong to take up multiple parking spots with big vehicles and with spacing so that you can claim the spots, especially when it’s not even in front of your own house.”
Simple But Effective
“I used to have this problem at our condo. At times I couldn’t even get into our garage. So I put up a sign, which I ordered online, that said, ‘No parking without owner’s permission. Vehicle will be towed at owner’s expense.’
I went to the local tow company, talked to them, and signed a form giving them permission to tow.
I woke up one night and saw two cars in the driveway so I placed a phone call. Two tow trucks came, hooked the cars up, and away they went. The next morning, I got a knock on the door.
‘Where are the cars?’
I told them the name of the tow company and to have a nice day.
No more problems. I also have a camera up so when I am out of town, I can still do it.”
It’s So Much Easier To Just Park Where You Should
“One person I know installed two posts and a chain. When the neighbor and their guests wouldn’t stop parking in his driveway, he not only blocked them in, he put up the chain and locked it. So the idiot neighbor decided to cut the chain himself, and that’s where things took a turn for the worst for him.
CCTV filmed him trying to remove the chain, even trying to lift it so the car could go under. It also showed him trying to remove the posts that were cemented into the ground by hitting them with a sledgehammer. When he finally returned with bolt cutters, the police arrived and caught him in the act of cutting the chain. Then he lied to the police about his actions but the CCTV showed him lying to the police. He got charged with trespassing, damaging private property, and lying to the police. A temporary restraining order (TRO) was issued against him so that he couldn’t return to his own property where his wife and kids resided. When his vehicle was seen in their driveway, the police were called and he was arrested once again for violating the TRO. Now the neighbor had the TRO turned into a permanent restraining order (PRO) as he failed to abide by the TRO conditions. Shortly thereafter they sold the house and moved away, and the chain was permanently left off the two posts at the edge of the driveway. And the guest whose car was parked illegally on private property? He was found to have been under the influence waiting in the car to exit when the police arrived. So he got charged with the operation of a vehicle while under the influence and trespassing.
Entitlement breeds its own unique form of deliberate ignorance. Too bad they had to learn the law the hard and expensive way.
No idea how much money this poor fool spent for his mistakes and ignorance, but it’s not the first time I’ve heard of some friends witnessing their neighbors fighting about stupid things like this.
Another friend had a similar problem with people parking in his driveway, with repeated calls to stop doing this. So what he did one evening was call a few friends over that use car jockeys that go around car tires and then allow you to move any vehicle. Then rolled it down the driveway and into the middle of the street a house back, and left it there. Within 30 minutes someone had called the police for an abandoned car blocking the road and it was ticketed and towed to an impound yard. Never happened again.”
The Most Straightforward Solution
“I had a neighbor who occasionally parked on my driveway to nip into their flat as they had no parking. I got stuck a few times waiting for them to move. Told them not to do it. She ignored me, so one day I came back and she had parked on my drive. I blocked her in, went into my house, made a drink and waited. She came banging at my door. I ignored her. Went on for ten minutes until I answered. She started to have a go at me telling me how I’d made her late.
I stood there calm and said I had warned her not to do it. She had made herself late by trespassing on my property.
She then apologised and promised not to do it again. She never used my drive after that.”
I Can’t Even Imagine The Smell
“My brother used to live in Fort Worth, Texas. He went to college there in the early 1990s. He lived with his wife, two children, and her parents, and finally had his third son. He worked part-time in the morning before going to class in the afternoon.
Some dumb neighbors decided to start parking in the driveway because the in-laws never went out much and they liked to keep several cars in their own driveway. My brother asked them not to block the driveway to no avail.
Finally, one day. he poured vinegar on the car and under it and took the bus to class. It stank like you wouldn’t believe and was horrible to clean up. He did it late at night and left early in the morning. Nobody saw him do it or leave.
When he came home, the car had been moved. Everyone asked him where he had been. He was in class and working 9 hours before that. Nobody could pin it on him.
They never parked in the driveway again and must have spent a fortune cleaning it. They were also told that parking in someone else’s driveway is trespassing. Problem solved.”