Tis the season for car park rage

Christmas cheer goes out the car window when it comes to grabbing that elusive vacant shopping centre position.

More than two-thirds of drivers (70 per cent) say another motorist has stolen a car park while they were waiting for it, according to an RACQ Insurance survey. It is so frequent, one in 20 drivers say it happens to them more than half the time they go shopping.

RACQ Insurance spokesman Mike Sopinski said the holiday shopping rush created "an astonishingly high number of drivers who admit to inconsiderate and even illegal behaviour in their attempts to grab a shopping centre car park".

"It's all part of the stress that snowballs at this time of year with last-minute shopping, noisy kids in the back, increased competition for the available car park spots in large shopping centres; it all adds up to frustrated motorists," he said.

 "I went to the shops last Saturday and had to do a dozen laps of the carpark just to find a spot. When you finally find a spot and someone steals it these sorts of things raise the frustration levels of motorists and lead to car park rage."

Worse than stealing car park spaces is the number of drivers who damage other vehicles and don't leave a note. The research reveals almost one-third (29 per cent) have had their car damaged while parked in the past 12 months and the offender did not leave contact details.

One-in-five drivers said they would think twice about leaving their contact details if they damaged a vehicle in a car park and no one saw them. "That's a pretty malicious thing to do," Mr Sopinski said.

Females are more likely to leave contact details (94 per cent) if they damaged a parked vehicle and no one saw them as opposed to males (86 per cent). Honesty levels improve with driving experience as 93 per cent of drivers over 30 would consider leaving their details, compared with 86 per cent under 30.

"It could be worse at Christmas time because time constraints may influence motorists. All they want to do is get in and get out ASAP." 

Males have problems safely navigating car parks with nine per cent admitting they collided with another vehicle in a car park over the past 12-months, compared with four per cent of female drivers.

"I think males operate cars with greater confidence levels which may not translate into actual driving ability," Mr Sopinski said. Damage to parked cars accounted for about 15 per cent of all RACQ Insurance car insurance claims last year, with repairs costing an average of $1655.

"It can be quite a substantial cost, depending on the model of car," Mr Sopinski said. Almost one in five (19 per cent) suffered scratches to their car from shopping trolleys, 11 per cent copped dents, and 15 per cent had scratches from car doors being opened on their car while 10 per cent copped dents.