Churchill has just released results of a report into parking damage to vehicles and their findings indicate that one in six drivers have sustained damage to their vehicles while getting in and out of parking spaces. They’ve dubbed the latest trend where drivers hit either another vehicle or the curb in an attempt to park as ‘bump parking’, and furthermore, it’s on the rise.

Head of Churchill Car Insurance, Steve Barrett, said; “It could be down to a lack of confidence behind the wheel, or it could be that cars have got bigger and roads have become more congested, but for some reason motorists seem to be struggling with parking their cars. So-called ‘bump parking’ might seem easier at the time, but if it results in some damage to their car, motorists could end up counting the cost later.”

The report goes on further to announce that a fifth of all drivers avoid parallel parking completely and 17% won’t do it in a busy area where they know people will be watching them. 11% don’t park in multi-storey car parks and 8% don’t park when it’s dark if they can help it.

This damage is leading to an average of £328 per repair, and younger drivers are most likely to be the ones to foot the bill as 26% of them admit to ‘bump parking’.

“We’ve noticed a sharp increase in damage caused by parking. But what a lot of people don’t know is that you don’t have to remove the entire panel to repair the damage,” ChipsAway CEO Tim Harris says. “Our system means that only the area of damage is sprayed, rather than the entire panel. So a ChipsAway repair often works out to be far cheaper than a body shop repair!”