Lol I can’t even begin to tell you how embarrassing that kind of experience can be. I’ve heard so many stories from different people. lol I actually have one of my own. It happened when I was leaving the gym one evening and my dad had come to pick me up and this was when he had just got a new car and it was one I wasn’t familiar with. Anyway, I leave the gym cause he shows up and I swear up and down this car looked just like his so I got in and it didn’t help the windows were tented, but something seemed off about it. Luckily no one was in the car, but just as I was about to get out cause I realized something wasnt right, my dad, who was two rows behind this car honked at me. I rushed to the right car and probably seven minutes after I was in the right car, the people came out to get in their car then they drove off lmfao! It wasn’t funny then, but it’s quite funny now. I beat myself up for a few minutes after the incident cause I was so consumed with shame, but then I eventually started laughing at it. If anybody has stories similar like me or getting into the wrong car, please feel free to share if you are comfortable enough doing so.
Yes. It was a dealership screwup. Funny circumstances. It was a new Austin Healey 3000 MkIII (BN7) three carb 1966/7. I had already entered it for the Laguna Seca race and it was my intent to take the car to the shop to be modified and a roll cage installed the next week after a break-in trip. It would have been painted with its meatballs and stripes as well.
I took the car to San Diego, then across the mountains to El Centro. I spent the night in El Centro, then went up past the Salton Sea, on to Palm Springs, then back to Hollywood. A nice run with top down weather all the way. When I returned home there was a letter stuck in my door from the dealer requesting (pleading) that I bring the car back to their lot and that there had been a mix up in the paperwork.
Long story shortened to bearable length, the paperwork on the car I'd taken off the lot and just put a few hundred miles on couldn't be juggled for some reason. I never found out why they couldn't merely swap the cars, but they made their amends with the original buyer of the car, gave him a discount and an added guarantee period because they were apparently stuck and had to give him the car I had just taken a leisurely cruise in. Two more days and that poor man's car would have been unrecognizable to him. I wonder what they would have done in that case?
One time this little old lady came out of the store and saw four guys trying to steal her car. She was FURIOUS so she ran screaming at them and chasing them away with her umbrella.
When she got in the car, she realized it wasn't her car. She just basically carjacked 4 young guys with an umbrella.
Yes, I did it about 25 years ago. Tried to put the key in the ignition and everything! I finally realized I was in the wrong car and the owner came out, I was mortified. I believe I was hungover and in a hurry.
I once came out of a movie, and climbed into my car. I unlocked the door, hoped in and went to start it. I drove a stick at the time, so I would have to press the clutch down while starting it... but there was no clutch pedal; It wasn't my car. I jumped into a car that was the same make, model, year and color as mine and it had the exact same key. I was parked three cars down in the same row.
Yes, its a little known truth that if you're attempting to enter a vehicle that's the same make, model and year, chances are you can at least get in, and maybe even start it. Here's an article that explains that.
Several times, I tried to open a car exactly like mine. Good thing the key didn't work.
No.
BUT I do have a car related story.
There is a coffee shop about 4 blocks away that I sometimes walk to to get some breakfast. One time I decided to drive instead (lazy day). When I had finished eating, I picked up my things and walked home, as I would usually do, and totally forgot about my car. It wasn't until about 3 hours later when I needed to use my car and it wasn't in my parking spot at home, that I realized I had left it at the coffee shop. My first reaction to my missing car was horror and then laughter as I realized what I had done.
Wherever I go now I always check that I have my car with me before I leave.........
It was a van. And he was offering candy.
Was he wearing a clown suit?
@kensmile4u he was dressed like my uncle Ray.
@goldenvalleyguy BWAAAAHAHAHA!! I only remember candy. And then I was waking up in my bed and my butt hurt. I figured it was jalapeno candy.
@goldenvalleyguy I only fall for that now if it's my aunt.
@goldenvalleyguy We send "Happy Birthday, Uncle Dad" cards in my family.
@goldenvalleyguy Dude... You kept the line rolling here for quite a while. Kudos!
The Universal Design that most automakers are conforming to makes this a much more likely occurrence and if you are distracted by other things like your phone, etc. then it is only natural. Just count yourself lucky that someone didn't accuse you of trying to steal a vehicle. lol
Ive got as far as pulling a door handle and wondering why it wouldn't open
Strange. The people didn't lock their doors? I've tried to get into the wrong car, because it was almost identical to mine. Same make, model and color. But, the key didn't work. There was some minor differences too. Different rims, if I remember correctly. Then I saw mine, and realized what was going on.
No ...
But my keyless wouldnt open the door... it was the wrong truck....lol.
There was one time I was walking out of the school and I wasn't looking. I opened the van door and crawled in. When I looked up it was not my mother. Lol I was so embarrassed I cried
I had a british green Dodge Caravan in the 2000's. They were everywhere! I have walked up to several, begun to get upset that my fob wouldn't work to unlock the door, realized it wasn't mine, hunt for correct car, and carefully slink toward my own minivan.
Oh My Wow that actually from a Ladys point of view sounds a bit scary, tinted windows , ive never really cared for them
I hate tinted windows! Ugh!
@EmeraldJewel they should not be legal at all
I walked into the wrong bathroom one time for some misdirected reason, but it was in a park and luckily no one was around. To this day I always check the signs twice so you can see how real the experience brought me an awakening.
i've done that before... before i figured it out i was standing there looking for the urinals and wondering why there were none.
at my bank their restroom is for men and women. they have a lock on the door. i was in there the other day just to wash my hands and two girls came in....i hurried out.
Oh, yes! A couple of months ago I got into a car similar to mine in the parking lot at work. There was a sweatshirt on the back seat I thought must have been left by my grandson. And something seemed weird about the dashboard. But it was the smell of cigarettes that finally pulled me out of my brain fog. If anyone saw me, no one said anything. Oops!
Well ... Recently a friend of mine asked me to drive her some place. Upon arrival i parked the car and we went on to do whatever it was we had to do. So we got back to the car about an hour later. My first attempt to open the car with its electronic key did not yield the anticipated sound of the central lock being released. I gave it a second go and a third and kept pressing the button on the key and i started seasoning my action with some rather spicy language. I have to stress that this happened with my friend and owner of the car present. It lasted a good minute and a half before I finally checked the car. Not only was it a slightly different colour (dark navy vs black) but it was even a differnt brand. I plead temporary dementia but my friend hadnt realised the error either.
After this event I thought how lucky we were that no physical contact or even penetration of a key into a lock had taken place.