Being parked is not our thing. It sounds like we aren’t fond of staying in the same place for a longer time. Well, that might be true but that is not the case with this update. We spent a month in Lanzarote – nothing. One month in Fuerteventura – nothing. 3 weeks in Gran Canaria (so far) and 3!!! damages to our motorhome while being parked. 

Currently in Gran Canaria – exploring and working

So how is Gran Canaria treating us so far? Well, everything is perfect except for our bad luck of encounters with bad drivers on this island. Once a week we have encountered someone that has ruined our car in one way or the other. Luckily, we have been sitting in our home when it has happened so we have been able to take their details and phone it to our insurance company.

Once we ended up calling the police (because the damage was bigger). We are enjoying Gran Canaria but it puts a dent to our experience (and motorhome) when we keep getting our home destroyed. A good thing is that we can still drive it and it works so all the damages are just “physical”. Ok, so let us tell you more about our “accidents”.

Number 1 – Slammed a door into our side

Like all tree incidents in this post, it starts with our parked car. We were sitting inside, working when a car came up and parked next to us. A German man that live in Gran Canaria decided that he didn’t care this morning so when he opened his door – he SLAMMED it into the side of our car. Mini went out and at first, the man denied that he had made the dent. After a while, he tried another tactic. “Look at my car. Many people have done the same thing to my car”. When Mini explained that he didn’t care about his car he tried yet another tactic.

“It wasn’t me, it was the wind”. Let me tell you that even if Gran Canaria might be windy, it wasn’t this day! And then to sum it all up, he offered us 10 euros for the dent he made?! Thank you a-hole and hello insurance company call number one.

Number 2 – Misjudged the distance

My sister came with her family and visited us! We had a lovely week together and just relaxed and played by the pool and went out to fancy dinners and talked (you get the point). But one week goes super fast when you have such a great time and it was time to leave them at the airport. We were parked right outside of the airport and were looking on Google maps on where to go next. Suddenly we felt that the motorhome started swaying.

Turned out that there was a Spanish woman that was parked behind us that misjudged the distance to our motorhome. We were parallel parked and she was getting out of her spot. She ended up cracking the plastic on the bumper in the back. Her car got scratched all over her back door. She ended up apologizing after taking a detour to “thiswasyourfault-town”. In the end, we guess that she knew that she could not argue that since we were standing still. Hello, insurance company call number two.

Number 3 – License but not yet

Ok, so we were parked for the night at a huge parking and there were about 3 cars. It was about 22.00 and we are both sitting and working. The motorhome was set for the night so all the curtains were up and we could not look out. Suddenly there is a huge bang and the car moves. My first thought was omg we have been rammed on purpose. When we open the door, there will be guns pointed at us and we will be robbed. Note to self: Stop listening to all the true crime podcasts.

Mini jumped out and it turned out that a young girl that just had passed her license had backed into us. There were four girls in the car and when I saw the damage to our motorhome, I asked them to call the police. The driver wanted to pay us and not to call the police. The poor thing has no idea how much such a damage cost to fix. I explained that it was for our insurance that we needed the police there and they came. With the help of google translate we made the report and we found out that the driver had passed her exam but not yet gotten her license.

Mini works like science fiction

I was pretty upset because this dent was really big. Somehow, Mini ended up getting the dent out so now you can only see the damage if you are close to the car. So yeah – we have had our share of bad luck with the Spanish drivers. And don’t get me started on roundabout driving here. A tip is to always stay in the outer lane.

But we are having a great time, exploring Gran Canaria and slowly getting around the island. So far we like Las Palmas but were not that impressed by Playa del Ingles. More on that in another post!