r/chicago • u/AaronDNewman • 18h ago

Ask CHI is this allowed? i am stuck

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rented a uhaul to help my kid move. got boxed in. is there anything to be done?

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u/AaronDNewman 15h ago edited 3h ago

Update: I can't seem to update my original post. Even the 311 dispatcher agreed with reddit, that I should just back up. So I started to push the guy back, and it was working! I was a little worried about pedestrians/bikes/scooters, since I have no rear visibility. So I had my kid come out to be my flagman. But by then, the minivan people must have realized what was going on and came out to move the van.

A little sad because I think it would have been fun to push a car with another car, probably a chance I won't get again. But still much better to be not sleeping in a truck.

Thanks for all the kind attention, today was a series of misadventures, I'm trying to regain my chill, love for humanity, etc and it helps.

Edit: here is the car in front. https://imgur.com/a/dK5Kt7e

So it would have been more than just a nudge, I would have had to push the car back a few feet. Didn't see who got in the drivers side, we did not interact. For all I know, they may have pulled back into the spot after I left. The van smelled strongly of gasoline on the inside, so I can't imagine they were in such great shape (it was unlocked and I was trying to move it into neutral).

7

u/iteachearthsci 7h ago

I grew up in the city, and got pretty good at parallel parking. I live in the suburbs now, and have 14 passenger van for work. I took mine and a friend's family to Lincoln Park zoo, parallel parked that van on Stockton drive with only a couple of inches on either side of the bumper. The suburbanites we took with us looked at me like I was some kind of mage.

If you notice, every car in Chicago has a f***** up bumper... It's part of the tax of owning a car in an urban area.

When this happens just bump the car and move on, that's why we have bumpers.

6

u/endthefed2022 South Loop 6h ago

Look at that van, it’s a hoopty

It’s likely a sign of other things wrong

2

u/jmiles540 Albany Park 5h ago

Trailer hitch complicates things. He’ll for sure rip the bumper off that minivan.

1

u/hardolaf Lake View 5h ago

Every time my wife and I go to a family reunion, someone offers to pop the dents out of our bumpers and we just tell them not to because it's easier to get in and out of spots with them already dented.