# Ran my car over a concrete parking block **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 26, 2018, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091 "2018-11-26T01:52:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/21 "2018-11-26T18:43:44Z")
So what was the outcome? Or is the car still stuck? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/22 "2018-11-26T19:11:51Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I am not real sure what a Smartcar is. If it’s that tiny little pod car, try to lift it off, like they said. Or wait out triple A. I had a Ford focus over a log, high centered once. I just gunned it til I got over, not sure how it worked. It wasn’t my car though. I wasn’t worried if it was messed up. Be careful whatever you do. Yeah, that’s about right. It’s a tiny little pod of a car. Barely even a motor vehicle at all. [https://s.hswstatic.com/gif/smart-car-1.jpg](https://s.hswstatic.com/gif/smart-car-1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/23 "2018-11-26T21:52:11Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > So what was the outcome? Or is the car still stuck? Car still stuck. I walked home last night because it was late and the car is only a few hundred yards from my home. Going to get AAA to do it later. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/24 "2018-11-26T22:56:36Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Car still stuck. I walked home last night because it was late and the car is only a few hundred yards from my home. Going to get AAA to do it later. Good luck. I wouldn’t trust whatever tow-truck driver AAA sends you to not tear the crap out of your undercarriage while dragging your carlet over the concrete, but I sincerely hope that your faith is rewarded with better results than I anticipate. I vote for the grab-a-couple-of-guys-and-lift-it-off approach. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/25 "2018-11-26T22:58:48Z")
jack up each wheel and put 2x4’s under it in level with the front of the block. Stagger 2x4’s on the back side of the block like a ramp. Drive away Make sure parking brake is set so it doesn’t roll forward. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/26 "2018-11-26T23:13:32Z")
Also, if whatever place you ran your car over the concrete block has a forklift, there’s a good chance it could lift your car off. Maybe worth asking. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/27 "2018-11-26T23:15:20Z")
o--------------------o |_ **| |** _| |_**| | **_| |_** | | **__** |\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ || || |**_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_| ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/28 "2018-11-26T23:18:57Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Also, if whatever place you ran your car over the concrete block has a forklift, there’s a good chance it could lift your car off. Maybe worth asking. NOOOOOO you will likely damage something. The car has places to put a standard jack under it. jack up each side and stick lumber under the wheel to match the level of the block. Do the same thing on the other side and stagger the wood to form a ramp. Drive it down the ramp. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/29 "2018-11-26T23:33:59Z")
Jack the car up, and just drag the concrete divider out from under it. Most of those dividers already have boltholes in then that are used when they are installed. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/30 "2018-11-27T16:08:08Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > jack up each wheel and put 2x4’s under it in level with the front of the block. Stagger 2x4’s on the back side of the block like a ramp. Drive away Make sure parking brake is set so it doesn’t roll forward. This is my general approach and I’ve helped multiple high-centered motorists. One time someone hadn’t cut their wheel sharp enough coming out of a fast food drive through lane and had ended up with one wheel trapped in a void where lots of other customers, presumably in larger vehicles, had dug out the dirt over years of doing the same thing. I was in my truck but didn’t have any tow straps or good places to attach to if I had. There was a young woman with her daughter and mother and she was pretty stuck and only had part of a jack with her, no extension handle so we couldn’t get it far under to lift from the frame. I got it to raise a little bit with her jack by cobbling together a franken-bar out of her tip and my extension, then was able to get the bottle jack from my truck under it and lift it quick and easy. Then I took the tailgate off my truck and dropped it into the void behind the curb and lowered her stuck heel down on the inside(bedliner) side of my truck’s tailgate and she was able to drive off the curb. So you don’t have to carry around a lot of wood to build ramps with in order to do this if you’re creative. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/31 "2018-11-27T16:36:34Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > This is my general approach and I’ve helped multiple high-centered motorists. One time someone hadn’t cut their wheel sharp enough coming out of a fast food drive through lane and had ended up with one wheel trapped in a void where lots of other customers, presumably in larger vehicles, had dug out the dirt over years of doing the same thing. I was in my truck but didn’t have any tow straps or good places to attach to if I had. There was a young woman with her daughter and mother and she was pretty stuck and only had part of a jack with her, no extension handle so we couldn’t get it far under to lift from the frame. I got it to raise a little bit with her jack by cobbling together a franken-bar out of her tip and my extension, then was able to get the bottle jack from my truck under it and lift it quick and easy. Then I took the tailgate off my truck and dropped it into the void behind the curb and lowered her stuck heel down on the inside(bedliner) side of my truck’s tailgate and she was able to drive off the curb. So you don’t have to carry around a lot of wood to build ramps with in order to do this if you’re creative. > > Enjoy, > Steven As long as you don’t care what that does to the paint on your tailgate… ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/32 "2018-11-27T17:03:13Z")
It doesn’t matter what the paint looks like if you can’t drive your car because it’s on a concrete pedestal. Theres gotta be a way to safely remove it. This is not the first time this has happened, surely. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/33 "2018-11-27T17:08:34Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > It doesn’t matter what the paint looks like if you can’t drive your car because it’s on a concrete pedestal. Theres gotta be a way to safely remove it. This is not the first time this has happened, surely. Yeah, but it wasn’t his car… ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/34 "2018-11-27T17:11:00Z")
In my youth I spent some summers planting trees in interior BC. One day we were bombing along a logging “road” in an old Chevy crewcab. The road had big berms dug/cut across it to prevent water from running along the road and eroding it all to hell. We were getting over these berms by virtue of gunning it and catch a bit of air. Great fun. Until we didn’t clear one of them, and had our crewcab completely high-centered on a clay berm about 2’ high and 3’ wide. No prospect of any other traffic coming along to help, and in the days before cell phones were common (not that there would have been reception there anyways), clay too hard to dig away. We used a jack-all to lift the front of the truck (had to precariously block the jack up with some logs to get high enough, was rather scary) and then pushed it backwards off the jack when we couldn’t lift it any further. Truck slid back a couple feet, repeated the process a couple times, and eventually got ourselves out. I suspect a jack-all under the front bumper of a Smartcar might be less benign than under the bumper of a late-70’s GM pickup though. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/35 "2018-11-27T17:11:56Z")
My wife did this in her Toyota Yaris hatchback like 5 years ago. That didn’t weigh much more than a Smart Car. Just me and a random guy walking down the sidewalk were able to lift it up and push it off. You don’t need to lift the entire thing off the ground, you only need to get it high enough to roll over the concrete block. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/36 "2018-11-27T17:35:18Z")
Where’s the hunky bystanders when you need 'em? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/37 "2018-11-27T17:39:08Z")
I’m trying to envision exactly what happened. Do you mean one of these (a taller one)? > You drove the front wheels over it, and the middle of the car is now sitting on it? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/38 "2018-11-27T17:55:35Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Where’s the hunky bystanders when you need 'em? Right here. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/39 "2018-11-27T17:57:57Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Right here. Standing by. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091/40 "2018-11-27T18:19:38Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Where’s the hunky bystanders when you need 'em? This is why you keep Mentos in the glove compartment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ran-my-car-over-a-concrete-parking-block/825091.md?page=3)