Amy’s neighbors won’t stop parking in front of her house. They say that parking in front of their own house “spoils their view.” Problem is, they live on the corner and there’s shrubs so the cars also spoil Amy and her husband’s view of oncoming traffic when they pull out. They’ve tried various tactics ranging from the passive aggressive to accidentally knocking the neighbor’s bumper off, but they still plop their cars park in front of Amy’s abode. Dear readers, what can she do to get them to stop?

Amy writes: “Hi Ben,

We live on a small suburban street and the neighbors across from us have a ‘thing’ against parking in front of their own house. Despite having a 1 car garage and driveway, they have more vehicles than space and don’t like parking in front of their house because it spoils their view. Their solution is to park in front of our house. We hate it, and have hated it for the last 11 years we’ve owned our home. In the summer, we handle this by turning on our lawn sprinklers to encourage them to move (total p/a move on our part, I know, and it doesn’t always work). We have a driveway next to our kitchen that is shielded by shrubs and it’s not always easy to see what’s on the corner when we pull out (and not lit by street lights). The other night I drove my husband’s work van and pulled out and took off a good piece of the neighbor’s bumper (an older Honda) because I undershot the curve.

I did the right thing: rang the neighbor’s bell, showed them the damage, agreed it was okay to call the police, gave a statement to the police, etc.

I’m paying for a new (or new-ish) bumper on a ’95-ish Honda.

But the neighbor is still parking his Honda in the exact spot and we’re really annoyed. Does he want to get hit again? When Spring comes, does he really want his passenger side shot by jetting streams of water?

Any ideas? Their headlights flash into our children’s room at night, annoying them and inspiring our 2 schnauzers to bark. Our kids hate it because they’re afraid of hitting the car(s) with their balls and toys and frankly, we’re sick of the eye sore and the risk of hitting them.

Should we put a note on the windshield? Knock on their door for a heart-to-heart on parking etiquette? Put up parking cones or stash our garbage cans in the spot they park(my step daughter’s suggestion)? Mention the risk of hitting them again?

What say ye?

By the way, they’re fairly nice people but have a Jersey-Shore mentality (we live in RI, in the same town as Jersey Shore’s Pauly DJ)… just to give you an idea of the mentality we’re dealing with (frequent use of double negatives, argumentative dialogue, etc.).

I like to live in peace, but I don’t want their car in front of my house anymore. My husband doesn’t want to say anything – he told the Mother it was a hazard for them to park in front of our house when we spoke with the police, but she ignored his comment and the Honda is still parked there every morning and night.

Thanks!

-Amy”

How about you drag your husband over there by his ear and have a sit-down where you ask them straight up to stop parking in front? I don’t know why he’s reluctant but little games and hints aren’t going to get the message across.

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on Consumerist.