'What Do I Do?:' Woman's Car Gets Boxed-In On the Street. What Can She Do to Get Out?

"I would wait there all day."

Woman inside her vehicle shows how they parked near her

Photo by: @mazmynjakenna

Nina Hernandez

By: Nina Hernandez

Jul 9, 2025 at 1:00pm ET

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It’s happened to every driver at least once. You return to your vehicle to find another car has blocked you in. What should you do in this situation?

TikTok user Jazmyn Makenna posted a video about this predicament recently. In the post, she returns to her vehicle to find that another car has parked right up against her bumper.

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“I just got to my car,” she says. “How the [expletive] am I supposed to get out of this? What the actual [expletive] is wrong with people? What do I do? I have a little bit of room in the front. Should I write a mean, hasty letter? Their car is literally touching my car.”

Makenna’s post has 4.2 million views as of this writing.

‘Write the Nastiest Letter’

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In the comments, viewers did not hesitate to detail how they would react to such a situation.

“I would wait there all day until they get back,” wrote one person. “I can’t even lie.”

A second wrote, “I’d write the nastiest letter known to mankind, personally.”

Many people urged her to call the police or parking authority and get the vehicle towed.

One said, “I’d call the non-emergency line since the vehicles are physically touching. They technically hit your car. Let the cops find them or have it towed.”

Someone else suggested a harmless prank.

“This happened to me once,” they said. “I wrote a letter apologizing for the massive dent in their car and [said] they should really learn to park better. I waited a few spaces up and watched them do laps around their car looking for the dent. Haha.”

What Should You Do If You’re Blocked In?

It’s a frustrating scenario, but most would agree that it’s probably not a good idea to follow the lead of some in the comments who said their first reaction would be to dish out a little physical punishment to the car blocking them in.

Self-proclaimed parking guru David LaBua wrote an advice column on this subject.

To start off, LaBua recommends doing your best not to get angry. That’s only going to cause you more grief in the long run. He then suggests getting help from a companion or passersby.

“If it takes you an extra two minutes to make 20 tiny back and forth motions in order to get out, as inconvenient as it is, it is the right thing to do,” he writes, adding, “Consider it a challenge.”

If that fails, you can then turn to the police or parking authority in your city.

If the offending vehicle is associated with outstanding parking tickets, criminal warrants, or is otherwise violating city code (by blocking a fire hydrant, for instance), they might tow the car away. The police might also act if your car is visibly damaged by the other car—if it qualifies as a hit-and-run, LaBua writes.

In exceedingly rare occasions, LaBua says you may want to consider taking a more drastic measure to free your vehicle.

“If so equipped, and only in an extreme emergency situations, with all other options being absolutely exhausted,” he writes, “and with someone's life on the line, being boxed in could be a reason to do an impromptu safety check on your truck to be certain that the four-wheel drive capability of your vehicle is in safe working order.”

He does add a disclaimer, however.

What do you think?

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“While this is endorsed by the Passive Aggressive Association of America, this is definitely not recommended by us,” he writes.

Motor1 reached out to Makenna via TikTok comment and direct message for comment. We'll be sure to update this if she responds.