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Umbrellas are wonderful things. They keep the majority of your body dry in most types of rain. Cars are also wonderful things. They get you from place to place regardless of the weather, and give you a chance to dry off during the trip. However, these two wonderful things don't play nice together. Trying to get into a car while holding an umbrella is an exercise in frustration and dampness.

If you put the umbrella in first, you're standing unprotected in the rain (albeit briefly, but long enough to get wet) and it will drip on your seat as you reach across it. If you get in first, while protecting yourself with the umbrella, you now have to somehow fold the umbrella and get it into the car without it dripping on you. In either scenario, you still have to reach out into the rain to close the door, and depending on the angle of the rain, your unprotected side may get soaked before you do.

If you're short and/or flexible, you can try getting in through the passenger-side door, followed by your umbrella, which then doesn't have to cross the car... but if you can't easily slide from the passenger to the driver's seat, you're trying to contort yourself around while avoiding a wet umbrella.

All that is a long way to ask: How can you get from under an umbrella into a car in the rain, without getting wet?

Ideally, any answer will work in reverse, too - after all, it may not have stopped raining by the time you get to your destination. But just getting into the car dry is enough for now, because you can always keep a spare (dry) umbrella in the car to use while getting out.

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    Are you a gremlin or so ? Cause it seems like a lot of complications for only a few drops... I guess there aren't many occasions when you can be that wet just by closing your umbrella from inside the car... Another idea would be to forget about umbrellas and get a hoodie, or a combination of both.
    – Laurent S.
    Jun 29, 2015 at 9:57
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    @Bartdude - For light rains, it's not that much of a problem. When it's pouring, it's very easy to get soaked, and I really hate wet clothes. Maybe I am part gremlin.
    – Bobson
    Jun 29, 2015 at 15:05

3 Answers 3

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I usually tend to get into the car, partly close the door with the umbrella held just high enough to go over the door. Hold the top part with your right hand, and move the bottom handle up to fold the umbrella with your left hand. After closing, move it inside the car, and close the door.

My images of me opening and closing an umbrella from inside a car

When opening the umbrella (to the left) I start high up, and likewise when closing I end high up close to the ceiling of the car (to the right). But when actually getting in or out of the car, the umbrella is barely above the roof (like in the middle of the picture).

This procedure works well enough for me, not to have considered any other options. Can get a little wet on the bottom of my arms, but otherwise both me and the car is dry! I store the umbrella between my seat and the door, so it is ready for the next time it rains.

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    This is exactly what I do now, but somehow it never seems to work out well for me. The question was inspired by the drenching I got from water falling off the umbrella as I closed it.
    – Bobson
    Jun 2, 2015 at 14:16
  • It helps when you tilt the umbrella backwards when closing it, so that you actually pull it in from the side when closed. If that makes sense.
    – holroy
    Jun 2, 2015 at 14:41
  • I think it does - I tried it, and got less wet. I probably need more practice, though. If you want to elaborate on that method in the answer, I'll give you the check.
    – Bobson
    Jun 4, 2015 at 22:07
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  1. Enter and exit under a porte-cochère.

  2. Earn gratitude points by holding the umbrella for someone else entering and leaving, whether a parent or friend. Be forewarned: whether Walt Raleigh actually performed the altruistic act of protecting Liz with his cloak, he wound up being executed anyway.

  3. Get a Mercedes gullwing or replicar. The doors open overhead. enter image description here

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  • Not very practical, but clever. I wonder why more cars don't have that style door?
    – Bobson
    Jun 2, 2015 at 14:17
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    In a garage or car park, solid overhead-opening doors can't be opened. Gull-wing doors with a hinge in the middle, though, don't work as umbrellas. C'est la vie... oops, it's an MB: So ist das Leben
    – DrMoishe Pippik
    Jun 2, 2015 at 22:45
  • Oooh, yeah. I can see that. Sad.
    – Bobson
    Jun 4, 2015 at 22:05
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it's only water. So what if you get a little wet. But I first open the driver side door and then roll down the window. Get in while under the umbrella , sit down, transfer the grip on the umbrella so my hand is sticking thru the window, collapse the umbrella and bring it inside thru the window. Let it drip , but as I said it's only water.

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