History Main / DudeWheresOurCar

-->-- '''Homer Simpson''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "Itchy and Scratchy Land"

-->-- '''Homer Simpson''', ''The Simpsons'', "Itchy And Scratchy Land"

* This is actually parodied as a RunningGag in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive''. Whenever the cast leaves the mall, they inevitably ask 'Dude, where's my car?', only to find that they left by the wrong entrance, or one of the others will point out that it's 'right there'.

-->'''"Rat Person"''': I was once a man...
-->'''Dib''': But you're a woman...

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has used this a few times, like when Homer fights Drederic Tatum and once they leave he can't remember where he parked the car (likely due to so much head trauma), so Marge says they'll just wait until everyone else leaves.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Itchy And Scratchy Land" has the family parking their car and saying "OK, we're parked in the Itchy lot," only to zoom out and reveal that the car park only has two, absolutely massive lots: Itchy and Scratchy. (This is of course a parody of Creator/{{Disney}}land's character-named lots.)

May be {{justified|Trope}} if the car was actually stolen. May also overlap with MyCarHatesMe if the tracker refuses to work or the car doesn't when they do find it.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* It gets ''awful'' when you lose your car in a college parking lot, packed with at least 1000 cars...
* If your parking space does not have a stall number, then the best way to prevent this from happening to you is to memorize a landmark to use as a reference point. Even if you have a stall number, a landmark will help you find your car faster.
** Also, remember that a landmark like "the bush" or "the lamppost" is not very useful unless you are dealing with a poorly lit and/or landscaped lot.
** Or, if your car has a vertical antenna, you can put something interesting and visible on it, like a plastic lemon. This trick is also common in areas that get deep snow, like the Upper Peninsula of UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}} and Western UsefulNotes/{{New York|State}}, so people can find their cars after a blizzard dumps 4-5 feet of snow over 2-3 days.
* Advice: If your car has a remote alarm, use it. That way you find your car in no time and you get a use for those things. Many such devices will, if you press the "lock" button, make a fairly polite tweet or similar noise and/or flash the lights to aid the user in locating the car without annoying others in the area.
* Try finding someone ''else's'' car in a large parking lot when they tell you to pick it up for them.
[[/folder]]

* On ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', [[CreditCardPlot "Who Gives A Buck?"]] features a parking lot so large, some people have been wandering it for years looking for their cars. One of them is a grown man dressed like a little boy and still looking for "mommy's car," and a few scenes later Rocko and Heffer pass a senile old woman going "Son? Have you found the car yet?"

Not to be confused with the movie ''Film/DudeWheresMyCar'', which this trope's name is derived from.

** Or, if your car has a vertical antenna, you can put something interesting and visible on it, like a plastic lemon. This trick is also common in areas that get deep snow, like the Upper Peninsula of UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}} and Western UsefulNotes/{{NewYork|State}}, so people can find their cars after a blizzard dumps 4-5 feet of snow over 2-3 days.

** Or, if your car has a vertical antenna, you can put something interesting and visible on it, like a plastic lemon.

* In the ''Series/XFiles'' spoof, ''The X Fools'', Agent Smolder asks [[MysteriousInformant Sore Throat]] why they always had to meet in a {{parking garage}}. Sore Throat replies that he'd forgotten where he'd parked his station wagon back in '89 and was still looking for it.

* Early on in ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'', Megamind and Mininion forget where they've parked the invisible car. Becomes a BrickJoke much later, when they rediscover where they parked.

* In ''Series/HighAndLow'', Masaki Amamiya got his bike towed [[PlayedUpForLaughs to hilarious effect]].

[[folder:Film]]