Jacking up the rear

Dents are not a problem. Its just something that happens with scissor jacks on uneven surfaces. To mitigate it in the future, you should chock the wheels to ensure the wheels don't roll.

 

FYI - for shop or garage floor work, the PiP has a jack-up "mushroom" in the center of the car's axis in the rear, by the rear axle. This is great when using a floor hydraulic jack to, for example, install a rear anti-sway bar. Of course, this won't work on the side of the road in an emergency...

 

Get a small floor jack from Harbor Freight or somewhere else and leave it in the back tray. I jacked mine up once using the factory included because I left mine in the garage after some other work...that was scary...never more. And as mentioned, get some wheel chocks as well.

 

Per Peter up the page: chock the front wheels. There's a pic in the Owners Manual:
That said, I think the rocker panel jacking points are not strong enough, and too much of a knife edge. They should have another layer of heavier gauge plate, locally at the jacking point, with a bent lower edge to give it a bit of width. I'll use safety stands on the rear rocker panel jack points, but not on the front. There I prefer to put my safety stands inboard under the main underbody rail.

It's worthwhile to pick up a light weight pair of wheel chocks, for tire changes. I've got heavier, solid rubber chocks for use in our garage, but also keep a lightweight pair in the hatch tray. They're under $10 for a pair, pretty light.

 

I changed a right rear flat in my employer's parking lot back in September using the supplied scissors jack.
I (as usual) had the parking brake applied, and put a crude chock (rock) behind the opposite front wheel.
I don't recall anything scary or problematic happening.

P.S. - You do realize that most will be right rear flats (for folks who drive on the right) don't you?

 

I don't think that is the correct spot to lift the rear.

There's a rectangular "box" looking thing that is slightly off to the right. It's mounted to the frame, and is what I have been using to lift up the rear of the car.

 

^ That's for lifting the whole rear, and the only thing I ever use, but for emergency roadside tire change, the jacking points shown in the manual are on the rocker panel. It starts on page 524, goes into detail as to which tire to chock, and so on.

Another useful addition (that I've never had to use ) is a small piece of plywood, in case the ground happens to be loose gravel or mud, just to give a wider base for the scissor jack.

 

If you're jacking the entire rear with a floor jack, I agree. You'll find that jack point on page 435 of the owner's manual.
The scissor jack fits over the rocker panel pinch flange, as shown on page 541. I think that's where the OP did it.

 

The reason your car rolled/pitched to the rear when you jacked up the rear of your car in your garage may be because your garage floor is sloped in that direction. The garage floor is usually sloped towards the exterior garage door so water can flow out of the garage. Whether inside a garage or on the road, when using a scissor jack, it is better that the slope of the floor/ground be away from the wheel being jacked up and a chock be placed like shown in post#6 above. If the slope of the floor/ground is toward the wheel being jacked up, put the chock on the inside (and outside if possible) of the diagonal wheel, but realize you are more at risk of the car slipping off the jack in this situation. Better course is to use the scissor jack only if you cannot use a floor jack and jack stands, ramps or car lift. All of the latter are safer than a scisssor jack.

 

Yeah, the Toyota illustration I posted looks to have a single chock. Much better to put a chock on both faces of the tire, diagonally across from the corner being raised. Push/kick them in firmly. Do a trial with the car on the ground and parking brake off, to see how effective they are, that they aren't slipping. Though the car is in park the transmission still has a bit of play, enough to test the chocks.

 

As a long time VW owner, you should see the stock jack that comes with my Passat. It's not even a scissor style. It's called "The Widowmaker" for a reason!