So, some twunt runs a key or something equally sharp all around your car, the bonnet, all four doors and all four quarters wing mirrors, proper deep etc…. what can you de realistically? is it worth bothering plod or just bite the insurance excess and get it fixed/. Hhmmm I feel like some retribution.

Shit thing to happen. You may have to inform the police to get a crime number for the insurance.

It begs the question: why the fxxk would someone do that?!?!

i know – mindless malicious damage. i say mindless but its actually with intent – doing every panel is obviously intended to do maximum damage. Have you had an altercation with anyone on the roads etc recently? Its a pity you cant find them and throw the book at them. with a grenade attached.

No, I've been quite calm recently, not even fallen out with the wife since Friday night….

parked on the edge of Cannock chase in a place several of have used for years as the start point for our rides. suppose I'd better get ea ref number off plod 😥

Have you been riding across the rail crossing rather than walking? I heard Network Rail can get rather upset! 😛

did the car get scratched when parked at Cannock? Could some local be that annoyed about folk parking there to do this?

Trust me, some people don't need a reason to be malicious morons. My bonnet, roof and boot are dented from just such a moron running over my car for fun one morning. Police gave me a crime number, thanked me for reporting it but said there was little chance of catching them (obviously) but if I caught them at it again I was free to restrain them until they arrived.

Had mine keyed not so long ago, "only" the one side though.

I've said this before, but the mentality absolutely baffles me. Theft I can understand, "that's nice, I'll have it." Destruction I can understand, the release of pent-up frustration by beating the carp out of it. But something like this, what has anyone gained? You're no better off, there's no 'release' there as far as I can see, it's utterly pointless as far as I can see.

Going right round the car shows some determination – that makes me think that someone wasn't happy with your parking choice*. Was it outside someone's house/driveway/blocking a road/etc ?

* I am in no way condoning what they have done.

I've a story about parking that always makes me smile, but I feel it would drive the thread too far from the original subject so I'll keep it inside 😀

report it – if they build up a pattern they will be able to forensically check keys for paint.

parked on the edge of Cannock chase in a place several of have used for years as the start point for our rides. suppose I'd better get ea ref number off plod

First thing to clarify.

It definitely happened here or was it dark when you got back to the car?

Definitely? Or could it have been its when you noticed it? Is it soo severe there is no way you could have missed it?

I say this as you can have a dispute with a neighbour and never even know that a dispute has or is occurring. Basically a neighbour perceives you have slighted them and has worked themselves up- you however don't have a clue.

Happened to me not so long ago one road round from mine. I always park there as my house is on the corner of two roads/a junction and its dangerous/illegal to park near my house as a consequence even though the road is very quiet.

Turned out the son of the house owners I parked infront saw the spaces infront of the house as 'theirs'. They have a drive and huge wide open pavement before you even get to the road ffs.

All sorted now though and I still park there 🙂

No, I actually waxed the car on Sunday and it was spotless, parked in the same spot late sun aft by the chase and went for a ride with scruff, got back, sat outside pub chilled and went home. Car was ok then for certain. Car has been on my drive until yesterday when I went to the Chase-trust me, it stands out like a sore thumb, it happened there. Got back to the car about 9.45 and it was dark so loaded bike up and shot off, noticed it this morning at 6am when I got the bike out of the garage. my neighbours are ace

Got back to the car about 9.45 and it was dark so loaded bike up and shot off, noticed it this morning at 6am when I got the bike out of the garage. my neighbours are ace

So it could have been last night at home or at the chase?

noticed it this morning at 6am when I got the bike out of the garage. my neighbours are ace

I'd rethink and revisit that. Trust me, its not always the ones you have an arguement with who do this. Late at night when we are all tucked up in bed unemployable-types tend to drift home after a night of drink and drugs. Some types use our road to cut through to get down to a local estate. I've only noticed them when I've had the dog complaining about going for a wee at 3am in the morning.

In addition if you had a beef with someone would you do it when everyone is sat up, awake and its light?!!!

Do you have any children? Do they have a boyfriend or girlfriend and recently broken up?
Did you have someone doing your garden?
A tradesman do any work on your property recently who you disputed the bill with?
A neighbour might have had Planning permission turned down recently and they may feel you objected (even though you hadn't)…

etc… think leftfield.

I live in a cul de sac matey. Kids are too young to have GFs…just yet. right, got my police incident number, just gotta get £45o out to cover the ins excess….

I'm not trying to make you paranoid etc. Not everyone is as obvious as my in-laws neighbours who nitromored another neighbours car after the car-owner s wife had an argument over a fence and one called the other a 'slag'. THAT night the car was covered. 😯

If you want to cover both angles- put a laminated sign up where you used to park when riding asking for anyone else who could have suffered damage to contact you.

just gotta get £45o out to cover the ins excess….

Jesus, that's quite an excess!

yeah, keeps the annual figure down…. 😯

what car/year is it? If I was facing £450 excess and increased premiums over the next few years I may to the view to keep the car longterm and not bother(even if you have protected NCD your premium will still rocket)

In all I bet you'd pay over a grand longterm in extra premium + excess.

I'd even let Chips Away have a quote or I'd just keep it as a mechanically well maintained shed.

Agree with hora. I'd certainly give it a go with t-cut first

I think your trying to make sense of something that has no logical reason for happening.
In the 9 years i've been living at my place, we have had cars keyed, spray painted, run over, windows smashed and driven into. Its not a main road, but seems to be a short cut home from the pub.
Looking for somewhere else to live now, had enough. Someone even knocked the door about 6pm after having had a crap outside our front door, in BROAD daylight FFS.
Theres no reason for it, just some people are ****.

bigyinn **** ell!!! It makes my disagreement tiny compared!

I had to sell a car after it became Bristol's no.1 thief/vandal magnet – wasted SO much energy fretting and searching for secure parking.

Just sold the car, got something more subtle, no more problems.

A mate was under constant attack like bigyinn too in Bristol – started off with keying, then went to paint strippering then up to windscreen smashing – it was a fairly normal Bora and he had no idea why he was being targeted.

The muppets doing it are usually crack addled wasters who'll die soon – the best way of coping. Or just move.

Harsh though – awful knowing someone can be so randomly vindictive.

Whats worse its just random damage (not all to our car). I live a reasonable area (so i thought), its just p!ssheads and feral kids up to no good.
I've had to go outside at 11pm to tell a bunch of kids SAT on the wall outside my house if they could move on as they were being rather noisy (i'd been up since 05:30 with my little lad that day) and i was rather tired. To which one girl just shouted "well go to sleep then", how i didn't punch her square in the face i don't know. Her mate must have seen the red mist decending on me as he dragged her away.

bigyinn and surf-matt what cars were they?

Interestingly recently on Pistonheads there was a post from someone who owns a Focus ST. An 18yr old local scrote had keyed his car. His younger girlfriend took the blame and the car owner was invited to accept/hear the girls apology as part of her 'moving on' from the episode.

Cant remember how but it transpired that the culprit was actually her boyfriend who probably did the act out of jealousy over the flash car.

Mine was a Mitsubishi Galant V6 Sport Estate, hardly a jealousy inducing type of car. But it was the nicest and newest car i'd ever owned and to have it violated like that really wound me up.
If someone came up to me after 5 years of it happening and said "i did that, sorry", i'd still kick the sh!t out of them for doing it.
I know its just a material object, but i really loved that car and was rather proud of it.

Mine was a Mitsubishi Galant V6 Sport Estate

A retired neighbour of mine had one of these in black and it looked and sounded purest evil. He LOVED it. Not so long ago the rubbish collection lorry backed into it and wrote it off.
He often comes across and talks as he can see my love of Jap/quirky estates 😀

You'd think the scrotes would have some sort of affinity/respect for something so large/powerful etc.

Sorry for the slight hijack:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=873930
and update:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=883056&mid=70159&nmt=Car%20damaged,%20scrote%20caught%20…%20update%20part%20Deux!

I really wanted a VR4, but couldnt justify the running costs. Mmmm

""noticed it this morning at 6am when I got the bike out of the garage. my neighbours are ace"

Sadly thats not always the case, i used to own a black Ital, nearlyfew days i would come out and see a new scratch on it, or the mirors bent the wrong way, eventually one of the neighbours said she had heard a neighbour saying to her young child scratch the car as you go out, and because the neighbour doing the scratching wa fat, she couldnt get past the wing mirrors of her car and mine.

She left, and then her husband left her.

Why not buy a cheap ebay Muvi camera and leave it switched to sound activation in the car, under a hat on the dashboard,with the lens just showing and see what happens, you may be surprised.

This is an S-Max, nowt special….though it was shiny clean

I've a story about parking that always makes me smile, but I feel it would drive the thread too far from the original subject so I'll keep it inside

Me too. Second hand of course, but it is funny. Potential for a bad parking thread?

Sorry to hear about your car matey.

Ah worth something.

A great car and big enough to annoy a neighbours perceived line of sight when parked in a cul de sac.

Do you ALWAYS park the s-max on your drive? 100% of the time or sometimes when you are popping back out again do you leave it on the kerb or opposite someones living room window?

Do you ever park in a spot where one car normally sits?

People can be very territorial about space in a cul de sac. Im possibly buying a house on one and thats one of the things that passed my mind.

Mine was a mk4 R32 Golf – sadly the wheels were major targets. They couldn't get them (many locking wheel nuts) so trashed the car instead.

Changed it for an Astra estate which never had any problems (high spec 1.9CDTi 150 but still almost invisible). Now safe to run a decent car again – huge relief but I'm a gayer at supermarket car parks – spend ages trying to find a big space to park the Bimmer in! If parking in a City, it's secure parking only.

Hence why Im doggedly chasing a mate to sell me his 2004 Clio (EVERY panel is dented or scratched). Perfecto- no need to worry anymore if I buy his 😀

Shit news mate. I park on the Chase a lot but my rattly old Mondeo has a couple of key marks/dents in it already. Sounds like someone has it in for you or where your parking.

Had mine done a few weeks ago Dave, 2 weeks old, parked on my drive, fecker walked up the drive and keyed right along the drivers door. Funnily enough, Cannock town centre. It is a bit of a pastime around these parts. If you walk from mine up to the town, any cars that are parked on the road, most of em have been done.
johnnymac.