People that scratch/key/ding cars

keying / scratching just seems petty and effect is out of all proportion to the thought (or lack of) that went into it.

With a 16 year old car (still in good nick but depreciation is, er, zero) then if there’s any stand-offs at junctions, lane merging and so on it’s usually other folk that tend to be more concerned about their paintwork than myself..

This thread has brought out some people with very odd world views.

daveky with his stereotype of the year nonsense rant that all vandals are benefit claimants.

MSP with his acceptance of random unknowns deliberately damaging his property because other people are worse off somewhere else.
Perhaps I should dress in rags and starve myself because of this (not belittling those who are worse off, just find it an odd point to make).

Cheap heavy wheelset – £150
Expensive light wheelset – £400

Difference £250 – and I will be um..ing and er.ing about it for weeks.

Someone keys a single panel of my car – £280

Thats why I subscribe to banganomics too. ABS/good/tyres/good shocks/manual windows…. what more do you need?

I would love a new car but if anybody is going to decide how I spend my money it’s me.

MSP with his acceptance of random unknowns deliberately damaging his property because other people are worse off somewhere else.
Perhaps I should dress in rags and starve myself because of this (not belittling those who are worse off, just find it an odd point to make).

Where the hell did I say anything about other people being worse off? Christ on a bike, your just making stuff up. My main point was also about accidental damage, although I would also be much more relaxed about deliberate damage than most on here.
Maybe that comes down to my “life philosophy” in that I see life being about experiences rather than possessions. Being able to go to the Alps is far more important to me than how shiny the status symbol is that takes me there.

Being able to go to the Alps is far more important to me than how shiny the status symbol is that takes me there.

Which is my point exactly.

If people damage my stuff so I have to spend money on it to maximise its useful life then I don’t get to take my old Transit van to the Alps.

I’m not talking about keeping a set of 20 inch alloys polished or having £100’s worth of detailing done, I’m talking about treating damage so it doesn’t rot through and cost me even more.

I suppose people with more spare cash than me can be a little more relaxed about such things but I want this van to do me another 5-6 years without looking so shabby my work suffers.

I don’t think mine is a status symbol, except as older bloke’s choice of slow but steady transport with a bike in the back. And I don’t want to be precious about it. But I paid for it, and I want it to last, and maybe keep a good resale value. And I don’t want a claim on my insurance for vandalism, which will cause an increase in my premium, and maybe those of my neighbours too. Postcodes, y’know.

Oh, and Scotland rather than the alps.

MSP – Member

MSP with his acceptance of random unknowns deliberately damaging his property because other people are worse off somewhere else.
Perhaps I should dress in rags and starve myself because of this (not belittling those who are worse off, just find it an odd point to make).

Where the hell did I say anything about other people being worse off? Christ on a bike, your just making stuff up. My main point was also about accidental damage, although I would also be much more relaxed about deliberate damage than most on here.
Maybe that comes down to my “life philosophy” in that I see life being about experiences rather than possessions. Being able to go to the Alps is far more important to me than how shiny the status symbol is that takes me there.
My apologies, I completely misread somethign you wrote earlier, very sorry. 😳
I still don’t agree with sucking up deliberate damage to something of mine. I work hard to have a nice house / bike / fridge freezer and would be rather pissed if some scrote intentionally damaged something. Its nothing to do with status symbols. My home is rented, my bike is ten years old and I like to look after things. What gives someone else the right to trash them because they felt like it?

All these comparisons with slashing wallpaper and stuff are kind of missing the point that *most* cars are left out on the street, ie: not ‘on’ your property, despite actually being your property they are nto stored anywhere private.

I shrug off cosmetic damage to my commuter when locked up in public places because that’s part of its daily use, but I’d obviously be a bit more careful about leaving a posh bike locked up.

There is a difference between accidental and deliberate damage, I’ll agree with that, and I hate people who do that kind of thing just for fun or out of malice, but general scrapes and car park trolley dings are just part and parcel of car ownership, annoying yes, but kind of to be expected.

I guess the whole ‘think of the resale’ value doesn’t really ever apply to me as I tend to buy things and keep them until they no longer work (current cars are 22 and 14 years old), or assume they will be worth peanuts if I ever do sell and base my financial decisions on that so anything I do get for them second hand is a bonus.

We are far too precious about our cars, and I can’t help but think people bleating on about nice cars nice things etc and then leaving them on the street or in car parks might just find it hard to admit that they might have bought the wrong tool for the job… you want cheap transport you can leave anywhere, buy a cheap car and forget about the looks, you want a nice automotive piece of artwork or status symbol, then you’re gonna need more control over where you leave it…

My Mum has had a handful of car park shunts/silly scrapes over the last 3 years, and had all of them repaired, at a cost of £300 – £700 quid each time, they were all cosmetic dents or scratches, only one of them even made it to bare metal, I simply can’t understand the logic of spenfing money on the repairs when they’re not planning on selling the car and its 6 years old anyway.

EDIT – wow, I typed a lot for what was supposed to be a quick thought…

Well, it’s children that do it isn’t it.. I think you must have a very skewed view of the world if you imagine otherwise..
Kicking their dear little tootsies at the unfair world we’ve brought them into, or just being mindless.. Who can blame them?
Or else it’s someone that you’ve offended

A freind lives on a small estate, with communal parking area, 14 spaces, and one chap always has a space left beside his car, as if you park next to him he will bash the door into yours, his is the only white car, and most other cars have a few white marks where he bashes his door into them.

Scratches I can sort of live with, but having wing mirrors damaged really boils my p1ss.

And it’s usually by people driving to close to my (parked) car, drunks or kids.

Doesn’t matter if it’s parked on a public road, it’s still damage and the courtesy should be that whoever does it informs you. Obviously they won’t because if it’s intended then why would they tell you, and if it was an accident they’ll not want to risk paying up. But £50+ for an electric wing mirror (and that’s not on an even nearly new car) isn’t much fun is it.

People who maliciously scratch and damage cars are scum……

We treated ourselves to a nearly new motor last year after our old Focus of 10 years had hit the 200K mark.. we don’t live an extravagant lifestyle and our car is something we cherish and look after and we do actually need.. 2 months in of ownership some little sh@t had scratched all of the cars on the street new and old… It upset my other half and I was furious, but what can you do?…

I now park on a different street.

Advice- dont move to paris or amsterdam

Youll be one giant ball of stress wen you park your car

^ This is the thing ^ you’d be surprised at the mess (cosmetically) that cars in France/Belgium/Holland are and most care very little in my experiance about a few scratches/dents but underneath they’re very well looked after, here it’s a completely different story. Owners are far more concerned how their cars look than whether they’ve got any brakes left.

Dings are going to happen, try taking a bunch of kids to a supermarket without them opening a door into the next car.

Malicious damage, keying or mirrors etc has usually happened when I have done something wrong, parked inconsideratly etc.

I could if I cared enough avoid both.

IanW – Member
Dings are going to happen, try taking a bunch of kids to a supermarket without them opening a door into the next car.

You could try teaching them not to do it, or if they are incapable of grasping the idea, get out before them and open the door for them?
Or if for some reason you can’t do that, then park in the wide parent/child spaces until they learn?

here it’s a completely different story. Owners are far more concerned how their cars look than whether they’ve got any brakes left.

Where did you get that information from ?

I only ask because it seems a bit like you might have made it up 😉

You could try teaching them not to do it, or if they are incapable of grasping the idea, get out before them and open the door for them?
Or if for some reason you can’t do that, then park in the wide parent/child spaces until they learn?

You didn’t read any further down his post? He said he didn’t care enough!

Which I suppose is the crux of this whole debate, some people* care a lot about their cars others* don’t. Trying to make either party change their opinion doesn’t seem to be going too well if this thread is any example…

* Assuming they even own cars of course.

Where did you get that information from ?
I only ask because it seems a bit like you might have made it up

Yeah it does sound rather made up doesn’t it. (No sarcasm, I agree)

Worked in the UK motor trade for more years than I care to think about now and also had a spell in Antwerp working on French/Belgium/Dutch cars, attitudes to maintenance/repair/ZOMG my penis extension is scratched are very different.

Dings are going to happen, try taking a bunch of kids to a supermarket without them opening a door into the next car.

And I’ve seen a car in front stop on the yellow lines outside a primarly school, and all four doors instantly flung open without anyone inside looking behind. They might have a painful learning experience one day.

You could try teaching them not to do it, or if they are incapable of grasping the idea, get out before them and open the door for them?
Or if for some reason you can’t do that, then park in the wide parent/child spaces until they learn?

Or make sure the child locks are on?

Peyote – Member
You didn’t read any further down his post? He said he didn’t care enough!

Which I suppose is the crux of this whole debate, some people* care a lot about their cars others* don’t. Trying to make either party change their opinion doesn’t seem to be going too well if this thread is any example…

* Assuming they even own cars of course.

Doesn’t matter if he cares about his own car though, it’s other people’s stuff. Don’t touch it.

Anyway I’m not sure wether IanW is a below-par troll, average arsehole or potato-tier simpleton based on this and his previous posting on the other parking thread…

IanW – Member

Parking on pavements particularly pi**es me off, not just because its inconsiderate but because its really stupid.
…
I have a drive that I could park half a dozen cars on but still park fully on the road most of the time,
…
and I get more private space as garden.
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/having-an-argument-on-facebook-about-car-parking-and-damage-to-cars/page/2#post-5323951

I (along with other mates), as a kid, in the days before electric aerials, used to go around ‘re-tuning’ peoples car aerials for BBC7 ( a euphemism for bending their aerial into weird shapes). Why? **** knows, boredom? I did lots of pretty shit stuff when younger, odd then that I should be so bloody boring now!

Aye tucker when i was younger i had folk i knew – wont call him a friend as i wouldnt piss on him if he were on fire…but we all rode bikes back then.

He used to ride down the street kicking the wingmirrors off every car in the street.

Cocks.

Oddly hes a car mechanic now and takes great pride in his show car…… Maybe ill kick his wingmirror off .

retro- do you have a point or just a chirpy gobshite taking a shot at someone who doesnt share your view on life, cars and hopefully most other stuff?

I dont mind the disagreement even sort of expect it from a petrolhead but you really should manage your temper it’ll put you in an early grave, if someone doesnt do it for you first.

The common theme on both those threads is cars parked inconsiderately can expect to get damaged, Im not condoning it, just that its hardly suprising.

Wide parking bays in supermarket- there for 4×4’s arent they?

IanW – Member

retro- do you have a point or just a chirpy gobshite taking a shot at someone who doesnt share your view on life, cars and hopefully most other stuff?

I dont mind the disagreement even sort of expect it from a petrolhead but you really should manage your temper it’ll put you in an early grave, if someone doesnt do it for you first.

The common theme on both those threads is cars parked inconsiderately can expect to get damaged, Im not condoning it, just that its hardly suprising.

Wide parking bays in supermarket- there for 4×4’s arent they?

My point is this: you moan about others being inconsiderate with parking while being inconsiderate yourself, and I disagree, you are condoning damaging other people’s cars.

IanW – Member

Parking on pavements particularly pi**es me off, not just because its inconsiderate but because its really stupid.
…
I have a drive that I could park half a dozen cars on but still park fully on the road most of the time,
…
and I get more private space as garden.

IanW – Member

Dings are going to happen, try taking a bunch of kids to a supermarket without them opening a door into the next car.

In order:

Parking fully on a road thats wide enough to allow cars to pass and only slows down anyone who driving too fast is not inconsiderate.

Its actually an approach to managing speed thats used by many councils. Ive just saved mine the time, money and effort.

In the same thread your referencing, you suggest its ok to park half on a pavement so it allows more people to park on the opposite pavement! That highlights the different places we are coming from on this or any other car related subject.

If I wanted to condone criminal damage, I would say it. I did say you shouldnt be suprised if happens after you piss someone off and thats what I meant.

Iam a motorist, cyclist, pedestrian and parent so whilst the motorist in me can see your point of view, also being the others lets me see your wrong.

In the past 20 years I’ve lost two windscreens and one radiator to stones falling from trucks leaving a local quarry which were coming the other way.

I’ve noted the obviously deliberate stuff tends to happen to people who treat others badly, park badly, drive badly. One person I vaguely knew had his pride and joy covered in paint stripper, nobody that knew him well was surprised.

But have you found the child locks yet Ian?

People round my neck of the woods park on the pavements, often on corners and blocking the path. I’ve occasionally seen a harassed looking mother trying to get a pram between the gap and the car doesn’t come off especially well out of it. I carefully look the other way.

Park on the pavement leaving little room for pedestrians and you deserve anything that’s coming to you as far as I’m concerned. If its a big wide pavement then fair enough but leave pleanty of space, id say enough for a double pushchair. They seem to rank cars as more important than people, you know the type….they block the pavement and fold in the road side mirror leaving the other one making it even harder to squeeze past. I’m sorry but if they get keyed then they had it coming.

t gives me no pleasure to say this but the ones who damage cars are often on benefits and really should be grateful that the idiots in government think it is justified to reward their laziness and/or poor judgement with tax credits.

Of course they are. Many years ago, a work colleague and a friend, along with their S/O’s, stopped off for a takeaway after a few drinks. The girls stayed in the car, a coupé, Toyota Corolla, possibly, anyway, it had very small back windows. While they chatted, they noticed a bloke with a briefcase walk past, stop, turn around and take his keys out of his pocket and run them along the side of the car, and the next, and so-on along the road.
They ran and got the blokes, then followed the perp to his house, then reported him to the plod.
Turns out he was a VAT inspector in his 50’s…
Stereotypical car vandal, obviously.

But have you found the child locks yet Ian?

They have to get in as well as out..SLOWoldgit.

Significant stone chips are normally caused by driving too close to the car in front. Try leaving a bit more room….

The only time I’ve suffered significant damage from a stone was when something flew up from a van going the other way, and my windscreen exploded. I actually saw it coming towards me. I also had a very large stone bounce off my bonnet, then the roof just above the screen, thrown up from a vehicle several car lengths in front.
There was more than enough room in both cases…

If the reason is justifiable then fine.

But if a person keys cars for no reason then s/he should feel pain i.e. like aluminum baseball bat hitting lump of pork belly with sound similar to ping ping pong pong <- I like the sound … 😆

But have you found the child locks yet Ian?

They have to get in as well as out.

And they get in and out when its raining, when its windy, or snowing or all of those things. When their with friends, when excited, when their upset, when their everything that happens to kids or any combination of the above.

Maybe its not them, its me Im thinking about work, or life or a thread on this forum or whatever. The point of this thread is are really that cars have a value beyond there commodity.

Thats really what Im spending my time deputing.

ps. the post above was draft v1 of this. ta x

Being able to go to the Alps is far more important to me than how shiny the status symbol is that takes me there.

So if your’e bike was deliberately damaged beyond reasonable/quick repair by some scrote in Le Gets & stopped you from riding it for the rest of your holiday, you’d simply say, ‘ah well, thats life’?

Crank.

for all of those who seem to make a comparison with bikes and not getting worried about car scratches etc, how would feel if I put dents in your bikes top tube just because I could. Would you think, ah that’s life. What about if I defaced the paint work and running gear on your state of the art niche-ego-chariot or destroy the beauty of your 20 year classic retro Klein. If you run an old beater of a car then fair do’s.

People who purposely scratch cars and cause damage are pathetic really with issues (imho)

Anyone is potentially capable of such a deed imho, regardless of our stereotypical thoughts. Cars can be very emotive in both positive and as discussed negative ways. But yes, it does often tend to be yoofs without aspirations or respect for others property.

also some people turn into pychos when behind the wheel. Only takes upsetting one in the carpark and then that’s it. I can imagine them feeling their power and status diminishing upon exiting the car, so a quick wack with the door offers a boost until their return.