What to do when you have to park near c***s
Discussion
So the wife works at a college. Car got keyed a few months ago. Just had it serviced on Thursday, came back nice and shiny (thanks Lexus!). Anyway, now (yesterday) it has a scrape from the nearside bumper all the way down the side of the car, like someone has reversed down it.
Obviously chances are it will happen again, which is s**t.
Anything you can do to catch them? Cameras? Laser turrets?
Obviously chances are it will happen again, which is s**t.
Anything you can do to catch them? Cameras? Laser turrets?
Tonto said:
Have any other cars been damaged recently?
If not, then it sounds like your car is being targeted.
My wife didn't think anyone had reported it, but she said she walked round the car park and about half the cars had scratches, and they are all sIf not, then it sounds like your car is being targeted.
tty old sheds that nobody would care about anyway.We reported the last time it happened to the police, because it did look like it had been done deliberately. This doesn't, in isolation, but you can't be sure. The thing is a 12 year old Astra might have been damaged 8 years ago and not repaired, so the fact that most of the cars have similar damage doesn't mean it's that frequent.
The frequency this has happened is beyond ridiculous. I really don't want another car at home. Maybe a funky moped is the solution.
Blakewater said:
You could always try taking a car cover and putting it over the car when it's on the car park. It'll reduce the chances of people keying it or otherwise targeting it if it's deliberate and might offer some protection from accidental scrapes.
Is that really a practical option, morning and night?Drive Blind said:
are there no preferable parking spaces? wider ones, or end of the row or away from the traffic throughput?
The car park is here:https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2723211,-0.62049...
to the left, where the road ends. They do looked squashed in pretty close from the satellite view there, TBF.
She used to park in the car park to the north you can see there, but that's been closed down. Her workplace is the grey building to the left of the tennis court you can see there.
I did suggest parking elsewhere be she said she didn't walk far in the dark, but she said she'd rather get a shed. I told I don't really want to have to buy an old crapheap because some people can't park properly, and why can't she go by bike (motor or pedal) but she's not keen on that either.
Drive Blind said:
also how's her parking?
Better than mine 
Well just went to try and sort it out.
Firstly went to the body shop.
He said:
This is how we always park. We are at the end of a cul-de-sac and it's much easier to park forward. And as you can see, there is a bush on the right side. And the scratch is on the left. So it couldn't be from that.
Except, as I mentioned earlier, when that scratch appeared it was just after it had been serviced, and then dropped off at my house by Lexus. They reversed in, I was home at the time, looked out the window saw them reversing in, and thought 'that's thoughtful of them'. So it seems fairly likely that in fact what happened was that when Lexus reversed it in, they scraped it down the bush, and I didn't notice it immediately, because I wasn't looking, but the next day when the car was parked the other way round as usual, it was obviously immediately noticeable - I assumed it had been done at the college, but actually it's more likely to have been Lexus, but I can't really prove that now.
Anyway, I had a look at the car park, it's pretty crowded and the spaces are close together. There are a lot of very bashed about cars. Apparently the students are free to park there after 5pm, and my wife finishes at 7pm. Also I think I probably underestimate how s**t their driving is - apparently one of the students (aged 19 or whatever) was spotted teaching his girlfriend to drive, which is illegal as you are supposed to be 21. So it's pretty conceivable anyway.
We spoke to the facilities manager and she's been given a new place to park in, so that's a start anyway.
Originally, before it got f***ed up, I had been planning to get the car detailed and the microswirls and such like polished out so it's properly shiny, but I'm not sure if there is any overlap between the repairs and the detailing work to save potentially paying for polishing and whatever twice.
Firstly went to the body shop.
He said:
- scratch down the side of the car http://imgur.com/a/mY1zq is from a tree branch. I didn't see how that was possible. And the smaller scratch made earlier looks like a trolley or something [I don't know if it could be a car door or something]. I said 'we don't really go to the supermarket', and if we do we park in p+c bay. About £250 to polish out but not guaranteed it would be perfect, try it and see. But he did point on the shadow from a previous smart repair on rear passenger door.
- scrape at the nearside rear bumper is from a white car. Again £200 or so
- Driver's door scrape is also from a white car. It needs painting, and it's also slightly dented. Hopefully after painting will match the others. Around £400 or so.
This is how we always park. We are at the end of a cul-de-sac and it's much easier to park forward. And as you can see, there is a bush on the right side. And the scratch is on the left. So it couldn't be from that.
Except, as I mentioned earlier, when that scratch appeared it was just after it had been serviced, and then dropped off at my house by Lexus. They reversed in, I was home at the time, looked out the window saw them reversing in, and thought 'that's thoughtful of them'. So it seems fairly likely that in fact what happened was that when Lexus reversed it in, they scraped it down the bush, and I didn't notice it immediately, because I wasn't looking, but the next day when the car was parked the other way round as usual, it was obviously immediately noticeable - I assumed it had been done at the college, but actually it's more likely to have been Lexus, but I can't really prove that now.
Anyway, I had a look at the car park, it's pretty crowded and the spaces are close together. There are a lot of very bashed about cars. Apparently the students are free to park there after 5pm, and my wife finishes at 7pm. Also I think I probably underestimate how s**t their driving is - apparently one of the students (aged 19 or whatever) was spotted teaching his girlfriend to drive, which is illegal as you are supposed to be 21. So it's pretty conceivable anyway.
We spoke to the facilities manager and she's been given a new place to park in, so that's a start anyway.
Originally, before it got f***ed up, I had been planning to get the car detailed and the microswirls and such like polished out so it's properly shiny, but I'm not sure if there is any overlap between the repairs and the detailing work to save potentially paying for polishing and whatever twice.
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