Car keying

stranger12

Hi all

Some maniac has keyed my car all around while parked in front of tesco.

What can i do? Police said they can't do much unless i get cctv footage from a shop

Argos was close by so have asked if they can help

Ebe_Scrooge

I feel your pain, this happened to me many years ago. Unfortunately, without evidence there's not much the police can do - for starters, how would they even know who to chase ?


All you can do is ask all of the shops nearby if they happen to have any CCTV footage. Maybe worth asking the carpark owner as well ?

forgotmyname

The shops wont give you the CCTV footage. The police would need to request it. They may say yes its worth requesting though, if they do actually look at the CCTV.

Suck it up and get it sorted or put a claim in to your own insurer. Some have a vandalism clause that wont affect the no claims. Although it still needs to be declared.

foxy-stoat

stranger12 wrote: »

Hi all

Some maniac has keyed my car all around while parked in front of tesco.

What can i do? Police said they can't do much unless i get cctv footage from a shop

Argos was close by so have asked if they can help

Get a quote from a local bodyshop and go from there.

It will cost you your excess if you claim on your policy, run a quote through compare the meerkats to see the effect on your premiums for the next few years and work out if its worth claiming or not.

For you to get money from the person that damaged your car, so many things need to happen;

1. You need CCTV footage
2. The person needs to be identified
3. The police need to actually prosecute them
4. They need to turn up to court
5. They need to be found guilty by the Judge
6. They need to have the money to pay you in their account
7. They need to actually pay you the money

For me it would be too much stress - you may still need to declare the "loss" if you get a payment or not for you to be squeaky clean with the insurers and future policies - upto you though.

To get mental satisfaction then 1 and 2 would do it, if you can find out where they live and if they have their own car for you to key up....jobs a good'un.

Ebe_Scrooge

Just to add, on the assumption that the low-life doesn't get caught / prosecuted, you have several options :


1. Claim off your own insurance ( assuming you have fully comp ). This will cost you the excess, as well as increased premiums for the next few years.
2. Try asking one of these "smart repair" companies ( chips-away or similar ). Depending on the severity of the damage they may be able to do something for you. It'll be cheaper than a full respray ( which is the "proper" way to do it ), and you may decide to pay this yourself without bothering your insurance company.
3. If the car is quite old and you're not too precious about it, you could touch it up yourself. It'll be far from a perfect repair, but if you take your time you can do a reasonable job for not much money. This probably isn't a feasible option if the car is quite new and/or expensive, but if it's an old run-about it's probably the best way to go.

Car_54

foxy-stoat wrote: »

Get a quote from a local bodyshop and go from there.

It will cost you your excess if you claim on your policy, run a quote through compare the meerkats to see the effect on your premiums for the next few years and work out if its worth claiming or not.

For you to get money from the person that damaged your car, so many things need to happen;

1. You need CCTV footage
2. The person needs to be identified
3. The police need to actually prosecute them
4. They need to turn up to court
5. They need to be found guilty by the Judge
6. They need to have the money to pay you in their account
7. They need to actually pay you the money

For me it would be too much stress - you may still need to declare the "loss" if you get a payment or not for you to be squeaky clean with the insurers and future policies - upto you though.

To get mental satisfaction then 1 and 2 would do it, if you can find out where they live and if they have their own car for you to key up....jobs a good'un.

3,4 and 5 aren't strictly necessary for the OP to take action in the county court. But 6 and 7 still apply.

Fat_Walt

Car_54 wrote: »

3,4 and 5 aren't strictly necessary for the OP to take action in the county court. But 6 and 7 still apply.

5 would apply in County Court.

[Deleted User]

I know this is a bit of a stretch but I assume you were parked considerately at Tesco's ?

The only reason I ask is that I saw someone yesterday come back to his car laden with groceries to find someone had parked so badly next door he couldnt get in his driver door. The other person has swerved in not straightened up and left their car at vertual rightangles across this guys vehicle resticting access to the rear and drivers door.

In order to get out the space the guy had to get in via his passenger door and pull ahead, bump up the kerb to allow space to move away from the badly parked car.

As a parting shot when he evetually got into his car he opened
the drivers door as far as it would go crunching it against the other car causing scratches / dent to their door.

Cant say i blame him either.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Police won't be interested, far too much trouble, but you might be able to prise a crime number out of them eventually, otherwise its actually a complete waste of your time contacting them.

If its all round damage then either get a small bodyshop or smart repairer to quote you for cash, or claim on the insurance, only you can work out which is better for you.

If you can live with it, it might be worth touching up the worse if its down to the metal before the salt goes down on the roads or you'll have rust.

I have every sympathy with you.

stranger12

Issue is someone thretened me while back and they have keyed the car and draw a swear word on bonnet

From personal experience, I think police can't be asked to request the footage even though the shop may happily provide it . There are many shops around there with CCTV and if they get the footage and the guy is who I think he is then I can identify him and disclose his address.

I was parked correctly on main road

How do I know if police does actually request the footage? I have heared stories of them not being bothered to even ask for it because ???

foxy-stoat

stranger12 wrote: »

How do I know if police does actually request the footage? I have heared stories of them not being bothered to even ask for it because ???

Ask the police is the way to answer your question. Still too many ifs and buts to pursue.

If you want to start a small claims track for the damage then I wish you all the luck, personally I would repair the damage as cheap as you can and move on....get a dash cam that you can set to record with movment, I have a Blackvue that does, and try to sleep better at night.