Jealousy, i'd say.
But it sure sucks to hear about that, man.

 

My 6 has a nasty key mark along the entire length top of the rear bumper. Don't even know where I picked it up.

My fiance's Focus got keyed really bad by a disgruntled former employee she had to fire.

Some people just have no respect.

 

I'd say its a combination of jealosy and that sense of rebelion...

Gussel, where is your car parked? Because, you should try parking somewhere else or maybe covering the car with a properly secure car cover when parked for long periods of time... It may deter this person and others to an extent... Otherwise, i'd suggest buying a security camera, because the cost of that is a small price compared to that of repairs. Sounds kind of over doing it, but it will also give you peace of mind. You've probably already taken measures such as the above, but anyways...

 

Sean, Well, I have thought about getting a camera from the spyshop. But I'd have to place several of them in the car to cover all the angles. That's lots of $$$ as well as inconvenient in terms of room, since I frequently have passengers.

Not only that, I am afraid the guy will bash in the window to steal the cameras once he realizes he's been caught on video.

My car is parked on the street - anywhere within a 2 block radius from my home. Our house in Toronto doesn't have a driveway.

The thing that amuses(?) me somewhat is that if you're going to key a car out of jealousy, wouldn't a Lexus or Mercedes be more logical choice?

Funny thing is, I used to a own a 2002 Honda Accord Coupe. Black. Sharp looking car. It also got keyed and kicked in 4 times in my first year of ownership, but ALWAYS on the same day that I waxed the car (or next day)...i.e. when it was shiny

When I owned a 2000 Toyota Camry, nobody scratched it or vandalized it. It was totally ignored. I guess the Camry was too boring to incite any jealousy?!?

At any rate, keying seems to be a pretty chicken-crap thing to do.

nouse4aname, I'm sorry to hear about your 6 getting keyed. Did you eventually fix it, or are you going to wait for some more damage?

Anyone else with similar experiences?

 

Talked to my dealer but havne't done anything yet. Recommend a paintless dent removal guy who is exceptionally good with touch up paint. If he can fix it that way it'd be less than $100. I have my doubts though.

 

The thing that amuses(?) me somewhat is that if you're going to key a car out of jealousy, wouldn't a Lexus or Mercedes be more logical choice?

Perhaps it's personal and has nothing to do with jealousy (of your car)? Either way, if it's the same person, he deserves to have some fingers or his wrist broken as punishment. Many years ago I was in an accident due to a drunk driver. I broke my left leg badly, and for a few years following, I thought of nothing but wanting to take a baseball bat to that guy's legs.

Yes, I do believe in an eye for an eye....

JT

 

don't you mean 'leg for a leg'? :lol:
seriously though, sorry you got injured.

heheh, remember the movie, Pulp Fiction?

Well, there's a scene where John Travolta's character named Vincent Vega says to the drug dealer Lance (Eric Stoltz):

Vega: "You know what someone did? Some (bleep)-less piece of (bleep) keyed my Malibu...."

Lance: "What an (bleep). Guy should be shot."

Vega: "I would have loved catching him.....It almost would have been worth him keying the car, just so that I could catch him doing it."

That's a very perceptive scene!

 

Lack of self esteem. The need to assert self over inanimate objects because of their own insecurites and inability to function rationally and normally to society. Generally.... loser and jealous. As long as it is at material stuff and not to you and your's body. I recommend leaving the marks then one day get it all painted but then park in a place where you can video the vehicle from all sides if possible. I know that is kinda rough but my buddy had a 10 sec. nova which was subjected to the same type of envy week after week - so we set up with all of our buddies a trap with video cams (make sure you take the little red light up with duct tape) and called the cops when we got what he was waiting for. The problem was, it was a freakin' cop's kid who was about 14 and a real punk. We wanted to pound the kid ourselves but - him being 6 years younger and a cops kid... what do you do.

His own dad took care of that kid though when we went to the station and showed him and his sarge the tapes. One thing though - in an act of retaliation before they left the neighborhood, we think the darn kid egged my buddy's, now new car. Oh well. Go figure.

Good luck and a I'm sorry to hear that you have that problem with your vehicle and neighborhood....really.

 

Personal vengeance, Jealousy, you're unlucky, idiot's rampage, etc.

There could be any number of reasons. But you really should set up a trap to catch the vandal in the act (camera idea is good). And don't go easy on them whether they be some punk kid or some mentally disturbed person. You really need to follow up with what and how the law could punish them. Don't make it too personal, but if the vandal is an idiot and does it again and again, do everything in your power to show them you mean business. Most vandals are cowards but they won't respect other cowards.

 

I dunno... Given your past experiences and the repeated nature of the offenses, I'd personally have to say that it's probably the same person... Maybe it's not an enemy of yours but just some asshole who doesn't like your car or new cars or something. It seems like it has GOT to be more than pure chance given the number of times you're talking about.

 

I dunno... Given your past experiences and the repeated nature of the offenses, I'd personally have to say that it's probably the same person... Maybe it's not an enemy of yours but just some asshole who doesn't like your car or new cars or something. It seems like it has GOT to be more than pure chance given the number of times you're talking about.

It's probably the same kid. But what makes me doubt it's personal is that he didn't scratch up my boring Camry or my even more boring Ford Taurus (2 cars before that). He only attacked the Accord coupe and Mz3.

On my Accord coupe, he scratched it on 2 separate occasions, and then dented the driver side door with a brick. At first I thought it was a collision that happened when I was gone, but the dude left the brick right beside the car as evidence, and the brick had my car's paint on it.

Anyhow, I love my Mazda3 5 times more than I loved the Accord, and any scratch to it is like a punch to the gut. It's a horrible feeling going to a new car, and then seeing a fresh scratch, and going "AHH. I can't believe it!"

 

You seem pretty calm about this...I'd be going crazy, lol.

I just don't get it though, I mean you can't even park your car somewhere without some idiot keying it or driving into it and running.

 

Here's my plan....

Do the camera deal. Get the piece of shit on video. If you recognize who it is and know what they drive you could definitely do an "eye for an eye" and ensure the ass gets whats coming to him. Then, since you have him on video, go to the cops and get him in trouble that way as well. You get your retribution and he is punished by the police as well.

Personally, I would probably leave his ride alone as I hate that kind of chicken shit stuff, but I would walk up to him and punch him right in the face and beat him next to death. I would definitely let him know that the next time he even looks at your car his ass is yours. Of course if he's a bigger dude just pepper spray him and the hit him with a lead pipe. j/k!

 

Basically, the individual(s) is twisted...mentally. No sane person would key someone else's car.

I was once sitting in my car at a mall waiting for my GF and saw this lady key a guy's SUV. I called the cops. Luckily, the cops where there within minutes and they were able to nab the bastard.

 

yeah, I guess the camera thing is worth it. I'll have to be patient I guess...while he has stung me at times in consecutive weeks, other times it's been one month, or even 4 months between his attacks.

I have a feeling it may be a high school teenager. A lot of them migrate on my street to their school, and stare and point at my car...mostly in appreciation. But once a couple of kids gave me the finger after pointing at my MZ3.

I won't know until I do the camera thing.

I wonder what the profile is of a guy that keys cars. Beat up a lot? Geek? or popular guy who can't afford a new car and must find an "outlet" for his frustration?

 

I would suspect any Honda Civic driver in the area! lol

Seriously, if someone flipped you off previously that walks by your car daily to school I would be suspicious.

Another option I would DEFINITELY invest in would be a very sensitive alarm system. Get a Viper or something good like that. The dude just gets close to the car or dare touch it and he gets warned or blasted with very loud db's! You can turn up the sensitivity on a good system so I would look into one of those for sure whether you go with the camera or not.

 

I was once sitting in my car at a mall waiting for my GF and saw this lady key a guy's SUV. I called the cops. Luckily, the cops where there within minutes and they were able to nab the bastard

A lady? I don't want to sound sexist but usually destructive property acts are done by males. I wonder what her motivation was..

 

Man, a pissed off woman is as much so or even more probable to key a car. I think women have actually perfected the form and method to be honest.

I cant say I know one guy that has ever keyed a car but I can name several girls that have told me they did it. (usually they do it in retaliation for having it done to them by some other girl)

So yes, a scorned woman is rough on the paint job! (no offense to women reading this and if you are offended also keep in mind my car is garaged and I have a 9mm and 12lb rat terrier ready to pounce! lol)

 

If you can park the car close to your front window, a webcam set up in the window and hooked to motion software will do the job real well. (Of course if it's a busy street, you'll want a LOT of HDD space for recording).

I think I'm gonna have to do this myself, if something happens to my car again. 3 months old, and some kid on a bike...anyway, if it was intentional, it'll happen again. People who do that won't be able to resist doing it again. Likely, the fact that you fixed it will piss them off even MORE.

Keep in mind ex-GFs, but your most likely suspect is some kid with a 20 year old riced-out Civic who feels diminished by your (much better) Mazda3.

Remember, self-esteem is measured by the amount of rubber applied to the wheels, and personal sense of manhood is inversely related to the size of the wing one attaches to their vehicle.

 

I was once sitting in my car at a mall waiting for my GF and saw this lady key a guy's SUV. I called the cops. Luckily, the cops where there within minutes and they were able to nab the bastard

A lady? I don't want to sound sexist but usually destructive property acts are done by males. I wonder what her motivation was..

A woman keying a car surprises you?? Ha ha There are a lot of psychos out there, and that title certainly isn't reserved for men. :lol: I've heard LOTS of stories over the years of psycho ex-girlfriends doing some damage to a guy's car.

JT

 

I was once sitting in my car at a mall waiting for my GF and saw this lady key a guy's SUV. I called the cops. Luckily, the cops where there within minutes and they were able to nab the bastard

A lady? I don't want to sound sexist but usually destructive property acts are done by males. I wonder what her motivation was..

I would not be surprised if the majority of them were committed by females myself.

 

A woman keying a car surprises you?? Ha ha There are a lot of psychos out there, and that title certainly isn't reserved for men. :lol: I've heard LOTS of stories over the years of psycho ex-girlfriends doing some damage to a guy's car.

JT

I remember an incindent with a former co-worker of mine from long ago where he had this psycho-ex-girlfriend. He wanted out of the relationship because she was too clingy and needy. She wouldn't have it, but he just basically told her "no" and tried to leave her.

One day at work, as we were closing shop, he asked if he could have a ride. I asked him if he was having some car troubles and he said, "I wish it was only car trouble." His psycho-ex slashed all four of his tires and left a Valentine card covered in hand written "I Love You," "I Miss You," "I Hate You," etc. notes.

I hesitantly gave him a ride to a friend's house (No way was he going where she could find him). I just told him to keep an eye out for his pscyho-ex.

I quit my job from that place only about a month later when management changed and the company began to shut down a lot of their retail outlets. (including the shop I worked in). I dunno what happened to the guy, but I hope he was able to get away from his psycho-ex.

 

One day at work, as we were closing shop, he asked if he could have a ride. I asked him if he was having some car troubles and he said, "I wish it was only car trouble." His psycho-ex slashed all four of his tires and left a Valentine card covered in hand written "I Love You," "I Miss You," "I Hate You," etc. notes.

I take my statement back. It appears car-vandalism is an equal opportunity activity, although I don't have any ex-girlfriends living in the same city as me.

The key for me will be to move to a house with a driveway or a garage. I can't stand parking on my very busy (but narrow) street because I can't wax it or wash it, change my oil, or rotate my tires there. And my car is also a lot more vulnerable.

Hopefully, after I move this will all stop.

 

Hey gussel what part of Toronto are you from?? This same kinda s**t is happening in my area too... Scarbourgh. So bad in fact that many of us neighbours are affraid to park on the street. Fortunately for me i do have a driveway, but many of us occasionally do park on the street. Lately over the past year or so people have been getting their tires slashed when parking on the street, amongst other things.... broken windows, and keyed cars. It happened to this one guy about 4 times now, And they slash two tires at a time. Talk about a coward...... doing dispicable things like that. Anyway just wanted to know if this is a real widespread thing happening in toronto or if were in the same area... the cops have really gotta crack down on this... these cars are our hard earned money... we cant have stupid people wasting our money on repairs because of stupid reasons.
Hope you catch the bastard...

 

I live in the west part of Toronto near High Park.

I was the first Mazda3 in the area. Now there are 4 in my neighbourhood alone. I have seen other non-Mazda cars with key-marks in this area but don't know how recent it is.

I think this is pretty much a universal thing. Wherever there are chicken-****s, there will be keyed cars.