Heartache :(

[Sommi]

It has been wonderful start to the new year till now. Have had a couple of people winding down windows to let me know how great the car sounds, people coming over in the car parks to discuss and acknowledge the beauty that lies in Maserati Objects d'art.

I personally spent Saturday re-washing and polishing the car (did it 3 weeks ago) and was chuffed with the final result.

And so this evening, I went to Sainsbury to get the some last minute supplies for dinner before it closed. Car park was busy even for this time of day, but I went through the whole of it and found myself a corner with two empty slots and a car to one side. I parked as one should (did not hijack the two slots) but gave enough wide berth for any careless door openings from the car on the side.

Came back in 15 minutes and had another guy pass by and discuss the car. Said its the first QP he had ever seen!
Come back home smiling and with much warmth in the heart, you know, like "life is good if it has a Maserati in it!".

Then I notice the gash. Not a scratch, a proper dent about 3 inch vertically implanted on passenger door offside.
I trembled with rage and sadness. Caressing it to rub it out just made me feel worse and now i can see the paint has been affected. All this is receding evening light. I won't know how bad it is till tomorrow morning when I leave for work but I am not looking forward to it.

Revenge, forgiveness, shoot at sight, self-harm are all rotating in m mind with no clue who this person might have been. My mistake is that I did not take the Mobius camera as I always do on this occasion. it was charging. Even then with the angle it is aimed at, it would not have captured the deed.

What recourse do I have? Forget, swallow the bitter pill and move on? Should I contact CCTV blokes at Sainsbury to find some footage and lodge a complain with Police?
I swear QP will not go to Sainsbury and left on its own from now.

I have had to take some cask strength Laphroig to help me calm down and pen down this rant.

I thank you for being a good listener.

 

[conaero]

I think you will be chasing a lost cause with the CCTV, just get a known paintless dent repairer out, pay your £80 and move on, lesson learned.

 

[spkennyuk]

Sadly past experience says that your going to be chasing a lost cause with CCTV. I had the passenger side door caved in by somebody in a suoermsrket car park on a mondeo. They may have a half hearted look but you would need to request the footage under data protection and the police would only be interested in pursuing the matter if there was clear footage of the damage being done.

Its annoying as **** but hopefully the damage isnt as bad as it seems in the light of day.

 

[Andyk]

Just hate it when that happenes and you don't know who has caused the damage......................So sorry for you........YOu could try the CCTV but as MAtt has said probably not worth it as the CCTV is not great at supermarkets.......Should not be an expensive fix...

 

[Wack61]

It really depends how far you want to take it, legally you're entitled to view any CCTV footage you appear on , they can charge you £10 for this.

You need to report it to the police to get a crime number as they've left the scene of an accident , on another forum I'm on a woman hit a car and drove off, she was caught on CCTV clearly, the police prosecuted , big fine and 6 points.

If it were me I'd take it as far as I could because nothing annoys me more than somebody just driving away

https://www.gov.uk/request-cctv-footage-of-yourself

 

[zagatoes30]

Had something similar on the school run last week, some bloke hit another car whilst parking, pushed the corner of the bumper in on the car he hit, he then drowve off. The bump was witnessed by one of the mums who took the registration and he was known in the village. When the owners husband went to discuss with him he denied all knowledge of even being in the area. Police were called and they advised it was one persons word against another - really helpful

 

[Contigo]

Shame but **** happens, these car despite their beauty are metal objects and will get damaged, get it repaired and enjoy it even more.

I've had brand new cars driven into on the first day and it does get you angry but life is too short for that.

 

[highlander]

It does hurt but as has been said by most, just fix it and try to forget about it.......we have all been there.

 

[Wack61]

Had something similar on the school run last week, some bloke hit another car whilst parking, pushed the corner of the bumper in on the car he hit, he then drowve off. The bump was witnessed by one of the mums who took the registration and he was known in the village. When the owners husband went to discuss with him he denied all knowledge of even being in the area. Police were called and they advised it was one persons word against another - really helpful

I read something similar a few years ago, a guy had been wronged, police weren't interested but he knew where he lived as it was a small village

The guy was obsessed with his perfectly manicured garden so at 3am he went round and hammered a bag of frozen sausages into his perfect bowling green standard front lawn.

Over the next few days every dog,fox and crow dug it to shreds

 

[Steve GS]

You have to let it go. I had someone reverse into my parked gs out side my house. What got to me the most he drove of. Lucky for me my observant step boy new what house the driver visits. I could of killed him at the time. Had calmed down by the time I see him lucky for me. I don't fancy prison

 

[Contigo]

It's funny how people behave in a car park, all rational thought and common sense seems to just go out the window or is it that 99.9% of "the great unwashed" are just thick as ****?

Went to a kids party in the QP and I had to drive nose in first to a spot right in the corner of the car park (as us fastidious owners do it seems to mitigate anyone parking next to us) as I was getting ready to leave the whole car park had emptied and some guy pulled in opposite my spot making it difficult to get a 2 ton QP out without doing a 30 point turn. He stood there and I wound the window down and thanked him for making my life easy and he muttered some abuse. Clearly a ******* moron so I unleased about 20 seconds of furious revving for him and his wife which went down really really well.

 

[Sommi]

Thanks all for very genuine factual pointers. I have calmed down and will go down the route of getting it repaired. However much I would like to find the careless culprit I have no time to spare. A day job, own business, wife's business and 5 year twins leave just enough time for a proverbial annual anniversary ****! Life is short, its going by quickly, but its got a Maserati in it

 

[Contigo]

Well said Sommi, I think we have to ask ourselves can we trust the public with their carelessness, jealousy and lack of respect for other people's belongings? I do question where I leave all my cars these days including the lease car as I know any scratch or dent will come out of my pocket and will be a major time waster.

 

[mchristyuk]

Problem is that the great unwashed just see the car as a tool and have no more care for it than any other disposable tool. They probably have them on PCP plans and get renewed every 24 months and ultimately just don't care about dings and bashes... they don't see what the problem is and think everybody else has the same attitude.

My attitude is that life is too short to worry about these things no matter how annoying it can be. Ultimately it's just metal that can be repaired and in worst cases it's insured. I don't care where I park and will sling the Maserati in between the most battered looking vans. In the past few years I think I've picked up one small ding on a wheel arch.. and that was on the daily driver!

Ironically I have a friend who is paranoid about his cars and will make sure he always parks well away from everyone and tries to get spaces either side... he seems to pick up loads of trolley and car park dents!

Maybe it's because the others that park far away are nervous/incompetent drivers who fear attempting to park in the central melee of the modern car park? So then we have a high combustible mix of those who adore their cars and those that can't drive heading for the same spaces...!

Mark

 

[hoyin]

I expect this now. I mean to be honest when I see how uncareful my wife is (and she is not a nasty person) I wouldn't expect anything less. Especially when you have a screaming baby in a car seat you need to get into the car.

She has even reversed into my car when parking as she was trying to take care not to hit our neighbours car!!

Life is too short to be so worried about these things.

 

[drewf]

Very sorry to hear you've suffered this

Have to agree with Hoyin and many others - life's too short, and it's full of thoughtless f*ckwits who don't care one jot about other people's possessions. And I don't mean Hoyin's wife, who I've met and wouldn't dream of suggesting she's a thoughtless f*ckwit! Hope you get it fixed soon mate.

 

[conaero]

Indeed, well said, its annoying and the purpetrator will get the comeuppance.

 

[greeny12]

Sometimes you just can't win when it comes to car parks... when I had to drive my 3200 back from Scotland I booked an overnight stay in Stafford to break the journey. Fearful of the car park (it was a busy hotel) and given it was my very first day with my precious new motor, I opted for an empty two-car bay and rather cheekily parked across the middle so there was no chance of anyone dinging me.

What I didn't suss was that the reason this plum parking bay was empty lay above, in the form of a big tree where seemingly the entire bird population of Stafford was roosting. I came out in the morning to find the bonnet covered, and I mean covered, in bird s**t.

It took an afternoon with an expensively-purchased home detailing kit to put it right!

 

[Wack61]

When I met my wife she never cleaned her car, it was just a box to get to work in , it had bird droppings hardened into the roof, when I got it off it'd eaten into the paint and left permenant marks.

 

[2b1ask1]

Whilst I don't always keep my cars clean, Jeanette has only ever washed a car once herself and this involved washing up liquid and at least two small children! I made it quite apparent that I'd rather she had it Bosniwashed!!!