Should This Be Reported to the Police?

[Ro_Laren]

While I am living overseas, I am keeping my Hyundai Elantra at my parent’s house. It sits in their driveway, but is covered with a car cover. My father told me the other day, that he was looking at the back of my car. The “H” is missing from the Hyundai and the “T” is missing from the Elantra. See an example of the lettering on the back of a Hyundai Elantra (fyi, this is not my car and my car is silver).

It seems like some neighborhood kid must have had fun with my car. Last year, they slowly took off all the letters from our HOA sign. I’m guessing that they are starting to do this with my car too. My question is this, do you think I should have my parents file a report with the police? We wouldn't accuse anyone directly ('cause we don't know who did it), but we can at least say that someone is damaging my car. These kids could mess up the paint job on my car. Or they could decide that they want to steal my license plate, bash a window, etc. I am wondering if filing a police report would help if the “hooliganism” elevates and I need my insurance company to pay to get my car fixed.

And, there is nothing to stop them from doing the same thing to other neighborhood cars or even people’s houses. Not that the police could easily find the kids that are doing this, and not like they would actually go out looking, but I was thinking that it might be smart to at least file a report (just in case the kids are caught red handed during a neighborhood patrol). What do you guys think? Is it just a waste of time? I feel kinda helpless since I am living overseas and can’t watch over my car. By the way, my father said that I can easily by replacement letters. Anyone know how much they would cost… or would I have to take my car to the dealership to get the letters replaced?

 

[Roger Wilco]

Might help with insurance I suppose if this thing escalates, but I don't see the police putting any time into investigating this.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Just spent several minutes trying to work out if the missing letters made the car name say anything dirty.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

You should always file a police report if your car is damaged like this.

And you *might* be able to get insurance to pay for the replacement, although this will probably depend on your deductible.

teacake:

 

[Holdfast]

I wouldn't bother. Unless the area has CCTV or some other means of reliably identifying the antisocial little gits so they can be fined.

The thread reminds me of that trend of scrotes nicking car emblems to use as medallions. Thank god that style statement died out!

 

[ares93]

The thread reminds me of that trend of scrotes nicking car emblems to use as medallions. Thank god that style statement died out!

Yeah, my Merc was a well known victim. Eventually, i removed the hood ornament altogether. Once they stole it while i was unloading the car. I was away two minutes tops. Cheeky buggers.

Ro: Those emblems are a quid a pop on ebay. No reason to report it unless you can prove it 100%. CCTV is probably your only shot. And even then, the video is grainy, its the wrong angle, blah blah.

 

[MHT1138]

I think for insurance purposes, its a good idea to have the a police report on file, but there probably isn't anything the police can do about it.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

Some dickhead did that to my Monte Carlo years ago. They tore off the Chevy bowtie and SS emblems with a screwdriver. I just know there is a piece of crap Cavalier somewhere with my SS logo glued to its trunk.

 

[Trekker4747]

Some dickhead did that to my Monte Carlo years ago. They tore off the Chevy bowtie and SS emblems with a screwdriver. I just know there is a piece of crap Cavalier somewhere with my SS logo glued to its trunk.

But... but... It makes my car look faster.

 

[T'Girl]

Spend a few minutes online and report it to the local police. This might be a pattern of behavior on someones part, and your report could be a piece of the puzzle that help catch them. Saving your neighbors some future trouble.

Also could (if caught) result in a stiffer penalty.

")

 

[farmkid]

If you want to make it stop, you could employ a farmer's trick. Hook up an electric fencer to the car. All you do is hook one wire to the car's frame somewhere, hook the other to a rod stuck in the ground, plug it in, then sit back and wait for them to come steal another letter. It will give them a quite a surprise, but it won't do any real damage. They won't try again.

 

[Birdog]

If you want to make it stop, you could employ a farmer's trick. Hook up an electric fencer to the car. All you do is hook one wire to the car's frame somewhere, hook the other to a rod stuck in the ground, plug it in, then sit back and wait for them to come steal another letter. It will give them a quite a surprise, but it won't do any real damage. They won't try again.

There's a good chance you can cook the car's on board computers doing that.

 

[ares93]

If you want to make it stop, you could employ a farmer's trick. Hook up an electric fencer to the car. All you do is hook one wire to the car's frame somewhere, hook the other to a rod stuck in the ground, plug it in, then sit back and wait for them to come steal another letter. It will give them a quite a surprise, but it won't do any real damage. They won't try again.

There's a good chance you can cook the car's on board computers doing that.

Exactly. All you need is damaged wiring and you're buggered.

Grab a shotgun and sleep in the car.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I would report it to the police. They may not be able to do anything about this particular instance but it couldn't hurt for them to know that this is happening in that neighborhood. They might send a patrol car through every once in a while to keep at least a slightly closer eye on things in the area.

 

[ares93]

I would report it to the police. They may not be able to do anything about this particular instance but it couldn't hurt for them to know that this is happening in that neighborhood. They might send a patrol car through every once in a while to keep at least a slightly closer eye on things in the area.

My god. If I only lived where you live. Over here, they refuse to show up for anything less than a GBH. An even then, they're whining about it.

 

[FPAlpha]

If you can set up a camera at a hard to spot location and film the car for a while.. maybe a bit overkill for such minor stuff but many things start small.

I once discovered steel wool in the exhaust of my car and the evening prior some kids made a ruckus on the street where my car parked. Luckily i noticed the steel wool before i started up the car.. the exhaust might have blown it right out or not. If not it could have burned it up and maybe even set the rest of the car on fire.

 

[farmkid]

If you want to make it stop, you could employ a farmer's trick. Hook up an electric fencer to the car. All you do is hook one wire to the car's frame somewhere, hook the other to a rod stuck in the ground, plug it in, then sit back and wait for them to come steal another letter. It will give them a quite a surprise, but it won't do any real damage. They won't try again.

There's a good chance you can cook the car's on board computers doing that.

I doubt it. The current wouldn't be going through any of the wiring; the circuit is simply the frame to the ground. Now if the kid touched something that was connected to one of the computers, that very well could damage it, but just touching the body would be unlikely to do anything.

Sorry, I forgot the smilie when I wrote the original post. It wasn't a serious suggestion. No, the real reason not to do it is lawsuits. There's about a 100% chance that if a neighborhood kid was stealing stuff off of cars, and got zapped in the process, his parents would sue claiming he was just walking by and brushed the car or was just looking at it or something and sue.

 

[ares93]

I doubt it. The current wouldn't be going through any of the wiring; the circuit is simply the frame to the ground. Now if the kid touched something that was connected to one of the computers, that very well could damage it, but just touching the body would be unlikely to do anything.

All you need is busted wiring and you're set. I fried most of the electronics in a Volvo S80 ambulance when i was charging the rear batteries with the emergency charger (completely separate circuit). Thing is, there were two damaged wires that accidentally connected when I was messing about with the engine. Instant ECU barbecue.

You know how much juice you need for a defibrillator? Yeah, imagine that in an ECU.

 

[ed629]

Get a golf club and wait in the shadows. A nice long drive to the kidneys will solve the issue.