[kimmig]

Hi .. Not sure if this is the right place to post this thread .. but am seriously looking for help .. Mods kindly move the thread to a more appropriate location if required.


I recently got a new car (first car). The Mgmt Committee created a lot of issues in giving me a proper parking spot. I eventually pointed out to the Society bye laws which clearly showed that they were wrong in not alloting me a proper parking spot. Subsequently, last Sunday .. I was alloted a parking spot which had been vacated by another society member.

However, this Sunday someone deliberately scratched each and every panel on my car. It obviously does not look like the handiwork of kids as the job is thorough and deliberate on all the 4 sides of the car.
Apart from this tiff with the mgmt committee, there is no one else in the society we have ever got into a tiff with. Obviously it is not coincidental that last week I throw the rulebook at them and this week my car is scratched

The watchmens' cabin is just 4 -5 cars away .. no one would have been able to do this without them knowing about it. One danda from the cops and I am sure they will spill the beans.

I tried speaking to a friend in the police force, he said that this is a non-cognizable offence, so unless I have hard proof, they won't even register an FIR leave alone investigating.

Any advise on what could be the next steps?

[aaggoswami]

This is unfortunate that you have to suffer and most of the times, there is politics in society management. Goes on to show cheap Indian mentality.

1) Talk to Management committee for firm steps and also involve the security guard. Tell them you are near to filing FIR. This would give pressure on them.
But beware, if there is somebody else in management who has good contacts, you will be in trouble.

2) Install camera inside car to know who has done the job. Nail him with proof.

3) Bad scene : I have seen parents teaching kids negtive things about a family/person with whom they dont have good relations. They ask the kids to go out and damage cars.
Its not innocence.

We had kids throwing stones at our home for long, so know this.

Start with talking firm, that is the best way out.

[prince_pervez]

@Kimmig. This is very sad. You should not have fought. My suspect would be the guy who cleared the spot for you. But thats that. There is no proof of the crime.

The best thing to do right now is to get the damaged repaired, have the parking to your satisfaction and get a car cover next time.
If you fight over this, then the person who did this gets the ultimate satisfaction of giving you sleepless nights.
So don't worry. Just get the repairs done and move on. Getting the parking spot is a bigger achievement than anything else in this story. Small loss can be neglected over prime real estate.

[Sankar]

If possible rig up an IP camera watching over the spot where you park your car. Set it to record the video feed during the hours your car is parked there.

If the scratching was done on purpose then there is a good chance that those responsible might scratch it again once the car's been repainted again.

[shishir_bn]

IMO please don't fight with the other car owners, the reason being you have to stay with them for more than 8/10 years and day-in and day-out you will be facing them.So it is better to talk to the commitee rather than owners

[kimmig]

aaggoswami
1) Talk to Management committee for firm steps and also involve the security guard. Tell them you are near to filing FIR. This would give pressure on them.
But beware, if there is somebody else in management who has good contacts, you will be in trouble.
: My guess is that this has happened with the mgmt committee knowledge. Given the brutality with which the scratching has been done, it would take quite a bit of time for someone to do it.
I did bull doze the watchmen that they need to tell me who has done this or I am going to bribe the police and they can then deal with them. Seedhi ungli se ghee nahi nikala, to tedhi karni padegi.
The only issue is the one of the guys on the MC is a retired ACP.

4) Bad scene : I have seen parents teaching kids negtive things about a family/person with whom they dont have good relations. They ask the kids to go out and damage cars.
Its not innocence.
: Unconventional, but as they say .. Laaton ke bhoot, baaton se nahi maantey .. my 4 yr old son will surely be happy receiving some new play things shortly.
aaggoswami/ Sankar
3) Install camera inside car to know who has done the job. Nail him with proof.
: Ideal solution, but wouldn't such a solution be very expensive?

prince_pervez :
You should not have fought.
: Prince, they earlier stand was very unjust .. they were asking me to park below a coconut tree with heaps of bird **** falling on the car every day. They were clearly violating the society bye laws for parking allotment and had imposed a fine of 20000 rupees just because I refused to park in the area they first alloted to me.
My suspect would be the guy who cleared the spot for you.
: Nopes .. the guy who cleared the spot stays in Calcutta and had leased out the flat to someone and after that guy moved out he has given up the spot. No one else stays in the place currently, and no one is likely to move in as the socy is going in for redevelopment in a few months.

prince_pervez / Shishir
I sincerely appreciate your advise, but right now my blood is boiling .. yesterday was my son's 4th b'day .. we had throw a party at a restaurant inviting a lot of friends and family to celebrate it .. imagine .. I came to know of this as I was leaving for the party .. my whole evening got trashed ..
Letting them get away with this would be criminal .. Basically, the society mgmt comm has a bunch of mallus (sorry guys no offence meant) who have ganged up and have been doing this dadagiri for years now. Most of them are retired / semi retired so have ample time on their hands, unlike the rest os us who are too busy making ends meet.

[Cyborg]

Kimmig, Trust me - we all understand what/how you feel. We would want to kill someone. However in practical life, people who indulge in this kind of behavior are cowards and are seldom caught.
Please do not react by doing any damage to others cars or society property.
In fact speak to the other members and let them know its pretty obvious that someone from the building itself has done this due to the parking issues. Its in terrible taste and since we all have to live togther, I hope this kind of thing never happens again. They are possibly all ready for a violent/fight mode reaction from your side for this, seeing your cool, calm and collected reaction may make them see sense and leave you alone.
Alternatively - Have a chat with your security guard and try and find out anything if you can.
Get your baby repaired and move on in life - there is no point in following this thing further. Only thing which will happen - you will lose your peace of mind.
Let it go!
All the best.

[shishir_bn]

Originally Posted by kimmig

prince_pervez / Shishir
I sincerely appreciate your advise, but right now my blood is boiling .. yesterday was my son's 4th b'day .. we had throw a party at a restaurant inviting a lot of friends and family to celebrate it .. imagine .. I came to know of this as I was leaving for the party .. my whole evening got trashed ..
Letting them get away with this would be criminal .. Basically, the society mgmt comm has a bunch of mallus (sorry guys no offence meant) who have ganged up and have been doing this dadagiri for years now. Most of them are retired / semi retired so have ample time on their hands, unlike the rest os us who are too busy making ends meet.

Same thing happened in our commitee also.Then we young guys grouped together and got everything under our control.Try to get some like minded people on your side and it will work wonders.

[pramodkumar]

I will narrate a small incedance which happened yesterday, i ent to watch 3 idiots yesterday, and after coming i see 2 cars parked behind me, and the guard said they came for the current show, so if i had to wait for them i had to sped andother 3 hours outside the theater, So the only option was to take on the footpath which was like few centimeters tall. SO i took it and soon i was out, Watching me an alto guy tries the same feat and his car hits one of the peace fully parked red verna and there is a damage on the left doors of the verna, now this is really funny what this dude does, is he gets out and deflates all the four tires of the verna which he hit, so i parked on the side and i was watching, after some time this guy manuers his car out and finally leaves, i wanted to give him a piece of my mind but what the heck, i was with family and i did not wanted to get into a situation. This alto dude is surly mad, may be frustrated but this was limits


I was just thinking what the owener of the verna would think when he comes out of the theater with his family and kids. It was already 9 pm a nd kerala goes to sleep at that time. will he deflating all the tires around solve the problem. Lets all be reasonable,

Boss, your car got sctrached, do not worry, get it fixed and put some security device in it which has touch sensors, so next time no one dares to touch your car. there is no point going behind any case until you know who did it.

Pramod

[Ranjan Sharma]

Originally Posted by kimmig

However, this Sunday someone deliberately scratched each and every panel on my car.

Sir, you have 2 ways to solve this if you want:-
1. Catch the security guy, choose the way (good or Bad) so that he opens his mouth. You should keep you cool if it is somewhere away from your residence, but HELL NO if you stay there. Taking it easy may provoke the culprits and they may think of taking another step to bother you. It is a question of you and your family's security.

2. Sit quietly and watch until the retard comes up with a new way to bother your life.

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

2 cars parked behind me, and the guard said they came for the current show

Same thing happened when I went to watch "Rab ne bana di jodi" forcefully in Sigma Mall. I blasted the security for their insane skills, and all of them came together, lifted both the front wheels of the Zen parked beside my car and moved it out of my way.

[ambivalent_98]

Yesterday was a day I felt a lot of hate , anger and a deep sense of loss. My car is usually parked on the roadside as my building parking cannot swallow a Honda City. Anyway it has another Honda , Baleno , i20 , Sonata, Indigo stretch for company. Also we have odd-even parking on the road where I live. So we have this network in which all owners watch each others cars and raise an alarm if we see anything amiss or have any problems.
Anyway yesterday being 26th , people tend to relax or drive out. So many of the co-owners were at home and the remaining had gone out in their cars. My car was parked in its usual spot and guess what in the evening when I went I saw that the "H" on the centre of the boot lid had been cruelly scratched off by some hooligan. Also he had managed to rip of the "A" from HONDA spelling on the left hand side. The same vandal had also torn off the "A" from the Sonata which was there parked behind my car, I mean I could make out the scratch marks of a sharp thing like a screw driver from one side. I was angered and felt really like breaking the face of the person who had done it. Also I felt more angry at being helplessly victimised.
I really don't understand the mentality of these folk who vandalise cars just for fun. A good shiny gleaming car is really a rare sight these days. If you park it somewhere some kid passing by just puts a scratch on it and runs off. I mean the loss of that chrome "H" was definitely a loss but more so I was angry at all those people who cannot look at a clean shiny car. They think if its not mine I can scratch it vandalise as much as I want.
Well one wise man amongst our car owners group has left his car with plenty of such scratches as is. His philosophy is that the more scratched and old ur car looks the lesser people tend to vandalise it. Of course this is an extreme end but seems to work as people don't give a second look to his 1 year old Ford Ikon. He says finally what matters the engine is hidden from these hooligans. I wonder when this mentality will change.

[Atul-C]

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

Yesterday was a day I felt a lot of hate , anger and a deep sense of loss.

I can understand your pain ambivalent_98 as I have also suffered like this. A deliberate scratch was put on my Black SX4 when it was just one day old but unfortunately nothing can be done as these people cannot be taught any lesson unless caught red-handed. Rightly you said that these people cannot see a shiny new sparkling vehicle. My observation is that most of the cars get these deliberate vandalism in first few weeks of the ownership. That is the time when your car stands out among the groups of other cars being new and attracts these people with their destructive mind-set. That person in your group has rightly said that the older and dirtier your car looks, the less attention it attracts. But we love our rides so much that we cannot see them in dirty condition and will always try to keep them as new. Unfortunately that is going to attract these hooligans again.

[Ranjan Sharma]

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

Yesterday was a day I felt a lot of hate , anger and a deep sense of loss.

That's really sad, and frustrating. Few months back, some street dogs spoilt my car, they even broke the number plate (Fibre made) They tried to chew a part and there are teeth marks till now

Three solutions:-
1. Get a parking inside your campus.
3. Use a car cover, it will save scratches to some extent.
2. Try the 'Touch Alarm' system. It is annoying at times, but once people are aware you have the alarm system, they will stay away. Keep it switched off at night!

Choose any ASAP..!

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

Yesterday was a day I felt a lot of hate , anger and a deep sense of loss.

Truly heart-wrenching, i know. Imagine this, i am standing at a signal when a hooligan who looks every inch a thug scratches the bootlid of my car with something hard whilst just crossing from behind the car. Imagine the guts of the err.... moron.

Got home to realize there is a deep long scratch on the bootlid. All this while we were in the car, waiting in traffic.

[sterlingjames]

for those who live in chennai, you must have noticed newspaper snippets on sporadic cases of bikes 'catching fire' on their own.
one of my friend had the misfortune of having his parked bike(around midnight, parked on the main road, albeit under street lights) go up in flames a few months back and it was a sad spectacle to see the burnt out shell as well as the poor who was in and out of shock for a couple of days.
after the usual police FIR (which listed the reason as accidental fire due to short circuit)and insurance claims, he got the claim money and promptly bought himself a new bike. he now takes extra care to park the bike only in a safe place(locked compound/indoors or where some bystander is around.

unusually, few days later there was a similar case in the same neighbourhood as also in several other areas in the city. the police have been re-opening all these old cases and they seem to be on the lookout for some psychotic individual/group/groups who is upto this mischief.
so people who park their bikes or cars in the lanes especiallyat night or outside compound walls beware!

another strange happening which needs highlight is that most cars that are parked in offices, (especially in the IT corridor-OMR,GUINDY,ADAYAR) are being scratched out by some miscreants on a regular basis, i personally have attended to nearly 8 such cases where cars(both old and new) have been damaged this way. what is frustrating is that the scratches are too deep(beyond the base coat) and in all the cases cuts across at least 3 panels (doors, rear qtr panel, front fender or bonnet,roof,doors- which means that you connot fix these scratches with COM paint or similar quick fix touch ups). almost all of these damages have happened in closed and security manned campuses which do not allow outsiders that easily,(except cabbies and contractors,maybe).

another new problem for which i too, have been a victim twice, is getting scratched out in standing traffic. on two occassions, i was surprised (both times)by slightly over-middle aged guys who squeezed past in standing traffic and as they exited,put their foot down on the ground and tilted their bikes so that their side box or footrest/silencer left a deep scratch on the car. sure enough with standstill or crawling traffic there is no way that you can stop or outrun the jerk!..and in the second case, i saw the guy actually slow down to see my reaction in his rear view mirror before scooting off!! both times these guys joined in front side lanes just before the traffic signals, so i know that i did not antagonise them in any way earlier in the stretch of main road i had come from, to earn their wrath!....a couple of my buddies who also bought new cars recollected having come across similar cases..any ideas on how to tackle this menace?