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Shocking Behaviour


rosienoo
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[quote user="rosienoo"]

Oh Sweet,

You haven't seen it, it's gonna need filling before it can be resprayed the scores are so deep. 

Oh and btw when I say completely totalled, I don't refer to the whole car

Very sad I love my car[:'(]

[/quote]

I do understand your sadness and it is horrible especially as you have such a nice and expensive car.

I recently damaged my own car (entirely through my own fault) and my car is neither big nor expensive like yours but I was and am still very sad about it because I am having to weigh up cost of repairs versus cost of buying another.

Another thing about cars is that they are truly very personal possessions so that they feel like extensions of ourselves.  That is why when our cars are damaged, we feel it deeply.

But, what I do say is, badly damaged as it is, it is still driveable and, in time, it will be made good again even if it won't be like it was before.

Let's just hope your insurance pays up and you can put this incident behind you.

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[quote user="Devon"]I am relatively new to France, only been sorting out my place for a year or so. In that year I have met some really weird, unpleasant, anti-English Brits and one or two indifferent French. If my 4x4 was damaged I would suspect some of the creepy Brit expats before I would consider a Native. Luckily, this forum seems to be mostly free of said weird, unpleasant anti-English Brits [:D][/quote]

Ha ha ha very good.  Have met some creepy Brit expats too in the past but recently only nice ones [:D]

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I would not get paranoid and blame car vandalism in France as an anti Brit occurence, as torching and vandalising cars in France is a nationwide problem, especially if you have a nice car.

One of my French neighbours had her wing mirrors removed from her new Mini recently, in broad daylight parked on a busy road!
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I wanted to post this (yesterday) morning but had a work break instead, most of what I wanted to say has been said and my questions answered.

As Sweet 17 says you do not know that the 2 incidents are connected or that it was an anti Brit thing, but the note puzzles me, you say that it was written in French but intimate that it was having a pop because you havnt registered your car here, that sounds very british to me (I have never ever met a French person who has even the slightest interest in the subject) if it was badly written could it have been by an English person?

Why dont you tell us what the note said?

If I were upset enough to key your car I would not draw attention to myself by writing a note and putting it on your windscreen.

Were you parked close to another vehicle? Is it possible that when you got out of your car you may have clashed doors? Or could the other person mistakenly hae thought so?

Just some food for thought, FWIW I could not care less how long you have been here and whether you ever get around to registering your car, there are people I know that have lived here over 10 years without doing so (more fool them perhaps), live and let live.

It took me a year to have the language skills and confidence to do mine, I hadnt even thought about forums in those days, every French person that I asked didn't have a clue (and why would they) and could not see why I was bothering. It was in fact financial and convenience as my road tax and MOT were soon to expire. 

Editted. I just saw Claires posting, no sooner had I got my car on French plates than it was vandalised in the UK [:P] I didnt put it down to racism but the sort of scrotes that do these things like to justify their actions by saying the frog/poofter/paedophile/cripple (choose your own) deserves it.

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[quote user="rosienoo"]

Thanks Tony F Dordogne for your "interesting" input. 

Which ever way you sugar candy coat it, this has been a criminal act against my property.

Officially I have 6 months in which to re register my car so as I say, when I'm good and ready !!!   I also have two houses, one here and one in the UK and live between the two so am I now supposed to have a French car and a UK car?

Oh and the plonker I'm referring to was the one who keyed my car and noone on this site.

[/quote]

What a wonderful attitude you have - makes me not want to read anymore and my sympathy to evaporate.

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Cripes - this thread's grown since I last posted on it!  I, like Sprogster and others, reckon that it's not necessarily anything to do with anti-Brit freeling - I think it's probably got a lot more to do with the fact that you have a posh car - and perhaps the fact that it's japanese and British registered doesn't help, I don't know.

The other remark was a tongue in cheek (hence the whistle)  because I know how worked up the threads about Brits driving around in improperly registered and insured cars gets some forum members.  But of course I don't think they'd be likely to key anybody's car as they are, by their nature, law-abiding types, are they not? I don't know if Rosienoo's car falls into this category as she is a new poster and I know nothing of her circumstances but her initial post could certainly be interpreted to indicate that she lives here but has not re-registered her car after the statutory one month.

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I have been going to France for many years in various cars - large, small, cheap and expensive, all UK registered and I haven't found any issues - however, many years ago I had a Lotus - second hand and not expensive, but still a nice car - but in the UK that seemed to attract "envy marks" on a regular basis - the pop-up headlights seemed to get a lot of attention by being prised out by screwdrivers.  I got rid of it in the end as I couldn't afford to keep getting it done - BTW - this was not in rough areas - some quite pleasent and middle class places.

Moral as far as I am concerned - there are idiots everywhere, but thankfully they are still a minority.

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[quote user="Chancer"]

I have never ever met a French person who has even the slightest interest in the subject

[/quote]

But when an illegal Brit registered car has an accident and wipes out a couple of school children, it will get maximum publicity in the local press, and many of the French will then have an interest. At that stage all of us Brits living here will get tarred with the same brush!

A chap that I know has an illegal Brit registered 4X4 and when slowly moving into a parking slot, his track rod end snapped. I later found out that he does not have an MOT or CT. What if that would have happened when driving through a local town with people around? He was lucky in that the car did not hit anything.

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[quote user="Jon"]

I can truly sympathise with your bad experience.

We were recently in Cannes, and parked our car in the street directly outside our hotel.  The hotel was situated in a quiet residential district.

SNIP

[/quote]

JON, PLEASE CAN YOU CHECK YOUR PM'S, THERE IS AN URGENT MESSAGE FOR YOU THERE

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[quote user="Bob T"][quote user="Chancer"]

I have never ever met a French person who has even the slightest interest in the subject

[/quote]

But when an illegal Brit registered car has an accident and wipes out a couple of school children, it will get maximum publicity in the local press, and many of the French will then have an interest. At that stage all of us Brits living here will get tarred with the same brush!

A chap that I know has an illegal Brit registered 4X4 and when slowly moving into a parking slot, his track rod end snapped. I later found out that he does not have an MOT or CT. What if that would have happened when driving through a local town with people around? He was lucky in that the car did not hit anything.
[/quote]

This is a subject that many feel strongly about and has been done to death in the past. There seems little or no point in flogging it to death yet again.

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[quote user="josa"]

many years ago I had a Lotus - second hand and not expensive, but still a nice car - but in the UK that seemed to attract "envy marks" on a regular basis - the pop-up headlights seemed to get a lot of attention by being prised out by screwdrivers. 

Moral as far as I am concerned - there are idiots everywhere, but thankfully they are still a minority.

[/quote]

The moral for me, since cars seem to unleash passions of desire in many hearts, the best thing is to not get too attached to it - it's a set of wheels to keep you mobile after all, and as long as it starts well, and keeps going does it <really> matter what it looks like (OK - I know - I'm female, I can't be expected to know what a man feels about his car......) and not to have anything too posh, then it won't matter about the odd scratch. 

I do suspect that posh cars can become targets for those who feel petty minded for whatever reason.

BTW - our car, not new, not kept particularly clean, a simple Peugeot 206, was keyed in our village one day - not seriously - but we never found out who did it - and there we were, we thought we had been accepted into the community......

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I agree, Judith. A car is a tool.  Leaving aside the cost; (I have to work a lot more hours to replace a car), I feel no more, or less, attached to my car than to my power drill or liquidiser. I wouldn't want to be without the facility of any of them, but one colour or design is pretty much as good as another when a job needs to be done.

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To be fair, I didn't say I was attached to it - even if it is a tool it still shouldn't be damaged - nothing to do with being emotionally attached or otherwise!

In my case everytime the cars lights were broken the "tool" needed repairing. Given that these were deliberate acts of vandalism it is annoying whether it is a car thats damaged or a "power drill or liquidiser! I suspect that if someone deliberately damaged those I would feel similar - and I suspect you wouldn't be that pleased if it happened to your power drill or liquidiser ;-)

Vandalism of any property is still criminal damage, regardless of the level or basis of victims hurt feelings. In fact, even if the victim didn't care one jot it is still wrong, criminal and downright idiotic.

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Judith, you probably have been accepted, if you feel you have! Maybe if a car belonging to a French neighbour had parked in that spot at that time, their car would have suffered. We hear that cars parked outside our apartment block were damaged recently, and they were a mixture of very ordinary French cars and a couple of  foreign cars - just hazard!

Jo

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[quote user="josa"]and I suspect you wouldn't be that pleased if it happened to your (...) liquidiser ;-) [/quote]

Too right - the vandals would have been rifling my drawers [:-))]

(and no, you didn't say you were attached to your car, it came up earlier in the thread)

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[quote user="rosienoo"]Has anyone else experienced anything like this??? [/quote]

Expensve Jaguar parked in our road keyed all round, not just straightlines, but grids, deep too.  Although it was english plated I suspect it was more moronic envy than anti-english.[:(]

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Just dropped by to see if there have been any developments.  Only thing I can detect is that Rosienoo has been bored to death and has gone for a lie down.  Serves her right for starting something she had no idea where it would lead.  She hasn't replied either to my hunting question!  And what about babies nappies....washable or disposable?

Anybody else had experience of finding a bunch of keys in the middle of the road having been deliberately run over by a 4X4?  Clearly somebody had a grudge against Chubb, it's the only thing I could think of.

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Comments or questions regarding the general administration of the forum should be made by "private message" or using the "Report" link to the moderators or direct to Forum Admin. Such comments or questions should not be posted in the open forum.

I'll send a PM (russethouse)

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Cars get keyed every day.  Acts of petty vandalism take place all the time.  (I am very sorry that Rosienoo had this bad experience but)  I suspect that reading something more personal into the motivations of these anti-social individuals says more about ourselves, the victims, than about the perpetrators.  Perhaps we are just looking for some sort of predictive factor so that we can avoid the next unpleasant event.  Perhaps we see ourselves as more important than we really are and try to interpret the vandalism as somehow personal.  Whatever, IMO, the truth is that some humans can express themselves in a very negative and unpleasant way just because it comes naturally to them.  Our best defence against them is to remain civilised and to create a more civilised and respectful world where these unbalanced people cannot thrive without changing.
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[quote user="gardengirl "]

Judith, you probably have been accepted, if you feel you have! Maybe if a car belonging to a French neighbour had parked in that spot at that time, their car would have suffered. We hear that cars parked outside our apartment block were damaged recently, and they were a mixture of very ordinary French cars and a couple of  foreign cars - just hazard!

Jo

[/quote]

Gardengirl,

Thanks, indeed, as it happens the car was out of its usual place because of "travaux" and we do suspect kids having a lark.  Very lightly scratched, I've had worse from a car door opening.  In fact, occasionally, I think it  helps not to have a pristine car, though if someone is intent of a bit of mularky nothing is going to stop them. 

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I have just caught up with this thread.

I have had my French plated RHD car keyed twice , both times I know who did it!

The first time was when i went to Leroy Merlin and reversed into a space that another `lady` driver wanted . She TOLD me to recule , that it was HER space. I didn`t and went into the store. i was only in there about 3 mins and when I returned to my car it had been keyed and a note declaring that I was a `sal Anglaise` was under my wiper blade.............stupid thing was , she had parked in the space next to me!!!!!!! I did not do anything about it but left her a polite note[:-))]

The second time was at the time of the soldes, again I got a space that this lady claimed the car which had just left was her friend and had saved the place for her!  the woman was about 6th inline in a queue waiting for a space.  Again I noted the car , when i came back another scratch.............good job I have a can of black paint and some t cut and a hubby who doesn`t mind phaffing about to sort it out.

I suppose I should have taken the numbers and reported it, but proving it is another story altogether isn`t it!

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