Cars Keyed and Tyres Nailed

Liathroidi

Hi everyone, new here but wondered if anyone had experience with something like this and had any advice?

In the last two weeks, both mine and my girlfriend's cars have been scratched (presumably by somebody's keys) while parked in our apartment's underground car park. I've also had a nail pulled out of one of my rear tyres since moving in.

We reported this to the guards but are not expecting much to come of it - we have our suspicions as to who might have done this but no proof whatsoever. This morning we discovered that it had happened again and there's a second scratch down the side of my girlfriend's car.

Has anyone had this happen to them and managed to deal with it effectively, or have any advice in general (besides move house)?

Also does anyone have any tips for cheap / reliable bodywork repair companies?

EPM

Cheap dash camera might be an option.

lintdrummer

That's a terrible situation to be in. Is the complex gated and secure? ie. is this likely to be someone living in the complex or an outsider? No justice is going to come from this unless you can get evidence of the vandalism being commited. Is there a camera at all in the car park?
Only experience of this myself was having my car destroyed by brake fluid while on holidays. Had left it in a cul de sac outside a friend's house in a fairly quiet area of Dublin. Mindless vandalism. I was furious but there was no way I was ever gong to find out who had done it.

Gareth2011

Yeah def something that will show who is doing it but it will have to show them doing it not just walking around the car. If you want a conviction that it. Can you get something mounted on the wall kind of hidden from view but that can still see the car that you can view yourself? Bascially CCTV but just for you. Who ever is doing it knows there is no camera's there which is really stupid. Same thing happened to my wifes old boss but he never found out either.

Liathroidi

Cheap dash camera might be an option.

Yeah I wondered about that (or CCTV) - anyone have any experience with them?

The car park is gated and only people with a remote can get in (in theory), but people often open the shutters 'permanently' using the manual override. There are cameras but they don't cover the area where we are parked, sadly! We suspect our neighbour might be doing this as he also intentionally parks inconsiderately, restricting access to our cars - but as you can imagine, we have no proof at all.

Gareth2011

http://www.cctvireland.ie/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=138 you need something like this.

Liathroidi

Gareth2011 wrote: »

http://www.cctvireland.ie/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=138 you need something like this.

Unfortunately I don't think a wireless kit would work as our apartment would be too far away from the camera, and I doubt we'd be allowed to fit a wired one ourselves as it's a communal area and we don't even own the property.

barura

Thats sick, similar happened to me on my road...

Dunno who it was though. It stopped when I got rid of the other cars I had though.

Would have preferred it being said to my face all the same. Some people are just ****.

bcmf

Unless you can prove who it was/is the Gardai realistically are power less.

Go into somewhere like Maplins or keep an eye out in Aldi for their cctv.
I got one there about this time last year. It has night vision built in.I mounted it so that it is visible or if you wanna catch them the one from Aldi is small enough to be concealed. Make sure you have a recorder and a dvd burner and make sure the car and the area is well lit.

Dearg81

My friends car has also been keyed continuously on a public road by the same guy, they have a witness so they reported it to the guards last week. The guards said that you have a much stronger case if you catch them repeating the crime. I guess its trickier for you cos its an underground carpark, a camera is your only option i guess.

Alkers

Or stay in another car watching the cars that are getting keyed - what happens then is up to you.

finbarrk

Simona1986 wrote: »

Or stay in another car watching the cars that are getting keyed - what happens then is up to you.

But it won't happen then.

Alkers

finbarrk wrote: »

But it won't happen then.

Discretely, either park in a random car far away or in a van and stay up all night watching. Might be a good night to have a good few friends around,

psychward

Maybe a stakeout in another car with tinted windows parked nearby would catch the culprit and save you money on having to buy a cam but it's effectiveness would depend on how long you have to wait . Instead of wireless cams, maybe a cam with an inbuilt memory card to record while it's parked would be suitable as a wireless connection means having to watch it constantly while a recording means you only look up the record after an incident. Even without another incident happening, a cam might give a few clues if you can see someone hanging around/passing by and giving your car funny looks. But a cam would have to be well hidden or a better option would be to install it in another car parked opposite.

Del2005

Contact your management agent if you own the apartment and report it. If it keeps happening hound them into installing cameras, they have a duty of care for your car since your renting the space off them so they are partially liable for the damage caused. You may have to contact your management company if the agent won't help.

If your renting you can only pressure your landlord to contact the management company, since you've no contract with them. If your landlord won't help then contact Threshold and see what they advise.

gizabeer

Maybe try a couple of these cameras in the car ? they're cheap ! just put a bit of black tape around the pink bit .

http://www.iviewcameras.co.uk/Lighter_Camera_4GB_USB_LIGHTERCAM/version.asp?PID=60

corktina

you suspecting your neighbour might be a clue to the problem. Perhaps someone keyed his car and he blames you and so "retaliated". Try to find out if its a widespread problem in that car park. Surely the Management Company would be able to tell you if there had been more incidents.

TestTransmission

Contact your letting agent/landlord OP and let them deal with it via the management company.

Oral Surgeon

Maybe buy 2 cameras and set up one in each car pointing at the other car...

What did you do to the neighbour??

How many spaces are allocated per apartment ? Are ye parking in one that the neighbour reckons is his or something?

Hal1

Maybe ask some of the neighbours if they've noticed anything, in particular the person you suspect.

mondeo

Camera in car is a great idea, I would do that, probably one of your neighbours.

TequilaMockingBird

I would ask the neighbour who you suspect, if they have noticed anything strange, and tell them that you have installed several cameras so you reckon the culprit should be caught soon.

Graham_B18C

TequilaMockingBird wrote: »

I would ask the neighbour who you suspect, if they have noticed anything strange, and tell them that you have installed several cameras so you reckon the culprit should be caught soon.

TBH if I put the camera in, I wouldn't be telling the suspect. If he knows there's a camera, he'll stop and you'll never catch him. Let him do it again and catch him, report it and you have some chance of compensation for the earlier scratches.

Bleedin scumbag, I just can' understand it

Key fob mini cam;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8GB-Mini-Micro-Hidden-Camcorder-Car-Key-Ring-Chain-DVR-SPY-Camera-Cam-Fob-/230693042111?pt=UK_Gadgets&hash=item35b66077bf



Cheap, Cheerful, effective, and there's about a 40 page thread on the bargain alerts forum about them;

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055935996


Buy a couple of them, some gaffer tape, and stick them to the ceiling of the carpark, cars parked near yours, on the walls, etc. (assuming the place is relatively dark, these things should be near impossible to see unless you're actually looking for them).


Only problem with them is that they're not very wide-angle, so you'll need to keep them at a bit of a distance to try and fit the whole car and scumbag in the frame. Also unsure hpw long they last on a single recording, and you'd have to spend a few euro on memory cards (but after you catch your scumbag, you'd be able to use the memory cards for other things, anyway, so..).


Seems like a useful idea (but theyre coming from Hong Kong so could be up to three weeks before you get them, meaning no immediate action).


Best of luck.

psychward

TequilaMockingBird wrote: »

I would ask the neighbour who you suspect, if they have noticed anything strange, and tell them that you have installed several cameras so you reckon the culprit should be caught soon.

Then how is the OP supposed to deliver some justice and exact his revenge if it stops before he can catch them ?

gurramok

psychward wrote: »

Then how is the OP supposed to deliver some justice and exact his revenge if it stops before he can catch them ?

The OP should not mention the cameras at all but should mention in a nice friendly talk to the suspect neighbour that cars are getting keyed and probably mention that other neighbours were victims too.

TequilaMockingBird

There is no evidence the neighbour has done the previous damage, so you're not going to get any result for that. I assume you just want it to stop. Hence my suggestion to mention it to them.

PARKHEAD67

My cars been keyed(2 doors on driver side).Or rocked to be more precise.And the badge has been robbed off it. And today There was a muddy footprint on the bonnet. My car has been parked in the driveway at all times.I cant believe the amount of scutterbags roaming the streets. Guards wont do anything for you. Only hope is to catch em in the act.But the slimebags do this in the dark at 3am when no one is around.

smemon

Problem with a camera is that you're most likely not going to catch the culprit for a few days at least & need to be prepared to leave it running nightly for possibly weeks...

So you need about 8 hour battery life / constant monitoring. Any cheap little keyring device from ebay won't be up to the job. Any camera that uses your car's battery could possibly kill it.

Ideally you need a motion activated camera or else one that plugs in somewhere... not gonna be easy to hide wires coming from the car so a motion activated camera would make more sense... possibly a few of em, even taking stills.

Liathroidi

On Saturday afternoon I drove up north only to get a call two hours later from my girlfriend in tears - in the time between me leaving and her going out to the shops, some scumbag had prised the badge off the boot of the car. We had the guards out again and they took fingerprints this time at least.

I've stuck up a few notices and put a note in the mailboxes of the other flats asking them to keep an eye open and call the Gardaí if they see anything suspicious - I'm actually hoping the culprit sees them, realises the guards are involved and stops doing it. If it doesn't work then I'll get CCTV, and when I find out who it is, you'll be able to read the report of their demise on the RTÉ website the day after.

Thanks everyone for the advice - and keep me posted if you see any good motion-activated in car cameras :-)