Is this becoming a thing?!? Selective vandalism of an expensive car...

[CJ428]

I would have cut it.

 

[mccarter1369]

I'm in my forties and have been employed since I was 15; I was unemployed four years during my post graduate education; outside of that, it's been 30 years of continuous employment. I grew up blue collar and my father worked at the Ford Walton Hills Stamping plant in Ohio for nearly 40 years. My father was hard-working, humble and never expected anything for free. He preached hard work and kindness but if you were an able-bodied male over the age of 18 and were not employed full-time or enrolled as a student full-time, he had not much use for you. The link on capitalism is disheartening. My father wanted nothing but success for me and his pride when I did achieve some success brought me pride. I just don't understand when success and capitalism became evil; when I was a child, it was what we reached and hoped for. There are so many kind and big-hearted people on this forum; it's a shame that their generosity and philanthropy could go un-noticed due solely for ownership of a car. Tough to figure out...

 

[Kayvan]

I posted 2yrs ago, how avoid C&C, random questions from strangers and leaving unattended

Was critized for this, oddly enough.

Reality is, success brings hate. Half the population has below average IQ by definition.

I never drive on the 6 major holidays and now loop 2hrs without
a stop on weekends before 9am.

Yes, any owner reaction has to be to proportional; they will have expert witnesses measuring degrees of your punch and min awards start at $500K.
Leave and call your insurance company claims dept v. Them calling you and saying they won't defend you for intentional harm!

 

[AJB]

Kayvan..
Good Advice...sadly "you just need to take a deep breath and eat it " and avoid the potential consequences.

I will have to admit , that my support both monetary and involvement in Charities, especially to my Alma Mater Universities has significantly decreased over the past 15 months...
andy (ajb)

 

[texas mongrel]

Some interesting comments on this thread. In my 48,000+ miles in the GT, I’ve never once received a negative reaction from others. The blue-collar GT has always been well-received, no matter where we are or where it’s parked. In my one (and only) Ferrari ownership period, I was always automatically assumed to be a dick, and people would deliberately park close so they could ding the doors, kick dents in the nose etc.

 

[dbk]

Some interesting comments on this thread. In my 48,000+ miles in the GT, I’ve never once received a negative reaction from others. The blue-collar GT has always been well-received, no matter where we are or where it’s parked. In my one (and only) Ferrari ownership period, I was always automatically assumed to be a dick, and people would deliberately park close so they could ding the doors, kick dents in the nose etc.

x 2. 30k miles on the 06. 7 countries, 2 continents, countless shows, tracks, races. Never had a problem. Did 1,800 wild miles in the 17 this year including driving through a crowd of literally probably 10,000+ people. No problems.

The truth is, people of all stripes can be irredeemable garbage. Rich people or poor people; skateboards or supercars; doesn't matter. Thinking that you can inoculate yourself from dickheads by not taking your cars out is dumb. Live your life. Or hide in your garage. Either way, same result at the very end. In the meantime, the same sense of entitlement that causes a dipshit on a skateboard to rail an Aventador is equally pervasive in the exotic car world, it just manifests in different ways and is driven by sanctimonious arrogance instead of primal animal stupidity.

Here's an example. I had my 17 in the company of the "good" crowd. None of the riff raff. A guy that owns a GT walked right past me, opened the door and got in. Then he got out, shut the door and walked right past me again and didn't say a word. Mine was marked communal property to dump his ass in I guess. Weird, but I never had the riff raff do that.

There are 7,000+ Aventadors. 9,000+ Huracans, 20,000+ Ferrari 458s, 20,000+ Audi R8s, etc. Point is, there are literally probably 100,000+ "supercars" built in the last decade. How many times have you seen someone vandalize one of these? Especially given that basically every Saturday or Sunday has turned into an excuse to turn local parking lots nationwide into a giant series of car shows. Not a lot. I asked Drew this morning how many claims he'd ever had as intentional vehicle vandalism on an exotic. To his knowledge, out of 15,000+ clients, the total was exactly zero. Damn, sounds like a nightmarish hellscape for the owners of fine automobiles. But he's definitely had rich guys try and commit insurance fraud more than once. Likewise, I can point you to several members of this site who are sitting in prison for various types of fraud driven by insatiable avarice.

Just my thing, but I try and be cool with everyone. Believe me, if you go in with the attitude that the unwashed hovel-people of the underclass are looking to assault you and your property, it's gonna show. If you don't like attention from the general public and the accompanying risk, please, buy a ****in Honda.

As Mr. Mongrel mentioned, many people will automatically assume you're a dickhead driving certain types of cars. Gee, wonder what might cause that?

 

[twobjshelbys]

These idiots have no way conceptualizing that the usual way most folks get there dream car is just plain hard work, sacrifice and being conservative with ones resources.

Oh Yes they do. Their concept is that they want someone to give them everything, and if you have something nice, then, well, you haven't given enough. Russia tried this once.

 

[PeteK]

When Floridaho Chris purchased his early '05 he still had a very nice F430 parked next to it. He has told me more than once that the very same people (in Florida) who sneered with contempt and would give him the finger when driving the 430 loved his US built Ford '05 GT. Up here in Idaho neither he nor I have had anything but positive attitudes and opinions expressed towards our GT's. Sad but European exotics and there owners are sometimes given a bad branding that the GT's just don't.

I think I'll move to Idaho when I'm done with Virginia.

 

[mccarter1369]

DBK,
Thanks for the insight and your approach to GT ownership. I have learned a lot from this forum, most significantly that little hands and feet do not damage a supercar. My post wasn't meant to try to drive a bigger wedge; it really was meant to be informative and to provide awareness. It is encouraging to know that this doesn't appear to be a "thing"; especially by you getting info from people in the insurance business. I think the video of the Lambo was just so polarizing that my first thought was how would I react if this happened to me in my GT. Having money doesn't equate to having class, ethics or kindness and as you illustrate in your example, some people may be undeserving of their good fortune. I'd sum it up by saying I'll do my best to continue to be a good steward of ownership and take the overriding good with the minimal bad I encounter as I go, but I still will remain aware of my surroundings with some degree of caution.

 

[ChipBeck]

Gentlemen,

Like Dave I drive my GT into a sea of people at auto shows and I don’t rope it off. Have never had a problem with that crowd and many tell me how much they appreciate me bringing it out. But those are car people who came to see and appreciate exotic and vintage cars. If I parked my GT in a shopping mall parking lot every day for a year I can almost guarantee it would be keyed. When I was a Lotus dealer I had a full can of Coke thrown at my Turbo Esprit on the freeway that did some nasty damage and I had a brand new car vandalized in my driveway many years ago that required repainting it. In the 1990’s my body shop probably repainted a dozen new Trans Ams that had been keyed and my Chevy dealer friend said he saw keyed Corvettes on a regular basis. Those cars are usually daily drivers however and left in a lot of parking lots.

Chip

 

[PL510*Jeff]

I agree, don't fear what "could"happen. As you know I've traveled just about everywhere in my GT. Never had anything untoward done to my car. I park carefully and had not had one door sing, never been keyed etc. Hundreds of Hotel parking lots, haven't been a problem. Restaurant parking lots haven't been a problem. Surface street parking not a problem. Have had a few interesting love note lefts under the wiper blade. Wish she (I hope a she) would have left a phone number.

But the exception is:....parking lot car shows. Believe me, I'm not much of a car show guy. I only do one or two a year, maybe a few more if there's plenty of grass and trees.

Took me a while to remember to always open the engine hatch cover. I've suffered through few belt buckle and/or back pack scratches when folks lean over to peek through the engine viewing port. Top of the rear fenders have a nick or two. But then again I've gotten way more tiny rock chips than belt buckle chips.

Thank goodness Ford chose a very durable and tough paint for our GT's.

 

[Stef]

Oh Yes they do. Their concept is that they want someone to give them everything, and if you have something nice, then, well, you haven't given enough. Russia tried this once.

Good point indeed. The Comm's are probably the worst, most likely you surrender what they demand at the end of bayonet and wind up in a gulag if you're lucky.