New neighbour keyed my car

[The_Laird]

First question is ‘does your insurance cover vandalism’?

My guess is that the insurance company would be more interested than the police, particularly as, IMHO, the CCTV footage doesn’t capture the actual keying.

Unless you know a friendly solicitor, of course, in which case a preliminary letter might do the trick

[ainarssems]

Not sure police will do much other than talk to women but if she denies it, probably will not take further. Cannot see the actual damage happening and cannot see the women's face ice to identify her.

Don't think insurance will do much as well for the sake of £5k, will just down as your claim. Work colleague's Tesla Model Y got damaged in car wash, needed new boot lid costing £6k and insurance company did not go after car wash as their legal costs would likely be more than £6k

[steamship]

Originally Posted by The_Laird

My guess is that the insurance company would be more interested than the police

I tend to agree with Jim's comment to some extent in that you 'might' get more action from the insurance company than the police, although that isn't saying much.

As Jim noted, you don't see the actual keying, but everything about her actions (and the dog) are a very good indication that she did it. She comes out of her drive, and instead of walking on the footpath, she deliberately walks 'around' the car. Her left arm is up as she walks out, and just as she starts walking alongside the car, just past the rear wheel, her left arm extends down, and you can she is holding something. As she gets near the front wheel, she raises her arm again, and then it's back onto the footpath again.

[The_Laird]

There’s another, additional, approach which is to report it as Anti Social Behaviour to your local Borough Council. They may also come and ‘have a word’. If the police also have a chat, then she might be, at least, scared off from any further action.

If I were in your shoes, I’d ask the police to follow up with a chat and ditto the Borough Council (our BC has a dedicated ASB team who installed their own CCTV for a while when we were ‘troubled’). A solicitor will charge around £500 - 1000 for a letter and a good local body shop might be able to do a repair for less.

[sarg]

I know somebody who'll break her legs for £500...

[pete-p]

You could try going through your car insurance, if you have legal cover they might even sort a few things out. Would likely be a small claim court.

I played the video at 0.5x speed and you can see she has a key in her hand and even hear the sound of it scratching along the car. The fact she walked all the way around too seems deliberate rather than using the path, does she know you have CCTV? Odd she'd go that side.

[mattylondon]

Originally Posted by sarg

I know somebody who'll break her legs for £500...

Trouble is we've got to live next to her, so feel have to be seen going though the due process

[mattylondon]

Thanks for the comments on this. My main concern was that the CCTV may not be enough as we don't see the scratch. All other actions may be circumstantial. However, I've heard back from the Police and they are interested and will be paying her a visit. I just want to go tough on her because it's aggressive actions in only 2 days. Would she just key any car parked there or specifically targeted ours? Questions I can't answer.

It would be good if the police do a good initial visit and scare her to settle the damage. I'm not so interested going via insurance as it's an older car and my daily all-rounder. Paint work was good so I am a little pee'd off.

Maybe I'll try to get her mug shot when she opens the door to the police

[tintin]

Originally Posted by mattylondon

Thanks for the comments on this. My main concern was that the CCTV may not be enough as we don't see the scratch. All other actions may be circumstantial. However, I've heard back from the Police and they are interested and will be paying her a visit. I just want to go tough on her because it's aggressive actions in only 2 days. Would she just key any car parked there or specifically targeted ours? Questions I can't answer.

It would be good if the police do a good initial visit and scare her to settle the damage. I'm not so interested going via insurance as it's an older car and my daily all-rounder. Paint work was good so I am a little pee'd off.

Maybe I'll try to get her mug shot when she opens the door to the police

It's encouraging that the cops are taking it seriously, and I wouldn't be surprised if they're also checking to see if she has previous at her prior abode.

And I wouldn't worry too much about her getting your other neighbours on side - they'll see through that if she's trying too hard...

[steamship]

Originally Posted by mattylondon

I'm not so interested going via insurance as it's an older car and my daily all-rounder.

Too right! Why should you suffer financially because of someone else's behaviour. It's bad enough premiums going through the roof when you don't even make a claim. Hope it gets resolved at no cost to you.