I Suspect Store Owner Vandalised My Car

LJipD on 03/11/2019 - 16:43
Last edited 03/11/2019 - 17:00 by 1 other user

I usually park my car on the street around the corner from my unit because I don’t have a car spot. There’s a small convenience store on the corner there. I parked my car near the store and didn’t get back to my car for two days. Upon arriving there was a note saying “Don’t park in front of my house/store”, that seemed to be left there for a couple of days. I noticed that someone has spilled a full cup of coffee on my passenger windscreen from the top and someone has kicked in my front and rear passenger side doors.

I highly suspect it was the shop owner.

What can I do about this? Seeking advice as I haven’t encountered something like this before.

Automotive

Comments

  • StonedWizard on 03/11/2019 - 16:47
    +27

    If you have no evidence, then there's nothing you can do.

  • Fier2 on 03/11/2019 - 16:50
    +11

    Maybe stop parking there?!

    • SlavOz on 03/11/2019 - 19:35
      +32

      If it's a legal parking spot, why should he? He has a right to park there without his car being vandalised by someone who hates their life.

      • [Deactivated] on 03/11/2019 - 23:55
        +7

        His rights may not extend to someone who doesn't hate their life.

      • Fier2 on 05/11/2019 - 13:30
        -4

        Well, if you know someone is vandalising your car there : you ever accept it or move on. You don t go around making some assumption or complaining about it because i don't see what someone on a forum can do to help.

    • [Deactivated] on 05/11/2019 - 17:00
      +2

      I think we have the suspect.

  • SnoozeAndLose on 03/11/2019 - 16:53
    +14

    This can be anyone, unless you have prove. I would just get a trash car and park there, no need to move it for months.

    • cheapCheepCheap on 05/11/2019 - 16:47

      I would rather get a trash truck with big back doors and an inclined ramp. park it in the spot, puncture the (profanity) tyres and use it for parking your car. Decent sun and vandalism protection.

    • smartazz104 on 05/11/2019 - 17:29
      +1

      Who else would want OP to "stop parking in front of the store" except the store owner themselves? Obviously this store owner thinks he is losing valuable customers who are driving in from all over town to shop there /s

      • SnoozeAndLose on 05/11/2019 - 17:38

        No matter of suspect, everyone who it would be but you cant prove then nothing you can do

  • thatonethere on 03/11/2019 - 16:55

    Could try calling the police. If you are extremely lucky they might ask some questions but very low chance of that.

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 03/11/2019 - 16:56
    +40

    What can I do about this?

    Contact the NSW Police State Crime Command on 131 444, ask to speak to the Commissioner (just say "chuck me onto Mick") and request an investigations team from the Forensic Services Group. They can send out a handwriting analysis expert to attend and take that letter into evidence.

    Or you could drive your car through the front window of the store and ask the owner if they damaged your car and left a note on it.

    • Daabido on 03/11/2019 - 17:20
      +31

      I like option 2. Poll?

  • dasher86 on 03/11/2019 - 16:56
    +12

    Bikies

  • John Kimble on 03/11/2019 - 17:06
    +94

    Ask the store owner if they can give you their CCTV footage of the incident.

    • ngengerous on 03/11/2019 - 22:21
      +1

      Excellent idea hahaha

  • SydStrand on 03/11/2019 - 17:11
    +12

    That's a bloody outrage, it is! You should take it all the way to the Prime Minister!

    • Daabido on 03/11/2019 - 17:17
      +6

      "Hey! Mr. Prime Minister! Andy!"

      "Hey mates! What's the good word?"

  • whooah1979 on 03/11/2019 - 17:22
    +12

    “Don’t park in front of my house/store”,
    I noticed that someone has spilled a full cup of coffee on my passenger windscreen from the top and someone has kicked in my front and rear passenger side doors.

    Buy a $1 coffee and return the favour. Kick in two windows while you're at it and call it karma.

    • pegaxs on 03/11/2019 - 20:43
      +7

      That’s not how karma works, that is more like “retribution” what you are suggesting…

      • syousef on 05/11/2019 - 17:02

        I think you spelt 'jail time' wrong.

  • bohn on 03/11/2019 - 17:23
    +11

    Just keep parking it there. See how much they can bang it up.

    • brendanm on 03/11/2019 - 20:57

      This, it can only get so damaged

    • Hoobz on 04/11/2019 - 09:43

      Ok that made me laugh
      Good for a Monday morning

    • lysp on 11/11/2019 - 14:28
      +1

      And add parking based dashcam.

  • outlander on 03/11/2019 - 17:26
    -5

    Take the note and put it on some random persons car. Throw coffee over the windshield. Kick in their doors.

    This won't solve your problem, true, but it'll make feel better about not being the victim anymore.

  • Soluble on 03/11/2019 - 17:26
    +5

    Sounds like, day 1 - note, day 2 - coffee and day 3… Doors.

    • Daabido on 03/11/2019 - 17:40
      +17

      Day 4

      • Soluble on 03/11/2019 - 17:41
        +1

        I lol'd

      • spackbace on 03/11/2019 - 17:58
        +21

        Day 5 - your car has been turned into a cube
        Day 6 - please move your cube

        • SlavOz on 03/11/2019 - 19:37

          Haha where did I hear this from before? Was an old TV show I think.

  • pegaxs on 03/11/2019 - 17:50
    +7

    Why have I got a sneaking suspicion that this wasn’t just “two days” parking and wasn’t the “first warning” OP has received…

    • whooah1979 on 03/11/2019 - 17:52
      +18

      One or two days shouldn’t matter when Op may legally park there for 365 days.

      • Euphemistic on 03/11/2019 - 18:28

        Will need to move the vehicle at least once to go and get a pink slip to maintain rego, but otherwise…

        • whooah1979 on 03/11/2019 - 19:08
          +1

          Brand-new vehicles in New South Wales are exempt from safety checks for the first five years.

          • Euphemistic on 03/11/2019 - 20:15

            @whooah1979: and given the average age of vehicles in Aus is around 13, I'd say there is a fair chance it is older than 5y.

            • Ozpit on 04/11/2019 - 09:18
              +1

              @Euphemistic: I’d say the car was a bomb even before the doors were kicked in. Hence the store owner’s displeasure at it being parked in front of his/her store, as it wouldn’t exactly attract business. OP needs to post a pic of his car :-)
              OP is noticeably absent from this string, BTW.

              • pegaxs on 04/11/2019 - 09:57

                @Ozpit: And a photo of the note that was left. Also conveniently absent…

                • Euphemistic on 04/11/2019 - 10:11
                  +1

                  @pegaxs: And a photo of the coffee maker in the shop so we can enhance and get fingerprints.

  • chumlee on 03/11/2019 - 18:48

    Was it this bloke??

    https://youtu.be/aUet1zeS9QQ

  • p1 ama on 03/11/2019 - 19:16
    +2

    I highly suspect it was the shop owner.

    Use your brain for a second. Why would the shop owner attack your car when it was parked outside of his place? He would literally be the first suspect, not to mention that he would be the first target of any sort of retribution.

    Either way, the fact that you suspect him is irrelevant. Nobody cares. You need evidence.

    That said, your story is entirely inconsistent, e.g.

    I parked my car near the store and didn’t get back to my car for two days. Upon arriving there was a note saying “Don’t park in front of my house/store”, that seemed to be left there for a couple of days.

    How can you park there for two days but there was a note that was left there for a couple of days?

    • resubaehtgnolhcs on 03/11/2019 - 19:44
      +5

      Ummm …a couple of days is two days

      • p1 ama on 03/11/2019 - 23:48
        +1

        Ummm …a couple of days is two days

        So OP parked there and the moment OP left, the store owner got out and wrote that note? Does that sound even remotely logical?

        • smartazz104 on 05/11/2019 - 17:32
          -1

          You seem highly agitated for some random on the internet…

    • Euphemistic on 03/11/2019 - 20:12

      Use your brain for a second. Why would the shop owner attack your car when it was parked outside of his place? He would literally be the first suspect, not to mention that he would be the first target of any sort of retribution.

      Well, based on:

      note saying “Don’t park in front of my house/store”

      A home owner in't going to write 'store' are they?

      • mbck on 03/11/2019 - 22:25
        +1

        Might be a ruse….someone using the house/store owner as a scapegoat.

        Need evidence. If the store owner is happy to give cctv (Ie, no excuses), then I doubt he's the guilty party.

      • p1 ama on 03/11/2019 - 23:50

        Yes, I agree that the store owner might well have written that note. However, my point is that if you've written the note, the car is parked right outside your store, would you go and smash the car as well? Either the store owner is ridiculously stupid, or it wasn't him.

        • zoob on 04/11/2019 - 08:35
          +9

          The world is filled with angry, stupid people. I wouldn't rule out the store owner.

      • Zachary on 04/11/2019 - 11:06

        What if you run your business from your home? In which case they would write store as well….

    • smartazz104 on 05/11/2019 - 17:31

      Use your brain for a second

      Who else would be upset a car was parked in front of their "store"?

  • bobbified on 03/11/2019 - 20:02
    +9

    Take note of who normally parks in that spot. If their car has been parked there for a few days and it hasn't been damaged in any way, it's them!

    • Ozpit on 04/11/2019 - 09:38

      Reminds me of a time years ago when I visited my sister and the only street parking spot I could find was a few doors up from her house. When I got back to my car the windscreen wipers and aerial had been badly damaged and needed to be replaced.
      It seems I had parked in the ‘private’ and ‘personal’ parking spot of a young bloke who lived in the adjacent house with his parents and brothers. My sister said he ALWAYS parked his car in that spot, and that the whole family had a reputation as low-lifes.
      Could I prove it was he who damaged my car? No. Did I entertain thoughts of retribution? Yes. Did I act on those thoughts? No. Did I ever park there again? No. Did he win? Yes.

      • Zachary on 04/11/2019 - 11:08

        Could I prove it was he who damaged my car? No. Did I entertain thoughts of retribution? Yes. Did I act on those thoughts? No. Did I ever park there again? No. Did he win? Yes.

        Are you going to let him win? No.

      • onetwothreefour on 04/11/2019 - 13:04

        Did he win? Yes.

        The game's not over yet.

      • derrida derider on 05/11/2019 - 13:55
        +2

        Did he win? No.
        As someone said upthread the world is full of angry stupid people - but the point is that angry stupid people are losers who invariably lead miserable lives. He has lost the game that matters.

  • elgrande on 03/11/2019 - 22:18
    +2

    Maybe he didnt want you to park your dinted up kicked in coffee stain of a car outside his shop.. really doubt he would have been the one to vandalise.

  • Bluberry on 03/11/2019 - 22:58
    +1

    Put in a police complaint.

    Put a camera in your car and leave it in the parking spot.

    Wait for round two. Bingo.

  • trankillity on 04/11/2019 - 09:18

    Discretely throw coffee over the window of the shop and do nothing else. If he approaches you about it, you will have entrapped him.

  • profar on 04/11/2019 - 09:50

    Made my day thanks for sharing lol :)

    BTW what the estimate of damages ?

    • Euphemistic on 04/11/2019 - 11:08
      +1

      $1500 to replace the car with an equivalent model without damage.

  • OzHunterNSW on 04/11/2019 - 10:37
    -4

    It's a message you should heed and respect…. These spots are usually for customers ducking in and out of the shop, and your parking there for any length of time affects the owner's business. You can not prove anything, you may report it, but you have no witnesses to prove your "assumption".
    Just don't park there and respect your neighbourhood.

    • pegaxs on 04/11/2019 - 12:12
      +4

      Unless parking is marked as a limited time limit, ie: 15mins, or if the parking lot is on the store owners land, the store owner has absolutely no right to reserve these spots.

      If it is a length of road with no restrictions on parking, then the store owner needs to grow up and not think they own the portion of road in front of their shop.

      The store owner has every right to ask council to put in a parking time limit in front of their store, but until that actually happens, they need to suck it up or move their store to a different location.

  • psdillon on 04/11/2019 - 12:21
    +2

    Subscribed. Awaiting photos.

  • superdarkhumour on 05/11/2019 - 12:46

    Violence fixes everything!
    https://media.giphy.com/media/zfNAMCrhSQzte/giphy.gif

  • CalmLemons on 05/11/2019 - 12:57

    Probably thought it was a stolen car.

  • jerrus on 05/11/2019 - 13:25

    park again an get a dashcam

  • t_c on 05/11/2019 - 13:35
    +2

    Policelink 131444.

    Believe it or not they dont get payed 70k+ pa to just hand out speeding tickets.

    They do other stuff too.

    • Bunnyburger on 05/11/2019 - 17:02

      Like beating and gassing hippies :3

  • drfuzzy on 05/11/2019 - 13:42
    +2

    If you're trying to run a convenience store and make a dollar, the last thing you need is a resident ditching their car for days in your best customer car park.
    Parking some place else would be polite.

  • DiscoJango on 05/11/2019 - 13:50

    At least it wasnt op's "friend"

  • djprima on 05/11/2019 - 14:31

    Park there and put a note on your windscreen that says "I'm watching you". Drip a few blood on the note

  • orangetrain on 05/11/2019 - 14:32
    +1

    Kind of a stupid move to damage a person's car just to keep a private spot. The victim could do as much damage if not more.

  • sparkles on 05/11/2019 - 14:34
    +11

    Go into store. Act real casual. Tell attendant "Do you park around here? Because oh my god, my car got kicked in outside your store. But my dash cam will have caught it all. I'll probably take the footage to the police tomorrow" Watch for reaction. Exit.

  • Vote for Pedro on 05/11/2019 - 14:56
    +2

    You could report it via the Police Assistance Line so there’s a record, but unless you have evidence, nothing will happen. You could go down the path of dashcams and evidence gathering but my guess is it’ll just be easier if you park elsewhere.

    My old man was the same as the shop owner, thought the street in front of the house was his private parking spot and would abuse anyone parking there. Most people thought ‘f**k it, I’ll just roll my car 5 metres and not deal with the looney’

  • abuch47 on 05/11/2019 - 16:56
    +2

    leave it there and setup recording. front and back dashcam on the rear windscreen should cover almost the whole car and with tinted windows be hidden from the outside.

  • smartazz104 on 05/11/2019 - 17:34

    What car is it?

    • pilchard on 05/11/2019 - 18:09
      +7

      The one with the doors kicked in and coffee all over the passenger side window.

  • Bad Company on 06/11/2019 - 11:00

    Unfortunately OP there's not much you can do unless you have some evidence. That's the world we live in, unless you have special privilege, getting justice is extremely costly.

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