to be pissed off at the neighbours' kids?

[Kyyria]

At some point between 4:30pm Sunday and going out to my car at 1:30pm today, there have been 2 great gouges made in the drivers side of my car. Not easy to see from the photo, but they both go all the way down to the metal.

The car is parked on the road in front of our house. I haven't seen anyone acting suspiciously around the car (not overlooking it as our living room is at the back of the house) but am aware that the neighbours' kids have been out and about playing on bikes and scooters on the road (we are at the end of a cul-de-sac) and did witness them at one point over the weekend using my car as a base to hide behind as they were chasing each other.

I would like to think if my kid had damaged someone else's car accidentally that they would have told me so I could apologise/offer to pay.

I don't really want to go around to the various neighbours with kids as a) I don't want to accuse them with no proof but b) I've witnessed one of the neighbours (and their kids) effing and blinding at each other in the past and I don't really want to be on the end of that attitude. I also think if the kids are shouted at regularly in that way then being told off by their parents isn't going to have much effect.

I don't think it was done deliberately as we are right in the corner of a cul-de-sac so no passing random people and as I say the neighbours all get on, however hubby did have his car keyed down the side on the driveway about 3 years ago so it's not outside the realms of possibility.

Urgh. It's going to cost an arm and a leg as it's got that bloody glittery piano paint (looks black from a distance but has green and blue speckles in up close). Have reported to 101 but as expected there is nothing they can do - wasn't keen on wasting their time but will need to get an incident number for insurance.

YABVU - you have no evidence that it was any of them so there really isn't anything you can do other than contact your local repair services and work out if that is cheaper than going through your insurance.

YANBU
But honestly when you were a child, are you sure you would have told your parents you did some damage or would you have kept it quiet? Not what you would do today in hindsight, but what you actually did. I remember some sully things DSis and I did (not damage cars!) and we always used to act as if nothing happened afterwards, even when it was obvious we were going to get caught

YANBU do you have a drive you can park on instead or somewhere else you can park. When you saw them near your car you should have told them at that point to go away basically (well maybe not that but politely tell them to not go near your car at all)

It's not unreasonable to be annoyed that your car has been damaged.

However it is unreasonable to point the finger of blame speculatively.

I agree in an ideal world that whoever had done this would write a note, knock on your door etc but frankly if it was a young child they would probably be too scared to "confess".

The upshot is that there is a reason why houses with driveways/private parking cost more than those where you park on the road. It's the same reason why most car insurance is cheaper if you have private parking - simply you are far less exposed to incidents like this happening.

I'm sorry this has happened and I totally understand your exasperation but I really don't think there is anything to be done about it - knocking on doors isn't going to get you anywhere and will just annoy neighbours who could well be blameless.

YANBU to be annoyed but YABU to point the blame when you don't really have any solid evidence to back it up.

These things happen and although it sucks when someone damages your property and doesn't fess up to it afterwards there's not a whole lot you can do in this case except work out if it's cheaper to go through insurance or to repair it yourself.

SomethingBorrowed Yes, I too did the odd thing that I didn't admit to (nothing on the level of damaging other people's property). I do appreciate that it must be scary for kids to admit to something when they know they're going to get into trouble.

FanaticalFox we do have a drive but hubby parks his car on there - it's the bigger of the two and if he parked on the road he would have to overhang the driveway and block in the other car. I was in two minds whether to go out and speak to them, but we live in the sort of neighbourhood whereby asking someone not to do something almost guarantees the opposite.

EatsShitsandLeaves - I completely agree with you, which is precisely why I've not been around knocking on doors. Even if I mentioned it as a "keep an eye out for your own car because this happened to mine" I'd still be paranoid that they would think I was accusing them. I haven't seen them do anything and I'm not going to go pointing the finger just because.

I think these kids can hold their own but can understand more so if they wouldn't want to confess. One of them (6/7?) spent 5 mins of Saturday evening shouting at his mother that she was a motherfucking bastard, following an exchange where she told him to fuck off.

You don't park half on the kerb do u? My neighbours do this and they now shout at the kids when they scoot on the pavement

Allthewaves yes, you have to otherwise none can park on the other side of the road.

The kids don't scoot on the pavement, they play in the road (even with no cars parked). The scratches are on the road side.