The worst thing in the world, on the list of inconveniences for a car owner, is when somebody scratches your car. It's worse than a flat tire or a dead battery. When you've got one of those, you can curse the fates that have struck you, and the hand that destiny has played you. But when someone scratches the very paint that displays your baby to the world, that's malicious.
That's evil.
Not only does it cut at the heart of the vanity that lies within all of us, but depending on the depth of the gouge, it can cause a very costly and damaging repair. So, knowing what we all know about keying a car, it should come as a bit of a surprise to see how prevalent it is, at least in the United Kingdom.
According to this survey by British airport parking website parkat.co.uk, which I'm sure is very scientific, 57% of Britons admit to scratching the car of someone they know.
Fifty-seven percent! And that's just those who admit to it, and that's just those of the people they know. Who can say what untold damage is being strewn across those rocky isles, monsters gaily flitting about, scratching up cars that don't belong to them and then never admitting such shames.
Fully 70% of people admit scratching the car of a person they don't know, and 16% admit they've scratched the car of a person just because they didn't like the way said person looked.
Britain, what the hell is wrong with you people? We can't find any surveys that deal with Americans or people from other countries who admit to keying, so it may be just as bad on this side of the pond. At any rate, do us all a favor and try to cut back on this heinous practice.
Photo credit: Images_of_Money