This is my Biggest concern being a Tesla Owner

[CaliX]

I know people think if you own a Tesla you're rich. Not true as many of us are just hard working not rich citizens.

tesla-sentry-mode-captures-woman-scratching-model-y-with-knife

 

[FredMertz]

I think you have no choice but to not buy a Tesla.

 

[mrbloons]

How do we know the woman scratched the car because it was a Tesla? People vandalize other cars too, and it isn't always about the type of car. At least with a Tesla you can capture it like this, otherwise you got no evidence.

 

[Tummy]

Years ago someone keyed my base model used BMW 3 series that cost $18k. A lot of people can't even afford food, so no matter what you have, you'll have to live with people lashing out at times.

 

[Watts 4 Me]

My father in law use to tell me not to buy flashy things for my vehicles. Because it will catch someone attention and would want to steal it.

My response was that im not going to live in a bubble just because someone else is a loser and might want to steal it.

Its like saying your a safe driver,but what about the guy that crashes into you? Just cant win them all.

 

[El joe]

You do hear a lot about people doing stuff to Teslas just because it's a Tesla. Could be that these are reported on more often because of Sentry Mode or maybe Tesla owners are more vocal or whatever, but it is something I am wary of as well. People suck.

 

[Puma2020]

I also had this concern before buying my Y. I had since resolved to be the best driver (hopefully AutoSteer will help that) and to show the proper courtesy to other unfortunate car and drivers. Just because I can beat you to that opening, doesn't mean I should. I try to remember, that the sooner they get to their destination, the sooner they stop polluting. I can enjoy my ride a wee bit longer and everyone is happy. Do worry, be happy, drive a Tesla! Hakuana Matata.

 

[VaxAce]

she wears old lady panties - no thong for her - just sayin...

 

[Jimt29]

Fredmertz: you are kind of an insensitive Nerak.

 

[Laguna M3]

Since you live in LA, I suspect your Tesla will get far less attention than in many areas of the country. I see a Tesla every time I am on the road, and I bet you do too. When I was in Kansas City for 6 days last month, I think I saw maybe one or two.

 

[pilotSteve]

"scratch anxiety"? ..... ohhhhhh kayyyy

 

[Spacep0d]

How do we know the woman scratched the car because it was a Tesla? People vandalize other cars too, and it isn't always about the type of car. At least with a Tesla you can capture it like this, otherwise you got no evidence.

This was clearly a premeditated behavior. If the OP doesn't know the woman (and we can see her face clearly on the sentry cam), then there was another reason she did it.

The fact that it's a Tesla is very high on the likely-cause list because for anyone who's paying even casual attention, there's a pattern of behavior here around Teslas (and to a lesser extent, other EVs).

Many people have vandalized Teslas simply because they're Teslas, along with the perceived idea of a Tesla owner's political views, socio-economic status, etc. Symbols matter more than ever. A Tesla in the mind of a would-be vandal represents a whole lot.

It's the same reason that some people 'roll coal' against EVs, or hate Teslas (and their owners/drivers). This extends to other EVs, but Teslas in particular attract peculiarly hateful, destructive, self-selected actors. You can park where you want, but sadly I think this self-selected group will find you, and here we have this knife-wielding vandal leaving her mark on the world. Or so she thinks.

Despite living in L.A. County, this is one of my concerns about owning a Tesla.

 

[Cybermoose]

One nice thing is I have seen quite a few of these stories about Teslas getting vandalized and most of the time, it's quickly followed by the people getting caught. I've seen hit and runs, keying, knifing, some guy in Canada got up and sat on the hood with some girls for a pictures that left some scratches and dents. Either a license plate is caught on camera which makes it super easy or their faces are on camera and communities like reddit, facebook, and local news are great at spreading the information until someone turns them in.

I've found scratches on my Cadillac before, as well as a door dent and with one of those cars the problem is while they might not be targeted like a Tesla, when they are vandalized, there is no catching the person. Even at times when they are caught on a parking lot camera or something like that, it's extremely unlikely it will show a clear picture of their face or license plate. Tesla cameras get results.

 

[footballrunner]

she wears old lady panties - no thong for her - just sayin...

LOL thats the first thing I noticed! Glad I’m not the only one

 

[adecker]

This was clearly a premeditated behavior. If the OP doesn't know the woman (and we can see her face clearly on the sentry cam), then there was another reason she did it.

The fact that it's a Tesla is very high on the likely-cause list because for anyone who's paying even casual attention, there's a pattern of behavior here around Teslas (and to a lesser extent, other EVs).

Many people have vandalized Teslas simply because they're Teslas, along with the perceived idea of a Tesla owner's political views, socio-economic status, etc. Symbols matter more than ever. A Tesla in the mind of a would-be vandal represents a whole lot.

It's the same reason that some people 'roll coal' against EVs, or hate Teslas (and their owners/drivers). This extends to other EVs, but Teslas in particular attract peculiarly hateful, destructive, self-selected actors. You can park where you want, but sadly I think this self-selected group will find you, and here we have this knife-wielding vandal leaving her mark on the world. Or so she thinks.

Despite living in L.A. County, this is one of my concerns about owning a Tesla.

Keying someones car because they might be a "liberal" is possibly the saddest thing I have ever heard and while I know it's true, I really don't want to believe that would happen. I don't really have any fear of this though as I have insurance with a 0 comp deductible, sentry mode is a thing and well hopefully the police would take some time to help if not I guess it gives me something to do to kill time during COVID isolation.

 

[Cybermoose]

Keying someones car because they might be a "liberal" is possibly the saddest thing I have ever heard and while I know it's true, I really don't want to believe that would happen. I don't really have any fear of this though as I have insurance with a 0 comp deductible, sentry mode is a thing and well hopefully the police would take some time to help if not I guess it gives me something to do to kill time during COVID isolation.

I'm confused, why would you assume that a Tesla owner might be a liberal? I didn't think that vehicles could really hint towards the political views of the owner unless the company was strongly leaning towards the right or left.

I could see both sides not liking Teslas. If someone is far right, they 'might' be one of the people who coal-rolls a Tesla and parks in a supercharger spot with their truck, I would call those people stupid. If someone is far left, they 'might' think that they deserve a nice car like that as much as the person who worked hard for it and damages it for no other reason, I would call them pathetic. I actually think that the people identified on numerous videos where they damage a Tesla for no reason, seem to be doing it out because they are jealous and can't afford one themselves.

 

[adecker]

I'm confused, why would you assume that a Tesla owner might be a liberal? I didn't think that vehicles could really hint towards the political views of the owner unless the company was strongly leaning towards the right or left.

I could see both sides not liking Teslas. If someone is far right, they 'might' be one of the people who coal-rolls a Tesla and parks in a supercharger spot with their truck, I would call those people stupid. If someone is far left, they 'might' think that they deserve a nice car like that as much as the person who worked hard for it and damages it for no other reason, I would call them pathetic. I actually think that the people identified on numerous videos where they damage a Tesla for no reason, seem to be doing it out because they are jealous and can't afford one themselves.

I just figured that was what the post I was quoting was referencing. Green Car = Climate Change = Left Tenancies was my thought process and I defiantly don't think that just because you own a Tesla you are a liberal.

 

[Spacep0d]

I'm confused, why would you assume that a Tesla owner might be a liberal? I didn't think that vehicles could really hint towards the political views of the owner unless the company was strongly leaning towards the right or left.

I could see both sides not liking Teslas. If someone is far right, they 'might' be one of the people who coal-rolls a Tesla and parks in a supercharger spot with their truck, I would call those people stupid. If someone is far left, they 'might' think that they deserve a nice car like that as much as the person who worked hard for it and damages it for no other reason, I would call them pathetic. I actually think that the people identified on numerous videos where they damage a Tesla for no reason, seem to be doing it out because they are jealous and can't afford one themselves.

One thing that I think is safe to assume is that EV owners are open minded, a bit iconoclastic, critical thinkers, and self-reliant risk-takers.

I would say they skew left-leaning by population, but that doesn't mean extreme left. I mean simply 'liberal' as in 'open to new ideas'. Of course, I make an aggressive distinction between liberals and Leftists. Being open minded is a good thing, as long as you're also a critical-thinker. Someone who is too tied to tradition may hate EVs simply because they're novel and different and upsetting the status quo.

From the green perspective, this will skew more 'liberal' minded, simply because more conservatives are climate-change deniers than liberals, and this is evident if you have friends on both sides or listen to conservative podcasts. If one is sufficiently religious, they may not think it even matters if the 'rapture' is happening anytime soon, and conservatives skew much more fundamentally religious than liberals.

Since more liberals will accept the scientific consensus and obvious fact of climate change, more among that group will want to adapt their lifestyles (and cars) to reduce their carbon footprint. In the U.S., the 'liberal' side is also a larger group by population which we can see simply by the general election popular vote. Schools and instructors tend to be quite liberal and even Leftist, from K to College, and this dovetails perfectly in to everything EVs are about.

On the right-leaning or 'conservative' side, self-reliance is a prominent trending value and my conservative friends repeat this often and in many ways. Most 'Doomsday Preppers' are going to be conservative. A prepper would do well to own an EV along with solar and Power Walls. EVs offer the possibility of independence from oil and the associated volatility and competition over a finite resource. If a conservative Tesla-owner has their own solar, power storage, and an EV, they're free from the stranglehold of the grid and the volatility and higher cost (and shortages) of fuel. This dovetails perfectly with a lot of 'right leaning' mindsets for the same reason that we can safely assume that most gun owners are not as 'left-leaning' as those who fear guns or think they should be banned. Why? Self-reliance. As many gun-owning conservatives will quip, 'When seconds matter the police are only minutes away.' When oil prices go crazy or we have another gas crisis (like we did in the 70s), EVs will still be running. There is a real pragmatic security in EVs not offered by vehicles solely dependent on fossil fuels, a contested and finite resource.

Of course, there are benefits to EV ownership that transcend all of this. They're quicker, cleaner, not affected by air quality or density, ranges are pretty decent and improving, and charging at home is a thing of beauty. This appeals to almost any rational person. The major bottleneck beyond this is cost, of which Musk is well-aware and aiming to improve.

I'm a slightly left-leaning (liberal) moderate critical-thinker with friends of many persuasions, so I feel like I really understand both sides. I also have common cause with both the right and the left, and disagreements with both. Really, it's all about the issue at hand for me, not blind ideology or dogma. Is a Tesla Model 3 the best car I can afford? Yes, and by a huge margin.

One thing I know is that Tesla by any metric makes fantastic cars, the EV revolution is here to stay, oil is finite, electricity generation can be widely diversified (solar, wind, hydro, clean coal, natural gas, nuclear, etc.). We can make our own electricity with a home sufficiently suited for solar or employ the use of supercharging stations which use solar, free energy from our local star. We can't make our own gas.

Times, they are a-changin'.

 

[Cybermoose]

I don't want to turn this thread into a political debate so i'll just put a couple of my opinions and call it a day.

I don't know many conservatives that aren't open minded. I think a lot of the time it's about what they believe they should have an open mind about and what they shouldn't. I am conservative but I have a lot of liberal and conservative friends. I've gotten into some pretty heated debates about what they think I should be open minded about and a lot of the time it's not that I won't consider both sides, it's just I've picked one and they don't like my opinion. I am conservative on a lot of issues because that's where I see the best outcome i'm not saying it is best, that's just what I see and I understand that others can disagree.

Also when it comes to Scientific consensus, I think both sides will accept a scientific consensus as long as we aren't talking about antivaxers or flat earthers, lets agree they aren't on any side. When it comes to climate change, the big argument in the scientific community isn't whether it's happening or not, it's what affect has the human population had on climate change. Like I said, I don't want to turn this thread political so I'm not going to get into any specifics, people are welcome to take any side they want. All I will say is there are large numbers of scientists on each side of the arguement.

I will agree that self reliance is very important to myself and every conservative that I know. I was always proud to work my way through school since I didn't want loans and my family couldn't afford to help me. I've always believed that I need to work hard to better my life, make the company I work for successful and better my country...although I am from Canada and I plan to move to the US and maybe even work for Tesla if I find a job opening in my field.

Now I know that there are a lot of people that hate on Tesla like I mentioned before that are probably right wing. The people that coal-roll, or park in an EV only spot, or just talk down to EV owners. Personally I don't like to think as those people as political people at all, I think there are some people on the right that are only there because they want to own guns and not pay a bunch of taxes, just like I believe there are some people on the left that are only there because they want more benefits for less work. I try to keep those individuals out of my mind when thinking about politics because they make both sides look bad when they don't care too much about any other issues except the ones that directly affects them.


Finally one thing we both agree with is Tesla is awesome, EV's are awesome, Solar is awesome, and most renewable energy is awesome. I will say I personally don't like wind energy, there is some debate about how many birds they kill, but even the low end estimate is a lot of birds. But solar is awesome.

 

[totoro722]

I don’t think it has anything to do with perceived political stands. It is more simple and basic: envy. A person can try to justify that so they don’t feel inferior, but the root is the same. This problem occurs with all expensive or flashy cars. Teslas may have some additional baggage because of their prominence as a cool ride, but it is all the same thing.