Tesla owner shares photo after returning to upsetting scene in parking lot: 'So sorry that happened to you'

Unfortunately for Tesla owners, there has to be a sense of impending doom every time they park their vehicle in a public place.

One driver residing in England was the latest to have their fears realized, as they shared on the r/cambridge subreddit.

They titled the post "Tesla keyed," and showed a picture of a crude X scraped into the vehicle's exterior.

"It was done either when I was parked near Coldhams Lane or later at Fulbourn Tesco," they revealed. "I hadn't kept sentry mode on."

Since the owner posted the incident to a neutral community, there was a nuanced reaction to the vandalism. Many commenters felt bad for them, but Elon Musk's political activities of the last year rankled many commenters. Two highly upvoted commenters debated the topic.

One wrote: "Not sure how people can justify damaging someone's car just because the manufacturer's boss is a POS. It's not hurting Elon, just innocent people."

"It's not just 'the boss', it's the…single individual with the most influence in the company," another countered. "People openly showing hatred for a company definitely hurts the company and therefore the owners."

While that is true in a sense, many Tesla drivers, including the OP, purportedly don't support Elon Musk's politics and bought the car without intending for it to be a political statement to others.

Nonetheless, rampant Tesla vandalism is a reality, and drivers would be well-served to keep Sentry Mode on and have a chance to bring perpetrators to justice.

Although vandalism of EVs and Supercharger stations might be rooted in making a statement about Musk, there's no getting around that it discourages EV adoption overall. Tesla is the most prominent EV brand on the market, and Superchargers are an important option for drivers of many EV brands that aren't Tesla.

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Since EVs are, on the whole, better for the planet than gas-powered vehicles, vandalism has negative ripple effects on more than just Tesla drivers or company brass like Musk. Slowing the overall transition could lead to more air pollution and reliance on dirty energy.

Commenters did find some humor in the situation.

"They're just rebranding it as X before Elon does," a user quipped.

Another Redditor sympathized with the OP.

"That's a shame, so sorry that happened to you," they wrote. "Nowadays there are people with this messed up moral compass where they think it's ok to vandalise someone else's property."

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