Car owner shares before-and-after photos of senseless act of vandalism: 'Cost $1,200'

A Reddit user recently had their electric vehicle vandalized and shared their repair experience with the community at r/Ioniq5. 

"Long story short. Someone keyed across the hood and passenger door," the original poster wrote. "Dont know who, why. Happened while parked away from everyone @ a shopping parking lot. It was pretty deep and had to repaint both hood and door. Cost $1200. Came out pretty good."

The pictures they posted show a good paint job over the scratch. The OP decided it wasn't worth the insurance hassle, so they just paid out of pocket for the work. 

The Ioniq 5 is a highly popular EV that has been well-reviewed by experts. 

Vandalism is a challenge for any car owner, but at least with an EV, owners are saving money on fuel and maintenance. They're also skipping out on a host of health risks introduced by burning gas.  

Best of all, EVs cause much less light-duty vehicle pollution than gas cars, even once manufacturing and electrical grid power sources are taken into account. Reducing pollution is key to curbing extreme weather patterns such as floods, droughts, and heat waves. These disasters are incurring steep costs in housing, agriculture, and ecology. 

If you're interested in doubling down on the economic and environmental benefits of EVs, consider installing home solar for charging. EnergySage has a free online tool that connects homeowners with vetted local experts. They can tap into available incentives to save up to $10,000 on solar panel installation costs. 

The Reddit community was frustrated by the original poster's experience with vandalism of their Ioniq 5. 

"People suck, sorry to hear someone did that," the top-voted reply said. 

"Ugh. People are the worst. This happened to me when I purchased my last new car (2012 Honda CRV) Within a month of owning it someone keyed across my two passenger side doors," another Reddit user wrote. "Didn't want to pay the copay to fix it at the time, so 10 years later, it's still there to remind me that I prefer dogs to people."

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