Almost nine out of every ten parked cars that are damaged in Denmark occur without the guilty person taking responsibility for their actions, according to a new TNS Gallup survey compiled on behalf of insurance company Gjensidige Forsikring.
The survey showed that every second Dane has experienced their parked cars being damaged over the past three years, but a note was only left behind on the windshield by the guilty party in 14 percent of the cases.
”Too many people have experienced their car being damaged without the other party taking responsibility,” Kim Rud-Petersen, the head of Gjensidige Forsikring's Nordic branch, said in a press release.
”It makes me wonder, because in a worst-case scenario, the person who damages the car risks having to pay a small deductible waiver. If you run from the damages, the consequences can be much worse if witnesses [come forward], because then the police can get involved.”
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Doesn't add up
The survey also showed that just 3 percent of Danish drivers admitted to damaging a parked car without taking responsibility for their actions despite the 90 percent figure.
”It doesn't make sense that so many people have experienced it, but so few have admitted to not taking responsibility,” Rud-Petersen said.
The survey also revealed that should Danes witness someone trying to flee after damaging a car, 68 percent of them would write down the numberplate and leave a note on the windshield of the damaged car, while 30 percent would jot down the numberplate and call the police.
Some 17 percent said they would try to stop the culprit in order to make them aware of what they've done.
