If you live there and you are easily recognized (foreigner) l would suggest to just drop it. Someone who slashes a tire is most likely either unstable or connected. You don’t want to escalate the situation if chances of revenge are high and you are an easy target. At least I would first try to find out who it is you are dealing with. How old, where does he live, what does he do for a living, etc. If you are confident that sueing him will be the end of the story, do it. And not for the money, but out of principle. If sueing means more and more serious problems in the long run, better make sure you want to deal with that. Parking problems bring out the worst in some people. That person clearly is not shy when trying to make is anger known. He skipped writing a friendly note and put it under the wiper, writing a nasty note with a black marker on your window, scratching your car with a key, and kicking your door with heavy boots.
As angry as I would be and want retribution, I was seriously consider just checking this off as a lesson learned.
I’ve been through similar situations when I first arrived in Taiwan and thought more strongly about it but having lived here a while I realized using is a lesson learned is not a bad idea.
Especially considering you personally and physically touched and moved someone else’s property. Regardless of the status.
I’m wondering how you know this. What about the scooter being moved? That could be an issue. They seem kind of unconcerned about the cops too. I think I’d be uneasy about all this.
I know all this because a friend of mine lives in the building in front of that parking spot
Good point, a gangster would not call the cops, unless the cops are buddies. Is moving someone’s scooter against the law, I wonder.
I don’t want to enter paranoid foreigner territory here, but doesn’t every gangster family have a family member who’s a cop?
I saw that, but were they listening to everything that closely?
Personally if I had two witnesses that were willing to give the police a statement, I’d make an example of the guy just out of principle. It’s not always about the money and maybe will give the guy pause if he ever wants to do it again that it will cost him something
That said if you do that I’d never park there again. Even if you don’t go after him I wouldn’t park there again, he might slash the tire again.
I think that’s a very good reason for doing it. I don’t think they will go after you because of this, but handle the situation carefully. They would have to be fuckin’ stupid to retaliate but I’m pretty sure they aren’t the brightest bulb in the mirror, so…
Hard to ignore what you can’t see. I guess I need new glasses.
You replied long after I added the edit. Just seemed odd to me. I assume you had your post on hold.
Do not move people’s scooters. Yes, you can take them to court. I agree this is not worth it, but if you want to teach them a lesson, go ahead. Like another poster said, being in any legal case is a nightmare as a foreigner. You need to go pick up papers from the police station all the time that are completely written in Chinese. You may need to show up at places and get into trouble if you do not.
Alternatively they aren’t gangsters, they parked the scooter with the intention of keeping their “private” parking spot for their own, someone moved their scooter so they called the cops with the same idea than some of you of how important this event is but the cops told them “look, they just moved your scooter, we aren’t taking away their car”.
There’s a parking spot across from my house and the Taiwanese always move scooters to make room for his car.
Update 1:
Dear Forumosians,
Thank you all for the replies. I got a wide range of comments, and I considered them all before making my decision.
Thursday, I went to the car at lunch to fix the tire. Long story short, it cost NT$3000 all in, and took the better part of a day to do. I parked the car just a little further up the road in a free spot, and hopefully there won’t be any more incidents. I also went to the local police station to sus out my options. They said, if I wanted to give a statement, to come the next day with my witness and they will arrange an English cop to be there.
So, Friday I did just that. My witnesses were in an out in an hour, and it took me 3 in total. There was other damages too - he scratched my driver side door in 3 places, and smashed out the rear driver side door handle; it was broken before, but now it’s smashed up. The cops says they’ll contact the other guy to get his statement. Then, as I understand it, someone will try to get us to come to some kind of agreement. If unsuccessful, court (which, I’ve already stated my feelings about).
I don’t expect to get anything out of this. And I did consider just letting it go, learning my lesson, and moving on. However, after talking with the witness and my friend, this guy has done this kind of vigilante justice before. He’s damaged other peoples property, and had to pay them for it. (so the story goes, it’s all second hand, I don’t know details… but this is what nudged me toward the direction of going to the cops.)
I’ll try to respond to a few comments:
To the “do nothing” crowd: This was a hard pill to swallow. Claiming I shouldn’t have touched the bike is a bit ridiculous. Even the cops couldn’t explicitly state that I could not touch his bike. My argument was he parked incorrectly, taking up too much space, and by moving his scooter I was able to park my car, his scooter, and make everyone fit. Really, not a stretch in any shape or form. My actions did not warrant his response in the least.
To the “your wasting your time” crowd: Maybe, but because of the circumstances, the fact he called the cops first, he’s done it before, and I’ve got a witness, I don’t have much to lose. I’m curious what will happen.
Someone posted to get rid of the car - that’s the actual plan once this year is done. It was just supposed to be a summer car, that I kept too long, and now I’m seeing why I should have just dumped it before. But, again, it’s ok.
If I missed anything I’ll try to follow up.
Again, thank you. My friends all asked me why I posted here because “most replies are garbage”. My response is that I want to hear a wide range of voices and opinions and you’ve all done just that!
So that’s about it. I’ll post again whenever a result occurs.
Good luck. You did what I think is most important here, find out who the guy is you are dealing with. If he has done this before and had to go to court, the question remains, why would he call the cops and draw attention to himself and then, after they were aware of the situation, would go on damaging your car? It doesn’t add up, unless he’s really unstable and/or not very bright.
Welcome to Forumosa! 
I hope this works out for you.
Guy
Sounds like it’s about time for him to learn a lesson himself.
my $0.02…
It’s not so much do nothing - it’s more learn your lesson and move on.
not touching someone’s legally parked vehicle (unless evidence to the contrary is provided, and even then…), whether you think they’re taking too much space or not, so you can park where you want, is certainly not “ridiculous.”
You’ve already spent multiple hours on this. More hours to go. You said he’s done this multiple times before, and had to pay, so apparently gives no fucks .You are clearly aggravated,.so already in the loss column compared to him. All before you’ve seen what sort of response you might get from him.
Hope this works out for you.