Our lives revolve around cars. Modifying cars, driving cars, tuning cars, car shows, car meets, track days, servicing and maintenance.

The common misconception is that anyone with a modified car is a ‘chav’ and most likely has a lot of ASBOs to their name. Apparently we all drive antisocially and use our cars in an ‘intimidating and threatening’ manner. And if you saw the heavily biased ‘Vice’ documentary (can you call it that?) recently, then you probably agree with those assumptions.

But in real life, those stereotypes couldn’t be more wrong. And documentaries like that do nothing more than scaremonger and give everyone who appreciates cars a bad name.

We can’t be categorised as ‘chavs’, or any other clothing style, because we come from all different styles – there’s no prejudice about what you wear. In reality all of the car enthusiasts I know care so much about the car they’ve put all their hard earned money into that they often have a ‘daily driver’ – a car they use during the winter months and during bad weather to preserve the condition of their main car. In fact, they often drive a lot more carefully than ‘the general public’ for fear of their car getting damaged on the road.

Many people have lowered cars, which improves the handling to a certain extent, but this means through towns with speed bumps they drive slowly to avoid causing damage to the underside of their cars. The same goes for pothole ridden roads, with expensive wheels, often on low profile tyres, car enthusiasts take care everywhere they go to avoid causing any damage.

They pay more on their car insurance; because contrary to popular belief everyone I know with a modified car has every modification declared to their insurance, raising the premiums but insuring their car is covered for damage.

We don’t waste all of our money on nights out that we won’t remember, or alcohol or drugs. Our money goes into our cars, something to show for it instead of hazy memories from ‘last night in the club’… And nobody would ever dare drink-drive or risk their license because having one means so much to them.

We don’t all meet up in car parks to do ‘burnouts, donuts and racing’. Most reputable car clubs don’t allow antisocial behaviour at their meets, and socialising with new people is strongly encouraged. It’s a very laid back atmosphere. The police are usually informed that there will be cars meeting there, but once parked up nobody moves their car until they leave. It’s about appreciating the cars and the company, not alienating the general public. The same goes for car shows, which everyone attends throughout the better months.

So I hope this article goes to show we aren’t all thugs, most of us just enjoy hanging out and talking cars!