All right, some of the responses on this thread are outright pi$$ing me off.
What in the heck is wrong with CARING about your car??? It's something you pay your hard-earned money for, spend effort maintaining, and try to keep in good condition. Just like you should with any other possession.
It depreciates in value....yeah, whatever. That makes *such* a big difference as to whether or not you should give a d@mn about something.
Nearly EVERYTHING in life you buy depreciates! Furniture, computers, DVDs, clothing, shoes, even some houses and property. Why get annoyed if somebody deliberately spills something on your brand-new couch as a "joke"? It's only going to depreciate in value anyway, and you can just use an upholstry shampooer and clean it. No permanent harm done, right?
There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with taking a little pride in your vehicle! No more so than washing your clothes and keeping them in good repair. It's about taking care of what you've worked so hard to earn. I scarcely call that "coveting".
The issue here isn't whether or not a car is important. It's all about respecting someone else's property. There's no permanent harm done if somebody throws a bag of nasty, soggy food on your jacket or computer, but I bet you'd be mad as hell about that, too.
When Hubby and I first got married, I drove a $500 Ford. It was all I could afford. The paint was peeling off, it had no A/C or heating, the windows windows were held up by duct tape, and the doors wouldn't lock.
Almost a year after we got married, Hubby surprised me with a beautiful little red Cavalier Z-24 sports car. It was several years old and wasn't very expensive, but it was in excellent condition. I was so happy. Hubby was so proud of himself and more thrilled than I was: he always promised that he'd get me "a little red sports car", and he finally did it. He used to take it to work with him periodically to get it detailed and kept pristine for me. It wasn't about "coveting" anything----it was about him wanting to show how much he cared about me.
Six months later, we were out of town for a weekend. Some punk kids egged my car as a "joke". No permanent harm done, right? Wrong. If you don't rinse egg off promptly, it damage the paint. By the time we got home and got the egg off, there were ruined splotches all over the red paint. I cried. I couldn't understand why someone would do that to something I cared about, for no good reason at all.
Needless to say, I didn't find it funny at all. Oh, wait....I guess that makes me a vain, obessive, sports car driving piece of &^$!# who probably had it coming anyway.