2005 GT Vert Vandalized
08-14-2009, 02:23 PM
#1
5th Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Texas
Posts: 2,397
2005 GT Vert Vandalized
So I have had a bit of a bad week. I went to the gym Monday and put the top up on my 2005 GT vert. go in and when i come out a few hours later I throw the header latches and drop the top. I recall hearing a pop, but all seemed well so off I went to the house. A few hours later my wife and i are getting ready to go and she wants the top up so I hit the button and all hell breaks loose.
As the top is coming up it rips every bit of plastic trim out of the rear of the car where the hinges are and i notice a nice big rip in the top. Apparently while i was in the gym some ****** cut the top. so i call up Geico and tell them what happened, they set me up with an agent for an estimate on repairs. The lady looks at all the damage and goes ummm, where are you taking the car for repairs. i say the Ford dealership, she says good i know them and I have no idea what all is broken here.
The dealer checks it out and determines that whoever cut the top apparently climbed on top of the car and bent the frame. When the top went down one of the hinges bent (the pop i heard) when it come back up it twisted and broke or bent all the hinges an support pieces of the top. The damage amounted to over $5000. It needs a new top, new frame, new trim pieces, and a few other parts.
The claims lady calls and says she has never seen anything like this and asked me a few "conversational questions" about if anyone rode on the top or if anyone climbed on it. I say not that I know of and she basically says look this could well be mechanical failure, but I can't verify that so we will fix it. I'm getting $5k worth of repairs for a $200 comp deductible! Thank god its Geico, my old State Farm policy would have not fixed it. I am really loving Geico right now!
As the top is coming up it rips every bit of plastic trim out of the rear of the car where the hinges are and i notice a nice big rip in the top. Apparently while i was in the gym some ****** cut the top. so i call up Geico and tell them what happened, they set me up with an agent for an estimate on repairs. The lady looks at all the damage and goes ummm, where are you taking the car for repairs. i say the Ford dealership, she says good i know them and I have no idea what all is broken here.
The dealer checks it out and determines that whoever cut the top apparently climbed on top of the car and bent the frame. When the top went down one of the hinges bent (the pop i heard) when it come back up it twisted and broke or bent all the hinges an support pieces of the top. The damage amounted to over $5000. It needs a new top, new frame, new trim pieces, and a few other parts.
The claims lady calls and says she has never seen anything like this and asked me a few "conversational questions" about if anyone rode on the top or if anyone climbed on it. I say not that I know of and she basically says look this could well be mechanical failure, but I can't verify that so we will fix it. I'm getting $5k worth of repairs for a $200 comp deductible! Thank god its Geico, my old State Farm policy would have not fixed it. I am really loving Geico right now!
08-14-2009, 02:33 PM
#2
S197 Section Modder-ator
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Orlando FL
Posts: 13,373
You're one of the few that have a happy experience with GEICO.
I've witnessed terrible things with them, in fact, they're the worst I've seen.
But no one is wrong all the time, so it seems you're OK.
Sorry to hear about your mishap and hopefully the dealer will do quality work.
Good luck.
I've witnessed terrible things with them, in fact, they're the worst I've seen.
But no one is wrong all the time, so it seems you're OK.
Sorry to hear about your mishap and hopefully the dealer will do quality work.
Good luck.
08-14-2009, 02:49 PM
#3
1st Gear Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Irvine, California
Posts: 122
Dang good thing your insurance was cooperative. I would die if something like that happened to my top and my insurance refused to cover it. Since you have to get a new top anyways I don't know if you had the parchment or the cloth but if you had parchment you should look into getting a cloth this time around. I wish mine were cloth it looks alot better.
08-14-2009, 02:55 PM
#5
1st Gear Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Irvine, California
Posts: 122
yeah I like the shine too. Though the problem with the parchment is it begins to fade especially here in the CA sun (i'd imagine it would be just as bad in the texas sun). I had an 01 convertible and the parchment just began to crack and fade after awhile.
08-14-2009, 03:07 PM
#7
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Bellefonte, PA
Posts: 283
I thought I had read on this forum some time ago that using armor all on a vinyl top is a big no,no. I think there are special treatments for vinyl convertible tops that should be used to clean/condition it.
08-14-2009, 03:26 PM
#8
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Shadyside, OH
Posts: 243
Yeah, I'm glad to hear they're fixing it for you. That's messed up that someone has to **** with something that's not theirs, I hate people like that.
As far as GEICO is concerned, I worked as head painter in a body shop for over 2.5yrs, and have seen them screw plenty of people over. I have State Farm, and a couple months ago the steel mill across the street spewed out sulfur from their smoke stacks, which landed on all the company vehicles as well as the employees vehicles. Their private insurance company paid to have all the cars detailed out, which didn't take care of the sulfur problem completely, so I filed a Comp claim with State Farm, and they are paying over $7000 to repaint my entire vehicle to make it right... I highly doubt our local GEICO reps would have made that happen for me.
As far as GEICO is concerned, I worked as head painter in a body shop for over 2.5yrs, and have seen them screw plenty of people over. I have State Farm, and a couple months ago the steel mill across the street spewed out sulfur from their smoke stacks, which landed on all the company vehicles as well as the employees vehicles. Their private insurance company paid to have all the cars detailed out, which didn't take care of the sulfur problem completely, so I filed a Comp claim with State Farm, and they are paying over $7000 to repaint my entire vehicle to make it right... I highly doubt our local GEICO reps would have made that happen for me.
08-14-2009, 03:42 PM
#9
5th Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Texas
Posts: 2,397
Vinyl is vinyl right? If this is an issue for some reason i'd like to know for sure before the car comes out of the shop.
