Some damn kids broke into my car. They cut the convertible top, unlocked the door, and the alarm went off. I don't know how I didn't hear the alarm, but I did hear the police knocking on my door. Doesn't look like anything was stolen. They apparently hit a few cars on the street.

I'm guessing this will be covered by comprehensive insurance? Anyone have recommendations for a shop to replace the top? Dealership?

This sucks. It's going to rain all day tomorrow too...

 

****. sorry, hope they catch them .

 

well if it's covered hit up the stealership. why go to a shop unless u wanna do a hardtop conversion lol

 

what'd you end up doing? it wasn't too bad today, but it's picked up in the past few hours...

 

I talked with my insurance company yesterday, and they have a list of shops that are approved to make estimates. If I use one of their shops, they just send the shop the paperwork, and the shop will get it taken care of. I have a $50 comprehensive deductible, so I'll just end up paying $50 to the shop.

I went with Chantilly Auto Body. Any body shop is going to outsource it to an upholstery company, and I don't have any good way to telling which are the good ones and which aren't. Hopefully I don't get screwed. If they do a bad job, it's going to cost them, or the insurance company money, since one of them will have to pay to have it re-done, so I suspect it will be ok.

One stealership estimated $4,000. Another said $4,789 just for the top, and then there would be labor on top of that. I think they just have a part number for the entire top assembly, including the motors. From my experience with the dealerships so far with issues with the top (all of the issues I've had with the car), I wouldn't trust them to do it right.

A GAHH top is $1,159, and a Robbins top is $649. I doubt labor costs over $3,000. So, I doubt the insurance company is going to go for having the stealership do it. It sounds like they'll go with an OEM top, unless I request otherwise.

The auto body shop is going to get me an estimate on Monday. I'll find out the details of the replacement top then. For now, duct tape FTMFW! I went with black duct tape, although it's still really noticeable. I can't drive very fast, or the tape will start to peel off. It's held up through the rain. Also a car cover came with the car (I bought the car used), so I've been able to keep it covered when I've been at home.

The neighbor who called the police stopped by yesterday, and gave me a better description of the kids he saw running away. He said he got a really good look at them, and that he has seen them before. It sounds like it's two high school kids from the neighborhood. He knows some other people in the neighborhood who have had their cars broken into recently, and had things stolen. Since they're hitting the same area over and over again, hopefully they'll get caught.

 

The shop just got the new (OEM) top yesterday. I'm dropping the car off next week. It'll just cost me $50. Their estimate is about $2,200.

One of the two bastards that did it was arrested this week! I'm looking into small claims court, so I can get my deductible back, the cost of the duct tape (which didn't work out), the gorilla tape (which did work out), the day of work I missed dealing with the vandalism/attempted theft, and the rental car fee I'm going to have to pay next week while my car is in the shop.

 

outstanding.

 

thats good to hear man.

 

thats great the fool got caught. do you know how they caught him?

 

They had broken into several cars on my street. When i got home yesterday, a neighbor came over, and said his car was one of the other ones that had been broken into. He didn't think anything had been stolen, but the police called him last week, and said they had caught someone who had his library card.

Who breaks into a car and just steals a library card!? WTF? And on top of that, who's dumb enough to run around with evidence like that on them?

I need to talk with the neighbor who saw the two running away, and see if he's made a positive ID yet. If so, it should be a solid case against the one guy. They haven't caught the second perp yet.

 

I love how you think. Most people would shrug it off and let it be, but more people need to lay down the law!