Took the Boxstr to the detail shop for a complete detail. Top was down, next day I picked up a 914 from the detail shop and the Boxstr top was up. Next day I get a call from the detail shop and the top will only go up on one side but not the other. Broken pass side transmission. Repair cost with parts $1700. Who is responsible for the repair bill??
TIA
CCLINTOPLESS

tough one.... ouch!

i would think as a comsumer that they should "help" out with the repair. but as a company owner i would say its not our fault.

can you answer a simple ? , does this car still have the over ride where the car has to be parked for the top to go up or down. if it still does you might be sol, but if the over ride is removed you can try to say they ran it up while it was moving

The car has not been changed from factory stock. No top overide. I ma not looking to try and screw the detailer, he is a friend and someone I wish to continue to do business with. But I will recommend that the car owner be present to put tops up and down especially on power tops that require multiple steps.
CCLINTOPLESS

A tough call...maybe when it's torn down for repair there will be some clues as to why it broke...a smoking gun with any luck.

Make sure you have proof!

Do you know who tried to put the top up? Was it your friend/owner or a trusted worker that you have worked with in the past? I would think that if you know the person and have some comfort level as to their competency you could assume that the top would have broke even if you had put it up. If, on the other hand, a ham handed worker was working on the car, the top might have been forced and broke. In that case I would think that the owner would take responsibility. The owner should make sure that all of his employees are trained to properly operate all controls of the cars they work on or stop and ask for help. Since you want to continue to work with this shop, and I assume that you bring the guy a fair amount of business, you might be able to work out a compromise. Was the $1700 a retail quote? Any chance of getting some of the job done at cost or trade?

-Jeff

I'm not much of a Boxster connaiseur (sp?) but I don't think a failing top is very common with these cars...
The operation of a Boxster top is very simple... So you'd have to be a real duffus to f it up and break stuff
So big question is... WHY did it break?

Doesn't this guy have some kind of shop insurance that covers mishaps like this?

If he's a friend / good business partner, it's a tough call...
Didn't he suggest anything himself?
Maybe 50/50 on the repair or he details the next couple of cars for free?

QUOTE (boxstr @ Jun 27 2005, 10:42 PM)

..... he is a friend and someone I wish to continue to do business with. But I will recommend that the car owner be present to put tops up and down especially on power tops that require multiple steps. CCLINTOPLESS

Being a friend puts a kink in your endeavor to recoupe loss. Having the owner there to put a top up or down adds time to the detailing of the vehicle plus, to detail correctly it must be done with the top up and down. I guess it all depends on how long you want the friendship & to be without your car.
A cunundrum to say the least

As said above, proof is needed. Time to bite the bullet & see how it became broken.

.........b

i seem to remember Car and Driver having a problem with a convertible top on one of their long term test cars. as clean as the boxster was i can't imagine it needing a detail. a "friend" who gets a ton of business should be willing to work with you on it.

k

Okay Thank you everyone who has taken the time to think about this sticky question. What I will do is stop in today and ask the questions, who? what? and why? If he is agreeable I will make the repairs and take out some in trade, details for half of the repair cost. And no I am not going to try and jump in and fix this can of worms. It is a 6 hour job and will not be discounted by enough to worry about.
I just hope that the new repair cables that Porsche supplies last until I sell this car.
CCLINTOPLESS

Any and all convertible tops I have owned are manual....I have heard too many stories of electric motors and the associated hardware screwing up.....usually followed by mega $$$ on a repair bill.

Dunno if that's an option on a Boxster....

As to to whose to blame....tuuff call....I usually try to pin stuff like that on Miles....

Craig,

Do you know if there is any bulletins out on that top assembly? Maybe there's a little known factory problem with the geometry causing a failure... Just a thought.

Rich The factory did put out new reinforced replacement cables and the associated hardware for making the repairs after the falilure. Not a recall or factory participation on this one. I guess I should consider myself lucky since they did put in a new (free)motor.
All Boxstrs are power tops, no option here.
CCLINTOPLESS

according to my bud at the porsche dealership, this happens an awful lot. They fix many of these, more than you would think.

I would let your friend at the detail shop know, but I don't think his shop is 'responsible' per se... I think it was just bad timing... I think this issue is fairly common. your friend, knowing you are a loyal customer, he might offer to help a bit...

i'm still trying to figure out why they took the top down in the first place. you going to share pictures of the malaga car?

k

If you know and trust the guy, it probably wasn't anything he did. Most newer cars seem to have some pretty good faily safe devices in place to thwart off ill use of parts like auto-tops. My guess is he put the top up to clean/detail it and when he went to put it back down, no go. Wrong place at the wrong time.

I handle anything I work on like it is made of egg shells. The LAST thing I want is to break or scratch something.

I used to run a full serv wash & detail shop & when a convertible was brought in I would always have the owner put the top up & it stayed that way. But from time to time things would happen that you don't plan for. As an operator the argument of product merchantability can be made. Meaning the top was operated the way it was designed to operate & due to age or fatigue it just happened to fail at that given moment. If, of course, there is no evidence of improper handling of the top. What I feel would be fair in that case, or in this case from what it sounds like, is a split in cost for repair or a trade out as you were mentioning before. As long as YOU, as the consumer, are happy with the trade out. You said you would like to continue doing business with the shop and hopefully they would like to continue the relationship as well (I would as an operator). That being said I'm sure an agreement can be made. Just don't be one of those people that starts by saying "It wasn't like that before I brought it in & you're gonna pay for it" Be diplomatic. Remember the art of diplomacy is letting some one else have your own way!

If I'm reading this right, you left the car off with the top down. I think that was a bad move to start with. If that's the case and the shop had to put the top up to secure the car for the night I really don't see how they could be held liable for a part wearing out just because it happened on their property. If they hadn't put the top up and the interior was damaged because of this, they would have to share some liability. I'm no lawyer, but I did used to watch Perry Mason. Doris was hot, or was her name Darla?

QUOTE

Rich The factory did put out new reinforced replacement cables and the associated hardware for making the repairs after the falilure.

QUOTE

according to my bud at the porsche dealership, this happens an awful lot. They fix many of these, more than you would think.

From these two pieces of information, it sounds like they did nothing wrong and it was just bad timing.

I've never operated a Boxster top so I can't imagine how a person would break one. I mean, do you just push a button and it comes up? If that's the case then I'd assume an employee pushed the button and the top broke by itself.

I agree that this is not the fault of the detail shop. This happens WAY to often on a Boxster. Most likely they were just the one that pushed the button when it was ready to break. It could have done the same thing the next time you pushed the button. I am waiting for my top to break (01 Boxster).

I think it was Della...Perry Mason's secretary.

Okay It was Della who pushed the button and broke the top. Now do you think Perry will defend her??
CCLINTOPLESSBYABUTTON

I think you're outta luck if Della broke it...unless you can get Jacko's attorney to go up against Perry.