Off Topic Vintage Fiat 500 Soft Top Damage

[Danep]

Hi All,

I rented a classic Fiat 500 during our trip to Florence and the tour company claimed I damaged the soft top (see image attached).

The top was put down at the beginning of the trip and it was not inspected as part of the walk through.

While driving, we closed the top because it started raining, we were never told at the beginning of the trip not to open/close the soft top while driving. The max speed we were driving was 40km/h.

When we returned the tour company asked for €120 for the “damages.” Looking at the soft top, it appears the damage might be old and not caused by us during the rental.

Weird part is the rental company asked us to claim the damages through our travel insurance company and said “this happens all the time and customers just get their money back through their insurance company.”

Would love some input from Fiat 500 enthusiasts here to see if the damage was likely caused by us opening the soft top or perhaps we were scammed by the tour company?

Thanks in advance,

Dane

 

[Noah500]

Hard luck! In my personal opinion that is old damage and they just tried it on (and got away with it...). It looks fairly brittle/perished anyway (I can see the beginnings of wear on the top of the support bar) but I suppose it could just about have been intact and your use of it finally cracked through into a split . Not sure that your standard travel insurance would cover it, though - and there's probably an excess on that in any case.

As a slight aside, I've found when hiring (modern) cars abroad some have an explicit "very minor scratches/scuffs, etc. don't count" policy', others will get you on every tiny thing. Last year in Sicily I got charged €80 (including 'processing fee'!) for a tiny mark on one of the wheel trims that could easily have been there before we got the car. I had gone round it on collection to check but there's a limit to how far you can reasonably go. In my case, I always refuse the generally overpriced excess waiver cover that the car hire companies tend to charge and buy separate cover before I went. A few pounds a day and they refunded the excess when I got back with no quibble.

 

[Ant Knox]

That's old damage for sure, but I doubt there's much you can do about it to be honest.
Off subject, but on a similar tangent; I once stayed in a Torquay hotel for a study tour with college, at the end of the stay, the hotelier did a room inspection and made a bee-line for a bedside lamp..."This has been broken!" They exclaimed, on inspection, the wire lampshade hoop was snapped, but had rust on the exposed surfaces! We had a 'lively' discussion about who was to pay for the 'damage', our arguement being that a lampshade frame wouldn't rust in two nights, even if it had been at the bottom of the sea!

 

[fiat500]

Hi All,

I rented a classic Fiat 500 during our trip to Florence and the tour company claimed I damaged the soft top (see image attached).

The top was put down at the beginning of the trip and it was not inspected as part of the walk through.

While driving, we closed the top because it started raining, we were never told at the beginning of the trip not to open/close the soft top while driving. The max speed we were driving was 40km/h.

When we returned the tour company asked for €120 for the “damages.” Looking at the soft top, it appears the damage might be old and not caused by us during the rental.

Weird part is the rental company asked us to claim the damages through our travel insurance company and said “this happens all the time and customers just get their money back through their insurance company.”

Would love some input from Fiat 500 enthusiasts here to see if the damage was likely caused by us opening the soft top or perhaps we were scammed by the tour company?

Thanks in advance,

Dane

@Danep , that's not the sort of damage that would be caused by opening or closing the hood whether standing still or moving. You instinctively know that it wasn't you, and even if it was, the fabric is obviously quite old and prone to splits.

They will probably just tape it over and wait until it becomes completely ragged before replacing. That's what mainstream rental companies do; they charge for every scuff and ding and I think that the income from that is considered part of the business.

I always take lots of "before" photos of rental cars, and I am still stressed by the risk that they will catch me for something in any case. In my experience, Italy is generally quite bad for dodges to rip off tourists....and not just with rental cars.

A long time ago on a Greek island, (I think it was Samos), I really wanted to rent their only Fiat 126 soft-top. A couple if kilometers after picking up the car, an exhaust elbow came loose. I was so keen to use the car that we continued all week with the noise like a tractor behind us. This was in the days when additional mileage charges were more common. As self-compensation, this naughty boy disconnected the speedometer cable.

Those were the days.

 

[heggae]

I have a vintage 500. Awesome car.
I had decided to buy one after several trips to Italy. Including when (My wife and I rented one that we had to literally pick up and rotate after we got trapped on a small vineyard road to keep from rolling down the hillside )

After I located a good car to purchase I started working on shipping. Had a shipper in Belgium Who I had used before ( on a vintage mini cooper )….. after several chats to have him help me set up shipping. He finally said “be careful with the Italians “

I bought mine from eBay out of Florida Great car. No problems.