Hawk vs. C4S Cabrio

Long story short, I walked out to my car today and found a hawk perched atop my Carrera 4S Cabriolet. No, that's not a joke. S/he was a good 18-24" tall and it completely freaked out when I went to open the door to the garage and, not surprisingly, so did I as I was not expecting to find a bird of prey standing on my Porsche. I tried approaching the door a few times and every time I did he went a little nuts -- flying into walls, the ceiling, the car. It was not good. After some time, I opened the door without freaking it out too much in the process. I cringed every time I heard its claws clatter against the hood but, mostly, I didn't want it to puncture or destroy the fabric top. I could see its feces smeared all over the place and was just hoping for the best. It didn't take him long to fly out after I got the door open. What I found was a mess of feces smeared against the hood, windows, roof...everywhere...so, I did the unimaginable. I took it to a car wash. They did an okay job getting most of the crap off of the car. I can take care of the rest and, thankfully, any correction needed to the paint is minor -- no real notable scratches, just the kinds of swirls you'd expect from a car dealer. The roof is another issue. It's not torn up but it does look like someone took a fork to the top and scratched lines from the front to the back in a number of areas. It's hard to capture with my camera phone. Does anyone have any suggestions for handling these kinds of scratches in the fabric? I'm not sure if it makes a difference but my top is grey (not black). I'm thinking that I should call my insurance company before I do anything just in case I can improve but not remedy the problem. Anyway, any thoughts on ways to address the light scratches in the roof would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! -Eric

Strange story! How'd the beast get in to the garage? I can't imagine any way to repair scratches in a fabric top. If it is more than cosmetic, I'd strongly consider a call to the insurance company. Good luck.

My question is:-How did a Large Hawk get into your closed garage in the first place?? I can imagine you calling the Insurance and telling them the hawk story and their reply. "Oh yeh are you sure it wasn't a flying pig that crapped on the car" lol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrvehIQSqDk

I would shampoo the canvas top with whatever you normally used to clean it, get it good and dry, and then apply a fresh coat of RaggTopp (or whatever protectant/sealant you normally use). Note that you should never scrub the top with a brush - any bristles will cause the canvas fibers to separate slightly, and you'll get fuzz that is nearly impossible to get rid of. WHen I had my Boxster, I just used my fingertips to soap up the canvas, and then lots of low-pressure water to get all the soap back out.

Wow, that's crazy. But, at least you've got a great cocktail party story. Plus, if anyone asks about the scratches, well that's one answer they'll remember. I had a skunk get in my basement a few years ago. Not a happy ending to that story. Be glad you just ended up with some scratches to the convertible top.

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The Cab is currently in a temporary structure with a ventilation opening. I'm assuming that's how it got in. We're planning an addition that will include a permanent garage for the other cars. In the meantime, I've always put the car that I'm driving regularly in that space on the theory that regular use is more apt to discourage cohabitation by woodland creatures. For the winter, for example, the Porsche will move into our attached 2 car garage...but I didn't drive it this past weekend and I guess that's when my friend moved in. -Eric

Oh, and Hurdi, the Hawk on my car was very much like the one in your video but a probably a bit larger. Standing on my hood, its head clearly rose above my car's roof line. I certainly wasn't going to mess with him. -Eric

So, my insurance company has asked me to go to 2 different body shops, which I've done, and the insurance company either doesn't like or understand what they've said. I went to a few other shops and delivered the same message back to the insurance company and now they're basically ignoring me. At what point am I not a complete douche for escalating this to the State Dept of Insurance as a complaint? Any thoughts on other options? I submitted my claim 2 mos ago. I might understand delays like this if the car was totaled or had real damage that could be disputed but while the circumstances of th damage are odd, the damage itself is petty straightforward and we aren't talking about $10k in repairs. They haven't even responded to me since I went back to them 10 days ago after visiting their 2nd shop (which also happens to be my dealer). -Eric

Don't know who your insurance co is, but don't be afraid to file a complaint with your state ins dept. The Co. WILL respond to the DOI. I'm betting you have a valid claim.

The hawk could be the least of your problems. Check your garage/engine bay/other cars for rodents...

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Yeah, just spent $400 having a nest removed from the pollen filter which, of course needed replacement, and then had the whole system disinfected. Now my interior smells minty. This year has sucked (for far more reasons than these annoyances). Needless to say, I'm ready for 2016. And, @southern_man, surprisingly, it's USAA. I've sworn by them for years. No more. This is enough to make me think more than twice at renewal time. -Eric

Wow that is surprising and a shame about USAA. Even on a $20k bill for repainting the Cayenne they never batted an eye. My Dad's had them for longer than I've been alive and other than not liking rate hikes has been happy with them. You might try escalating internally if you haven't already, but as long as you've waited and as much as you seem to have played their game I'd say you are more than justified in taking your issue to your state agencies.

Very odd for USAA to act this way. Here's a phrase to throw out next time you speak with them: vexatious refusal to pay a claim. Your state probably has a law with penalties regarding this. Normally treble damages.

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If I wasn't going through it myself I wouldn't believe it. While we, thankfully, haven't had many claims over the years and those that we have filed have been minor (none caused by us), I would have previously told you our experience with them had been stellar. The night before Thanksgiving we had a flood on our first floor. There's nothing like finding a couple of inches of water covering 4 rooms with hardwood floors at 11pm the night before you're hosting 30 people for dinner...and then there's the basement the water also found its way into. We called our insurance company (Amica...who IS awesome). They sent a guy out who put together an estimate to re-sand and finish the floors in all of the damaged rooms plus the 4 connecting rooms (to ensure they match). The job will require us to be out of our house for a week and then, of course, they're replacing the area rugs and other items lost. Thankfully, nothing major was lost but suffice it to say this isn't going to be cheap. They didn't even bat an eyelash...just get it done and they'll take care of it. In the meantime, I've still got this stupid POS claim with USAA and they are outright dumbfounded as to how they should handle it. The worst part, to me, is that they're allowing such massive periods of time to lapse without responding to me. The only way I am getting their attention is when I post a note to my claim file basically asking them if they're alive. It's shameful. -Eric

Well, I lobbed my last warning shot over the wall and let them know theyre leaving me no choice but to reach out to the state. We'll see how they react. I'm pretty sure they'll respond. What they will come back with...who knows at this point. -Eric

Wow, I've had USAA for nearly 30 years and have only had outstanding service. I would think a single phone call could resolve this issue. Strange.

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That's been our experience as well...until now. If I outlined everything here you'd (a) be bored out of your mind, and (b) bang your head against a wall in frustration. Here's an example -- after 6 weeks of fighting with them about the amount of labor included in their estimate for paint correction they came back to me in an email that said, "Are you sure your paint doesn't need to be polished and buffed?" No joke. And the fight is absurd. Their field adjuster (who never saw my car) believes it will take 2hrs to do a full exterior paint correction while every shop they sent me to PLUS two additional shops I visited just to emphasize the point were all adamant that it would take a full day to do correctly. Making it even better is that every shop came back with the same exact cost estimate. No surprise, their field guy disagrees with costs because he believes body shops in the NYC area charge $50/hr for labor. -Eric

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That doesn't surprise me at all. When my Cayenne got repainted it went like this: Got splashed (spray from the car in front of me getting covered in it) by what I figured was mud when a big-*** bucket loader put it's bucket down next to the road. As I thought it was mud, I continued on to work. When I left work I noticed that it was still sticky (80+ degree day in direct sunlight for 8+ hours) so I took it by a detailer on the way home that just happened to be down the road from where the incident happened. They showed me another car that got a full brunt of the stuff (not the car that was in front of me, so they did this multiple times!) and it had already eaten away a half-dollar sized chunk of clear coat in a bunch of places. He wanted $400 to clean it, but I decided to talk to USAA first. They sent me to their local chop shop and while waiting for the appointment I took it to the only shop I'll let work on my cars. He took one look and said he wasn't going to bother. He explained that they'll write the estimate to buff it and clean it for maybe $1200, but it was going to be at least $15k of work. He told me to come back once the paperwork is done and he'll take care of it. Went to the chop shop appointment, he took one look and said the same thing (though his guess was $12k). He told me he had to write it up as a buff/restore job because that's what USAA demanded, but he knew it was going to burn through the clear coat and need a full painting. Sure enough USAA approved the $1400 quote to buff it and clean the rubber parts. I took it to my shop and Chris played the game by trying to buff it out, then sent the first of 4 adjustments. USAA sent someone out for the first adjustments, but didn't bat an eye at the rest. I'd have to dig up the paperwork, but the final bill after all 4 adjustments was right around $20k. I only had to talk to them when I made the initial call and when they called 4 months in wondering why Chris hadn't cashed any of the checks yet. Then I got a check in the mail to return my deductible after they got the construction company to pay up. So based on my experience, I'd say the shops kinda screwed you here as they should have known the game that would be played. If they had submitted the cheap quote it would have been approved and then they could submit adjustments after proving that the cheap solution didn't work. It's BS that insurance companies play games like that though and it's 100% on USAA's head for all this.

OP...did you find the rodents?

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Yay.

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Thanks for all of the feedback. I'm sorry to hear about what you went through. It does give me some comfort knowing that I'm not the only one who seems to have had a problem with them; especially since most people are shocked (if not doubting my experience). The dealer said they found the nest and its (dead) inhabitants. I'm hoping their relatives don't come searching for them. -Eric

So here's the latest: I went back to my dealer (again) and this time spoke to the service manager. He validated everything I've been told previously. I shared that with USAA and after a few more days of silence USAA issued me an updated estimate, now shorting me by $140; the unethical bastards...and, of course, without answering my questions or naming any shops that will actually perform the services for the amount in their estimate. Part of me wants to just eat the $140 and put this whole thing behind me -- and I'm sure they're counting on that. I'm really tired of thinking about it. On the other hand, we've got a good claim record, pay them a lot each year to keep our deductible down to $250, and they haven't even named a single shop that will write up an estimate for me, let alone perform the repairs! When I brought my car to Porsche in December (my dealer and the 2nd shop they named), they found some additional trim that was damaged and will need replacement -- nothing major but it will likely add another few hundred dollars to the claim. This incremental cost isn't covered in the current estimates. Even worse, I'm afraid the paint repair shop will find that some of the scratches are too deep to repair without a repaint. I have no reason to believe USAA will cover either of those issues before defaulting a "you chose the shop, you have to live with the cost/quality of their repairs" argument. I know my rights under law and understand some of the inherent risk in using my own shop despite my rights but USAA has given me the names of 2 facilities so far and NEITHER will even write-up the claims! I'm so sick of this unethical bull!@#%. -Eric