Good day to you.
Sicily By Car are claiming over 9,000 Euros from me for a faulty cabriolet roof that I could not have damaged, it was faulty and not maintained before I tried to use it on the one and only time I tried to retract it.
I simply used the button, as directed by the manufacturer, to retract the roof. It jammed after opening a quarter of the way. I then pressed the same button to close the roof and it made grinding noises and jammed open so I released the button immediately and called the car rental company.
After 3 hours of waiting on a country road, the tow truck finally arrived. The tow truck man said he would take the car and leave us on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. As we speak no Italian we would have been totally stranded. He, their selected contractor, said he would adjust the roof to make it safe for us to drive the 100km out of our way to Florence to return the faulty car. This was in September 2023. We drove there very slowly as the roof was still not shut and we were worried it could fly open or cause damage at any moment. When we got to the Sicily by car office at Florence airport I filled in a form stating as above and was given a replacement car which I made sure the demonstrated the roof worked before accepting it as there had been no-one to do this when we collected the first car. Now, 5 or 6 months later, we get letters claiming we are liable for a brand new roof on a car that is not even worth 9,000 Euros. it was a 3 year old Fiat 500 that was dented all over. I have video from when I first collected it showing all the dents, it was clear not a very well maintained car. In fact, I actually had gone back into the airport to ask for an alternative when we picked it up but they said it was all they had so I had to take it.
I have tried without success to discuss this with the company and their insurers but as I speak no Italian they hang up the phone or reply to emails saying I must pay and keep trying to take money from my credit card. My lawyers say this is unfair and unreasonable. How can I know that they had not maintained this roof correctly and I be liable. I operated it exactly as the manufacturers said I should. This is clearly down to their poor maintenance and not through anything I have done or can be liable for.
Please help as this is very stressful and upsetting to me, this is a great deal of money and I did nothing to break anything!
Help please.
Regards, Nigel
