Car got stolen, could be a good thing.

Talking out my ass a bit on this, but here goes.
When my friends F250 was stolen out of his driveway one week after he made the last payment, the insurance company asked for the most recent service records. We presumed they wanted to make sure the claim wasn't a fraudulent one designed to get my friend out of a huge repair bill or something.

For A car that old at a shop with a bad transmission is not worth filing a report. At the end of the day you had a parts car at best. Your insurance company will probably feel the same. Work out something with the shop. Maybe ask him for some free labor or a ppi for the next car you buy. Just realize that a meth head thief is the bad guy here. Sometimes we lose to these jackasses and no amount of squirming and trying to get someone else to pay for our loss will change that.

The meth heads left in a ditch in Johnson County TN, the sheriff's dept says it has been spray painted black and green, I can't wait to see this. Going over there to get it Thursday (hopefully it is drivable) so I will be sure to post up a pic for y'alls general amusement.

So now the question is....is the shop liable for the theft and subsequent damage to property?

I think yes, but not an expert by any means. What say you?

Responsible? In theory only I'm sure.

Well at least you got a paint job out of the deal.

You may want to carefully check to make sure there aren't any needles hidden in the car. You don't want to find one with a bare hand some day. :eek1

The good news is that you've probably got a far greater chance of getting them to do some work on the car for free, as payment for allowing it to get stolen while in their care, custody and control than you ever did in getting them to pay you for your loss if it hadn't turned up. Maybe they do what it was in there for and get the a/c working in the bargain. Maybe they know a guy who paints cars who'd trade for whatever it is that they do as well.

Bad news is, if it was meth heads...you're going to need a new catalytic converter.

The car was originally gold. A friend of mine has named it in its current condition "The blue leapord."

WTF.

I thought this was a nice artistic touch.

Some of the trash they left in the car. It was clean when stolen. Here's an itemized list:
-the expected drug refuse: 2 spoons, 2 needle caps (no needles,) a tiny ziplock like crack rock comes in.
-3 pairs dirty socks, one pair dirty jeans, ironically in my exact size, 34x32. No I'm not keeping them.
-a bible. No shit.
- 5 different air fresheners. The car reeks so bad of air fresheners I can't even sit in it. At least they didn't take a shit in it.
-they put a strip of tint over the top of the windshield
-a chick was driving it. Pink deer head sticker on back window, multiple cold cream jars, etc.
-a pink plastic flower on the dash and a nice owl mirror hanging thingy.
-the rest was mostly fast food trash.
-a huge black vinyl tarp was stuffed in the truck, brand new, 10x30 or so, very high quality like they would use to cover a load in a semi. Score.
-under the hood they had checked and topped off the oil and left a half quart under there for future use.

They had the car less than a week so it seems they really went to town getting it just how they wanted it. The paint job was pretty smart because if you've ever been to Mountain City, TN a lot of the cars look like that. It blends right in. The cop found it at the top of a cliff where they were going to push it off, but the undercarriage got hung in a ditch so they just left it. Evidently they got real scared because they didn't grab their stuff out of it.

Here's good news. On the 30 min drive back the transmission worked perfectly. The shop had swapped out the solenoids before it was stolen. Evidently that fixed the problem (intermittent refusal to shift.)

Also the interior is beat up. They smashed the steering column and the ignition switch so now you start it with a screw driver. Thy punched out the door lock cylinder to get in it.

NICE paint job.

From your description of its previous condition, the thieves seemed to take it up a notch.

A quick go through with a trashbag and you will be stylin'.


Who said meth heads are bad people? :huh

A Rustoleum roller paint job, and she'll look just like new.
http://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-archive-71/paint-how-paint-your-7-less-than-$100-56k-beware-706448/

those hubcaps really tie the car together,man.

"Is this your homework Larry? Have you ever heard of Vietnam Larry?"

Get up at 4 am and drop it back off at the shop. For the laughs and such.

Tbh, I'd drive it as is. Not sure I'd even bother fixing the locks.

Looks like they were huffing, and sneezed on it!

So will your insurance pay to get it repainted and then go after them?

No luck on insurance helping out. I only had liability on the car so we are SOL. I think I will do the rustoleum paint job and hand it back over to my kid. This is his first car so it's going to get crashed anyway.

Or should I paint it like the general lee and weld the doors shut?

This....