Just managed to get hold of the report from Meridian Milano.
The description of what they did is as follows:
"We inspected the Punto which has light rear end damage
we were requested to investigate why the sunroof is jammed open
we have inspect and found that the runner guides on both sides are cracked and split
we believe this is causing the runners/guides to jam on the anti-pinch.
I find it hard to believe this is a result of light rear end damage.
in my opinion the sunroof has not been caused by light damage to the rear"

What they are talking about is a thin strip of plastic that sits on top of the runner and yes I was fully aware they were cracked as I have greased them a couple of times. however they have no bearing on this fault as they have been like this the whole time. It would appear from what the say that they have not even removed the glass and checked the condition of the ribbon that drives them!

The report did say that they removed the motor and tried to close the roof manually to no effect. Pointless exercise!

Sounds like when the roof on my Bravo failed, I ended up stripping it all down to close and sealed it as it always jammed open after.

Hurrah!!!!!!!!!
After my claim went up the chain and turned into an official complaint and after my numerous phone calls stating that
a. Meridian Milano Abarth are Idiots and did not perform the most basic of checks to my roof &
b. Fiat U.K were absolutely no help and would not confirm or deny anything

my claim has been approved!!!!!!!!!:slayer:

The guy in complaints did agree that the car clearly should not go to the Abarth garage so he is going to arrange the work to be done by SGM Fiat Southampton.
I had already spoken to them and got a price all in of £1278 which includes the 2 vessels which are now £450 each

Can't tell you how relieved and satisfied that I kept on at them.

I have been silently reading your whole situation and I'm really glad that you've managed to get the result you were lucking for.

If I ever happen to end up in a similar situation to yours (which I hope I don't- no offense!) then I'll know to not take no for an answer if something clearly wasn't my fault.

Happy for you

Cheers mate. So relieved.
I had already contacted the technical department at the Ombudsman in preparation of the next step, who absolutely thought I had a very strong case against my insurer.
Just glad I didn't have to go down that route as it would have taken several weeks and I would have had to pay to fix my roof myself either through a dealer or through the scavenge the breakers yards method.
Ah well job done!

PS. I did state that I would be expecting a full valet as when I met the worst assessor in the world my car was pretty damp and miserable inside.

Well done!!!

Did the police ever track down the culprit?

Still waiting for permission from Hampshire county council to access the number plate recording system on at the recycling depot down the road from where it happened.
There is a strong believe after describing this guy and his car and the fact his car was full of rubbish that he had been there a few times that day.

We have been harassing the Police officer handling the case and have been told to be patient as this sort of thing takes ages!

What over 4 weeks?????? :bang:

Keep on at them and they'll soon get sick of you and sort it

Update:
Car bumper repairs complete. Car getting picked up today on a low loader and taken to SGM Fiat Bursledon Southampton. Once they have it they will provide an official quote to my insurance company and they will authorise the repairs.
Sewards want their courtesy car back so we had a mad dash to Enterprise at the weekend to get another Hire car provided by the insurance company.
Only got told about this at 11:30 Saturday morning and they closed at 12 noon.
Great!

Police investigation has been fruitless so this is staying as a fault accident against my insurance policy unless they hear otherwise. Thankfully there is no excess to pay.

martwho said:

Thankfully there is no excess to pay.

Click to expand...

Lucky, how did you wangle that one?

Well my excess was only £100, but I argued that although it was processed as a fault accident against my insurance (due to the lack of other party involved) that it wasn't actually my fault. So they agreed to add it to the unrecoverable loss.
Actually my insurance was due for renewal a few days after the incident and i managed to negotiate fully comp for me and my missus for £300 with no excess at all!

OMG this is neverending! Got a call from SGM Fiat today and I immediately thought great the roofs done. Only to be asked if I'd heard anything from my insurance company? So basically SGM submitted the estimate Monday and they haven't heard anything back. So I immediately called the insurance company only to be told the guy dealing with my case/complaint was off on Fridays. So now I have to wait until Monday to find out what the hells going on.

Bang out how this is getting dealt with, hopefully it's sorted soon and you get your car back

Update:
SGM had submitted an estimate to my insurance company on 24/11.
However it was not for the original verbal estimate of £1378.
The new estimate was for £2010 and was for the entire sunroof mechanism.
This apparently is the vessels mounted in the frame and all associated fixings etc.
It would seem as they have no experience of these sunroofs they want to cover all bases just in case the vessels alone did not fix the roof.
They did also state that they had taken the sunroof apart and found that the ribbons where folded back on themselves and damaged,causing the problem.
He did add that they still were not prepared to say that this categorically was as a result of the shunt (Booh!) Bloody obvious if you ask me

I was told by my insurance company they questioned the increase straight away and asked for an actual description of the work involved.
So after a week of not knowing this was going on I've had to get involved again.

SGM told me they had done this but shortly after the insurance company stated they had not. So after a few phone calls back and forth I have finally got a definitive 'YES' it is authorised.
Minutes later I get a call from SGM saying the parts have been ordered.
They do have to come from Italy so they could take a couple of days.

At least I know now they are ordered and the work will be completed soon.:yum:

Miss my car man!

£2000 to fix the sunroof, remind me never to open mine again !

Well having had a broken sunroof only a few months back and then replacing both vessels with some I'd sourced at a breaker I am 99.9% certain just the vessels would have fixed the roof.
But it would seem the majority of Fiat garages are absolutely clueless when it comes to these roofs.
To be honest I think Fiat are having a laugh charging £450 per vessel, especially seeing as the key component is made of plastic!
What's worse is if you can be bothered they can be ordered off Ebay Italy for £200 euros which is a much more realistic price in my mind.

martwho said:

But it would seem the majority of Fiat garages are absolutely clueless when it comes to these roofs.

Click to expand...

Or anything else other than fitting tyres or changing oil and a filter

Looking forward to being re-united with my Italian whip next week !
Fingers crossed

Update:
Had a call from SGM last Friday 12th, although they had received the parts on the Monday they had to wait for a Glazer to come in. Earliest appointment was the Friday they called.
Essentially they have to cut the old roof out, clean all the sealant out, apply new sealant, lay the new roof in and leave it over the weekend to set.
Monday they should do some water tests to ensure there are no leaks and finish off the re-assembly Monday/Tuesday.
The guy is hoping it will be ready Tuesday evening.

Bloody well hope so, close to 8 weeks now i've been without my car!
Fingers crossed.