Images: Marc Mastroianni

Our Mustangs are an extension of us. They’re our babies. When someone even parks too close to us in a parking lot, they get a death glare they won’t soon forget. Door ding our car, and it just might start a fight. Run into our Mustang, and there will be a fight. But what if you took your Mustang to a dealer to have a service issue checked out, and on the “test drive,” the technician TOTALS your beloved Mustang?!

What then? We can see it now. Disbelief, anger, but hopefully those feelings give way to relief knowing said dealer will most likely fix, or replace the car, since it was damaged at the hands of one of its employees. You would think that would be how this story plays out, right?

This is what Mastroianni’s Shelby looked like before dropping it off at Litchfield Ford to have a transmission issue checked out.

Well, in the case of Marc Mastroianni, and his 2008 Shelby GT500, which he saved up for in order to buy and modify, that’s not how his story goes. After the accident on the test drive by Litchfield Ford technicians to diagnose a transmission issue, the car was declared a total loss. So, Mastroianni wouldn’t be getting back his Shelby, nor would he be getting back a car at all.

Instead, he received a settlement check for a little over $39,000. Now, Mastroianni says he paid $37,000 for the Shelby, and then $8,000 for performance modifications. He even paid over $2,500 in service fees on previous Litchfield Ford visits prior to this incident. This author is not good at math, but even I know those numbers don’t add up.

So, let Mastroianni’s unfortunate experience be a lesson to all of us. When you take your Mustang in for service; no matter where, it’s a good idea to check out the dealership or performance shop’s insurance policy against vehicles getting damaged while in their care. See what their coverage is. It’s better to protect yourself than to end up driving a Nissan Frontier like Mastroianni.

We would’ve purchased a couple Fox Mustangs, but that’s just us. Or perhaps another Shelby.