So, I'm lucky enough to have a garage to keep my little buddy in at home and at work. Aside from the risk of someone looking through the ashtrays and glove box for stuff to steal is there any reason I need to raise the top when I park in the garage at work? Or at home?

 

dust. furry woodland creatures. vandals

 

Besides the above, no. The other problem is, if someone really wants to break in to your car, they could cut the top open and that'd cost you a lot more than having someone rummage through your glove box and find nothing... Past experiences say windows up, doors locked, top down, and no valuables left inside!

 

there are just some f'ed up people out there... id rather have a Biggie Pepsi on the car than in it....

 

That's a good enough reason to me to put the top up when parked. I hadn't thought of that, but could totally see some kid thinking it was funny to toss his half empy soda in to a convertible with its top down.

Okay, I'll keep putting the top up. Its just that the Mini is so dang cute with the top down!

 

Every now and then I leave the top down when running a moderately short errand. Where the car is parked has a lot to do with the decision. I don't think the odds of someone throwing something in the car is any higher than if you left your windows open in a coupe. Also, if someone was going to put a knife through the top just to vandalize it, then it seems they'd put it through the tires or key the paint or what ever. One thing I researched before going vert was if it made the car more prone to theft. What I found was if they want in, they are going to break a window, no matter what kind of car it is. There's way to much metal to get in through the roof.

Parking in the garage overnight I almost always put the top up. Last summer I kept the top down for about a week and the inside got dusty very fast. Cleaning around the gages was enough of a pain for me to leave the top up overnight.

 

I'd put the top up but not lock the car. Didn't often put up the windows either. I didn't used to put the top up much, but after swapping out a sun-bleached carpet I decided I didn't want to do that very often... Also, bird poop is easier to clean off a top than lots of nooks and crannies of the car interior.

Matt

 

Wouldn't top down make it more tempting for a mischief maker to release the parking brake and put it in neutral?

 

has anyone really had their top slashed? i'm thinking it may be urban myth . i work in philly. if there's a place where they're gonna slash your roof, this has got to be it. but i've never seen it....on any convertable. everyone here parks with the top up because of cold and dirt/dust and the doors are locked. i have tons of friends who's cars were rifled through after they left the doors unlocked....that is truely inviting trouble. i live in the burbs where i always leave the top down on short missions and have never had a problem. i think you just have to pick your spots wisely

 

In the miata i'll sometimes go a couple of weeks with the top down (unless it rains at some point). The biggest problem with leaving it parked in a "wide open-type" parking lot is the dust that ends up in the interior if you do this. So on the miata you can get a tonneau cover that zips up to seal off the entire interior. That worked well until I added the roll bar, which of course interferes with the tonneau cover.

As for security, I have found that parking it top down in a busy place, like a downtown street, is usually no issues at all as the passersby will deter most potential thieves / vandals. In a more isolated place or a "lonely" public parking garage where it would sit all day long, day after day, I'd probably put the top up. It really depends most on how secure your work parking lot is.

There is a real carefree feeling in just pulling up alongside the curb in a roadster, jumping out, and walking away. It's how roadsters / convertibles were meant to be enjoyed (where miscreants allow).

 

I think most cases of tops being slashed are due to simple vandalism and not as a means of breaking into the car - smashing a window is much easier/faster if you just want into the car.

Also, if a thief is trying to get into a MINI by cutting the top, he's going to have to climb on top of the car and wriggle through the hole he cut, because there's no place to cut the top that would allow him to stick an arm in and reach the door handle, no matter how "monkey-armed" he is.

 

the top cutting thing is more for jeeps.... they usually dont have glass

 

I leave my top down in my garage at home all the time, with the garage usually open during the day... only when we have windstorms do I regret it (gets nasty).

When it's nice out, I'll leave my top down for a few minutes unattended in a GOOD parking location with lots of visibility. But I have lots of stuff that would walk away if I left it for longer than that, or in a bad location...

 

When I got my first cabrio (Gromit is my third) everyone kept telling me that someone would slash the top. My experience is it's more of an urban myth than fact.

I was in law enforcement for 13 years and my experience is that a thief will reach into an open window, open an unlocked door, or break a window before they go through the trouble of slashing a convertible top.

The material used on cabrio tops is pretty thick and will take a lot of effort to cut. As said previously, it'll take a lot of effort to cut the top just to unlock the door. (Stand next to your MINI with the top down and the window up. Can you reach into the car and unlock the door?) I can say from personal knowledge that it is a LOT faster and easier for a thief to break a window-and it doesn't make nearly as much noise as you would think-to steal something from a car. Yes, there are a-holes out there who will slash a top (I've seen one top slashed, but we won't go into the details that preceded that incident. ) but they are the exception. FWIW, I've seen multiple shattered sunroof vandalism incidents.

 

and have seen a few slashed tops... But not any in the last 10 years or so. What sucks about it is that they're damned expensive to replace! So it's a small chance of something really expensive, vs a larger chance of something not as expensive... What's right? Whatever makes you happy...

Matt

 

I have two convertibles tops damaged/slashed on two different cars over the last 8 years. Granted I live in the city, where they both happened. The one time they slice it in two places to try to get to the lock and open the doors. All they took was a pair of cheap sunglasses. The top cost $900.00. The second time somebody through a rock badly and tore the top on ,my last car. So it is not a urban legend. I have heard of others having it happen to them. I also had somebody once through their cigarette in the open car, while I was out one night 8 years ago. Luckily it did not burn the leather. I would leave your top up.

 

Ditto on the top up advice; definitely better to be safe than sorry. Large % of vandalism/theft type auto property crime is opportunity-driven. Why make it easier by leaving it open?

 

In my Eclipse convertible, I left the top down and a bird aimed right for the radio. The "poo" landed right at the opening of the CD slot. Since then, the top on my MINI stays up when unattended!

 

When I first got my Jeep Wrangler I was afraid of leaving the top down. But I realized that life is too short to worry about stuff like that and it was just easier to leave it down unless I was going in for the night. No one ever bothered with it up or down. I say keep it down. Just make sure you check the weather. THere is nothing worse than being in the mall and hearing that summer thunder and realize your top is down I got very use to driving with a soaked ***

 

Good arguments on both sides here.

I've had more experience with auto-vandalism and theft than I'd care to admit. Every car I've ever owned has either been broken into, or been vandalized somehow. Every time that we've had stuff get stolen, they've busted a window or popped a door lock, even on our convertible.

When we reported the break in on the cabriolet to the police, the officer pointed out that he doesn't see convertible tops slashed very often because it takes longer to break through the top than it does to bust out a window or pop a door lock. Usually, when a convertible top is slashed, it's just vandalism rather than a need to get into your car.

I'm still sort of amused by the break in on our cabriolet, because it happened at my husband's office, when the car was parked right in plain sight of the door for the security office. The thief left the car door standing open and the security guard didn't notice a thing, not even the open car door.

 

Interesting timing on this thread. The company that manages our office building just sent out an alert that several buildings in our area have reported cars being broken in to while parked in the garages.

We like to think our garage at work is safe, it is patrolled regularly. In the 13 years I've worked here there have been a handful of reported breakins. Somneone broke in to my truck several years ago. Well, I left the doors unlocked so they didn't actually break in. Just opened the doors and went through everything.

Long ago when I lived in Miami FL. I had a '67 VW Beetle. The car was trashed. Dented, rusted, bumpers falling off, no radio at all, seats torn. I real piece of crap. Yet, one night someone broke the window to go through the car. The only thing in the car was a plastic flashlight with dead, corroded batteries. They took it.

I suppose at work I could keep the top down if I never kept anything I didn't want stolen in the car. I'd almost rather give them easy access then replace a broken window.

Thanks for all the replies!

 

go figure

i thought if there were tops to be slashed they'd be here in the northeast....but it seems like the midwest and west are the places you need to watch

 

I leave mine open with a sign on it. "Go ahead Im watching you."
People look at the car funny, but havent approached it yet. I really do watch, shes parked right outside my office.

 

mine is alwasy UP if i am not in it...

 

My wife left the top down one time. Overnight. It rained.

Water pools under the rear seat and soaks up into the rear seat cushions. It took a long while to dry completely out!

She puts the top up now.