No, it’s a matter of law, and stare decisis is a kind of law.
There are three kinds of laws: statute, stare decicis, and administrative law. Any one of them can govern an action, depending on the jurisdiction.
For example, the Miranda Rule is not a matter of statute, it’s a matter of a Supreme Court ruling (Miranda v. Arizona).
OK, forget the vocabulary. Nothing gives them the right to hold my car, right?
Whenever I had to deal with someone who wanted to take an unsafe car I would make a notation on the repair order and have the customer sign under it.
If they refused to sign it then I’d add another notation about their refusal to do so. Most signed.
The thing is that there are a certain number of people out there with an unsafe car and who have no intention of spending one dime at a shop to fix it. They bring it in for a free diagnosis so they or their buddy next door can do it.
Never had a problem with doing this but maybe I was just lucky.
I am not a lawyer, but as far as I know they can not hold your car unless you actually owe them money for something. And the bill has to be in writing.
I can’t answer that question. There might be a state where the courts have affirmed a mechanic’s right to insist it be towed rather than driven, as a matter of public safety, particularly if the mechanic has the authority to revoke your inspection certification.
Strictly speaking, insisting it be towed off the premises, rather than driven, isn’t refusing to give it back.
Strictly speaking it is, if I ask for my keys and they refuse to give them to me. Only a law on the books would override my property rights. And I’m aware of none.
An actual lawyer agrees, see above.
…and lawyers always agree on matters of law, and are familiar with the thousands of jurisdictions around the US.
You’ve obviously never met an opinionated fallible lawyer before; I have, and they seldom agree on anything.
Ok. I’m still waiting for anything other than your opinion. Not one actual fact has appeared. Any law, any actual successful lawsuit, anything.
This is a common scam. Nothing more.
I’m not saying the OP’s scenario isn’t a scam, I’m just saying this issue probably hasn’t been settled at the national level, so it’s a legal question that should be put to a lawyer who shares the OP’s jurisdiction.
The facts that support my position are:
Laws vary by municipality.
Laws vary by county.
Laws vary by state.
Who knows? You might have stumbled onto a correct assumption, but you haven’t proved it, and until someone does, citing the statute or case where the question was decided, I think it best to consider the question unanswered.
Until someone who has knowledge of the laws in all 3,007 American counties and all 50 states chimes in, we’re going to have to settle for “I don’t know.”
As the lawyer said, hard to “prove” a negative like this. When faced with an obvious scam that might have the slightest possibility of truth, with nothing to to back it up, I go with “scam” every time.
Well, the mechanic shop sort of has a conflict of interests. “You can’t drive it away” sort of translates into “you have to pay me to work on it”. Of course it could be towed away, but the conflict of interests that could arise makes me a little uncomfortable with the shop forcing anything. I’d think a third party would need to be called in to verify the vehicle is a danger.
I’m still wondering how the shop would refuse to give me my keys and hold my car if I didn’t owe them any money. They must be some big ole boys. 
I sort of have the opposite take, that if they’re doing this, going out on a limb legally speaking, they must be awfully sure of themselves. Otherwise, it’s a hell of a risk to take, that the customer won’t call the cops or sue and legitimize his complaint.
All they have to do is hand over the keys before the call is made. Little risk, great reward.
So all the OP’s friend had to do was threaten to call 911, and he didn’t bother? LOL
Yep. I would.
I would too. Unfortunately, In my experience, even when the law is on your side, you have good chance of getting a lazy cop who isn’t willing to do his job because he doesn’t want to have to do the paperwork that would follow.
Well in the real world, the police aren’t likely to go to the DA to have charges filed unless the mechanic repeatedly pulled this on folks. When they are called, they just want to resolve the dispute quickly so will just likely retrieve the keys and have a stern talk with the mechanic. Sure they can arrest the guy, but then they have to charge them or let them go. That’s what the city, county, district attorney does. Sure, I’ve run across bad ones and good ones. The sandbox story comes to mind.
I agree. I would just want my car back. I imagine just starting to dial would be enough.
I recall a few incidences in the 1980’s when working in small shops the manager or “counter man” told a customer with metal-to-metal brakes that the vehicle was unsafe and would need to be towed or the police would be notified. The customer drove off and whether or not the manager called the police it would have made no difference. In the city with a low priority call like bad brakes it would take 4 hours for a policeman to be dispatched to the area.
As I’m writing this, there’s an episode of “Parking Wars” on where the owner of a towing service is telling the owner of a car that she “can’t drive the car off the lot, it’s unsafe, it needs to be towed” (the car had been in an accident and his towing company picked it up from the accident scene).
I can understand that the tow shop owner has control
over what happens in his lot, but once it’s off his property, unless he’s law enforcement does he have a say?