You must settle the bill for parts and labor before you can take the vehicle, that may or may not be greater than the deposit.
The shop may not be comfortable with you taking the car in a disassembled state, it will cost you about $5,000 for the transmission core and the associated parts that were left behind.
You might have been able to sell the car last month as a car with a transmission problem but as a “parts car” you may only get $2000 to $3000.
The wealthy don’t fit well into a Corolla.
I was going to have a police officer meet me there tomorrow. I paid them a $7,500 deposit. All they did was take the transmission out and take it to another business to re-manufacture. I still want that business to re-manufacture it and I’ll pay them directly. All they can do is charge me for taking the transmission out and maybe fees for storing the car on their property?
I’m worried that since I tried to tow the car away they may be angry and retaliate by tampering with the car. Or am I being paranoid?
OP
How is that gonna help? They still can’t get the parts.
And it will probably get more expensive, If somebody comes to me with a car in “boxes”, I’m gonna charge a higher price relatively than if the car had been in one piece on arrival.
Also, the current shop has donated 250 bucks towards rental cars, do You think that still would go well.
After all, it was not him, who decided that You should by a very rare, unik and expensive car
Ferrari and Lamborghini owners are also used to wait for long periods to get their cars maintained/repaired and forking over tons of money for it.
You still have the option of going to BMW and have it done. It’ll cost You 20k +++ and maybe a veeery long time duo to the fact that the parts are not readily available.
Yes, You also have to pay the current shop for all his work and expenses.
And no, nobody can drink champagne on a beer budget.
Can you do that with a car that is not paid for in full?
the fact that 2013 car is not paid off yet is pretty much an indication that budget was a stretch in the first place, but I would imagine that paying off in lump sum is always an option, given adequate funding is available
The transmission is being re-manufactured by a different business. All this mechanic did was take the transmission out and give it to them.
I found another mechanic who will put the transmission back in for $750. So I can help recoup my rental car costs by paying for the remanufacture more directly and having another business install the transmission.
The transmission re-manufacturer is having troubles getting parts for your transmission,
What good will it do to take the car from the shop that pulled the transmission?
You’re still going to have to wait for the transmission shop to get the parts.
If I agreed to pay the shop that pulled the transmission 10k and I take it from there because they have not been honest about the unavailablity of parts/how long this would take and are not splitting rental car fees I can pay this other business 750 to put it in and pay the remanufacture business directly. I could save 1000 to 2000 doing that, or more. I don’t think its shady on my part because the first business was not straight with me about how long this could take.
Dan , I am sympathetic to your problem but this is not something can be solved on an open forum . You either need an attorney , pay the shop what it needs or find a way to end this .
According to what You yourself wrote here on this tread the current business has been getting the run around it self, so I don’t think that they have had an inch of a chance to give a reliable estimate on the time.
I’m fairly sure that the boss at your shop will be happy to see the rear bumper disappear, as long as he’s got his money.
Which could be several thousand dollars
I think the consensus is correct so far. You’re angry that you don’t have your car back (understandable) but nothing you’ve said indicates the shop you have it at is at fault. If you take a car in for repair, and the mechanic tries to get parts to repair it but cannot because the parts are not available, that is not the mechanic’s fault. You are punishing the wrong party, unless there’s something you’ve forgotten to tell us.
You certainly don’t have the right to take the car until your mechanic has been compensated for the work he’s already done. You don’t get that work for free just because you’re now mad at the situation.
If you show up with the cops tomorrow… Well first, the cops won’t show up for you because it’s a civil matter, and generally the police don’t show up to help you recover your property until you have a court order mandating that your property be returned to you, which you will not get unless you have paid the mechanic what you owe him and THEN he refuses to turn the car over.
As an aside, I also side with the others who pointed out that you made several bad choices here, including getting a low-volume oddball luxury car that you couldn’t really afford. If you want to play in the big leagues, you need money, and you didn’t have enough of it. I’m not reiterating that to rub salt in your wounds, but to point out that your anger and frustration seems to stem from the financial trouble you’re in. That’s not the mechanic’s fault, and he’s not likely to work with you to make this financially doable for you in some way if you infuriate him by taking pot shots at him.
He misled me by saying “very soon” “one more week” “couple weeks” He’s ignored my text messages. He didn’t know I found the business doing the remanufacture and found out that they will have a definite answer early next week so he had an associate call me with a story that since it is unknown how long it will take to get parts I should just sell the car to their business. That is shady!!!
Were I the business owner, I wouldn’t give you a solid date either after being burned by the parts supplier twice already.
Did he say you “should” or “could” sell the car to his business. He might have been trying to help you out recognizing that you have bitten off more than you can chew.
The basic fallacy in this logic is thinking that now someone will do the job for $750 if you deliver the re-manufactured transmission to them. I just don’t think its going to happen. There are too many things that can go wrong, like it doesn’t work when he puts it in again. Then it’s argue over whether its the re-builder’s fault or the installer, etc. while the months slip away. You want one person responsible not several or more. You’re trying to build a house with you as a general contractor but not adding anything to the mix.
I agree with whoever said they’d be happy to see your rear bumper disappear at this point.
That is B…
He could at most act as a messenger, relying on what his supplier said.
Again shooting at the wrong party.
Answer number what? third or fourth or …
It is very hard for me to believe that he said You should sell the car to them.
With 4 different parties involved in this mess, I’d expect the final bill to exceed 20k dollars.
Depends, how much did they offer?
Everything I own is for sale, just needs to be the right price…
Reminds me of one time at a gas station someone asked if my truck was for sale. I said yes, $50,000. The guy had this weird look on his face, then said “Oh, you mean it is not for sale?”. I said “No, it is for sale, but not everybody can afford it.” 
At this point I think you’re best to stay calm and try to get it done with your existing mechanic. I would offer 3 observations:
The lesson to be learned here is that, if you want to drive an exotic vehicle, it shouldn’t be your only car.
A one-car household should have a common mass produced car for which parts are readily available, because an exotic luxury performance vehicle can have these types of issues.