In my state, the AG Consumer Protection Division provides a form letter and attempts arbitration between the parties. This process takes 30-60 days and may not resolve the issue. Hence, my suggestion to pay the bill and adjudicate in small claims court later.
The apparent refusal to provide an invoice suggests a possibly illegal auto repair business that can best be exposed in a court of law.
If the mechanic/garage owner is unscrupulous, the first priority should be to secure your car before he tries to trump up more fees and charges before he chooses to release the car. If he is provided payment and then refuses to produce the vehicle, it is time for a lawyer immediately, to secure your interests. This situation may not come to that, but I would be prepared for this possibility.
One thing I find odd in this incident is that this tow guy/mechanic is described as a friend, or was anyway.
This mechanic was a friend and chose to toss away the friendship over a lousy car repair and over a comparatively small amount of money so that does come across as strange, at least to me.
Is there anything else on this guy’s agenda? Does he have a crush on your daughter and has been tossed to the side?
I like the way that you and your husband are keeping your cool. But I can not see how someone who owns a shop and operates on a daily basis could be so off base. No estimate, no repair bill, throwing costumer off the lot. I would wonder if nothing bad word of mouth shall scare him.
As mentioned, a phone call from a lawyer is always an eye opener. A subpoena for itemized repair bill, receipts and diagnostic work done should set things straight.
Pay him for the towing right away, via USPS money order. Get a receipt.
As much as I hate to agree with Mike, I think his advice is good in this case. And by that I mean don’t park it anywhere near your house, or anywhere visible from the road.
But really, pay for the towing, and then report the car stolen and tell the police the address of the mechanic. Without taking it yourself, even though that would be the moral thing to do.
Yea , report the car stolen. Then when they go to recover the vehicle and find out from the shop owner that the owner is disputing the bill, they hi tail back to her house and charge her with filing a false police report. That’s definitely not a good move. He has violated a code section of the Ohio consumer sales practice act. I am not familiar with this act and who the governing body is, or whether it’s even a criminal act but I would search that to see how to file a complaint on him.
Thanks for the link Mike, I’ve already printed that out and contacted them with a complaint, still waiting for someone to get back with me. I’m really getting frustrated. Before he kicked my husband and daughter off his property he said he was removing the parts he put on it and we’ll have to pay the bill and have the car towed from his property. He says he’s replaced the straps holding the gas tank on, that he’s removing them and putting the gas tank in the trunk of the car.
You may want file a police report. It appears he has crossed the line into malicious damage and can be criminally charged with what he has done. You need pictures and it would be good if someone mechanically inclined inspect the car before it is towed.
If he removed the parts, then I wouldn’t think you owe him more than the tow fee (which may also get trumped up, since you have no firm bill in hand).
The AG may help, but I also think it is time for a lawyer.
I would also be concerned that if this guy is this vindictive then he may also resort to a little sabotage while removing those parts or as an afterthought if the AG’s office or an attorney gets after him.
Some possibilities could be loosening an engine oil drain plug, pulling a few quarts of transmission fluid out, loosening a radiator hose clamp, loosening a suspension bolt, etc; all with the intent of creating serious problems later on after the car is up and running somewhere else.
That car should be given a careful lookover once you get it back.
Based on the link Mike provided I’d say this guy has violated just about all of those statutes. Hopefully the AG’s office will come down on him quickly, firmly, and with any luck maybe there’s a provision somewhere for yanking his tow truck license due to his actions.
I strongly agree with OK. In fact, I witnessed such sabotage firsthand. And it was in a prominent new car dealership.
My sister called me one day a couple of years ago (from out of state) to tell me how rough her car was running. She was having trouble maintaining speed, and it wanted to die at idle. She took it to the dealer and they presented her with a $900 bill (including a $100 diagnostic fee) for what turned out to be a bad MAP sensor. My sister had me call the service manager, and I challenged the cost of the part and how long it would take to diagnose and replace a sensor at the top of the engine, and ultimately got him to drop the diagnostic fee and take a portion off the rest of the bill. My sister picked up the car and all was well. The next day she called me, pulled over in traffic, and told me that her steering wheel wouldn’t turn. She took it to an indy garage (found through Mechanics Files) and the new mechanic found recent wrench marks on the fittings for the power steering lines. She’d never driven a car without power steering and had no idea how hard the wheel was to turn in traffic without it.
Long anecdote, but once this is over the car needs to be thoroughly inspected.
@MikeInNH, if all the police do is file a report, it will at least be on record. If all the report does is document what’s going on, it will serve a purpose.
Back in the 1940s and early 1950s, there was a radio sitcom called “Meet Corliss Archer”. I think that there was also a television adaptation of this sitcom as well. Corliss is a teen age girl who has a bumbling nerdy boyfriend named Dexter Franklin. Corliss’ father has no used for Dexter. In one episode, Corliss’ father can’t start his car because the battery is dead. He takes a cab to work and calls a tow truck to haul the car to a garage. In the meantime, Dexter comes over with his jalopy, manages to start Corliss’ father’s car with the battery from his jalopy and Dexter and Corliss take a ride in Corliss’ father’s car. In the meantime, the tow truck comes and picks up Dexter’s jalopy. The shop finds all things wrong with Dexter’s jalopy, calls Corliss’ father who o.k.‘s the repairs, thinking it is his own car. Dexter’s heap gets repaired with a big bill to Corliss’ father. I have always wondered if Corliss’ father was really responsible since the shop repaired the wrong car.
I don’t remember the end of the show after 60 years. Maybe when we find out the resolution of OP’s case, I will then know the ending of the radio show.
I’d agree about filing a report - if the police will take one - not because it will be directly effective for anything, but because if you’re standing in civil court and the judge says, “well did you ever call the police and file a report…?” or whatever, you’ll be able to say “yes.” The more paper trail the better.
At this point it does seem that this person is certainly not a “friend” and is a jackass. But I’d sure love to hear him tell this story.
@Whitey…As Ellsabeth pointed out…she called the police and they said they couldn’t do anything. The DA office MIGHT take the report.
I had a problem with a neighbor of mine many years ago who decided that he didn’t like the chain-link Fence I put up to keep his dogs out of my yard…So one afternoon after he consumed about 10 beers… he proceeded to cut the links and created about 10 holes. I had at least 2 witnesses (neighbors) who saw him. I called police…“Sorry…we can’t even take the report…this is a Civil case…Good Luck.” I filed lawsuit against the idiot…but he moved out of state (he just rented the place) before the court date.
Like I said, you are dealing with a jerk in his sandbox. Get out of his sandbox. Might be too late now if he’s taking the car apart. He said he wouldn’t take payments, but tried anyway and got him mad. You go to the AG, the police, and the BBB while he still has your car and make him madder. If he is as unbalanced as he sounds, the time to make him madder is AFTER you have your car and make him play in the court sandbox. This is just like spinning your wheels in mud and going deeper and deeper and deeper.
Ya coulda had it back for $650 and let the judge decide the proper payment. Now you are going to need another tow charge, plus additional repair, plus his tow bill, etc. I just don’t think this is being handled very well from a practical rather than an emotional standpoint.
I had a transmission shop hold my car hostage for 7 weeks once, with the car stuck in the middle of his shop with parts of the car all over it. The guy owed the State a half million in taxes so he was a crook. Bottom line was I ended up waiting him out, paying the bill, and having it re-done a year later since his guarantee was no good. Sometimes these guys know they have you and you need to extricate yourself as quickly and cheaply as possible.
“Yea , report the car stolen. Then when they go to recover the vehicle and find out from the shop owner that the owner is disputing the bill, they hi tail back to her house and charge her with filing a false police report. That’s definitely not a good move. He has violated a code section of the Ohio consumer sales practice act. I am not familiar with this act and who the governing body is, or whether it’s even a criminal act”
“I don’t know” is a less than compelling argument.
“Before he kicked my husband and daughter off his property he said he was removing the parts he put on it and we’ll have to pay the bill and have the car towed from his property. He says he’s replaced the straps holding the gas tank on, that he’s removing them and putting the gas tank in the trunk of the car.”
“As pointed out…the police will do NOTHING in a case like this. This is strictly a Civil matter.”
I’m calling pontification on that.
1 a : to officiate as a pontiff b : to celebrate pontifical mass
2 : to speak or express opinions in a pompous or dogmatic way
Officer, this man has vandalized my car and put the gas tank in the trunk. Kin you hep me?
Sorry, ma’am, vandalizing a car and putting the gas tank in the trunk is a Civil matter.
I’ll try one more time. This is not just a civil matter. It would be a purely civil matter if it were a legitimate dispute regarding a bill - - i.e. the customer asked the mechanic to do the work, and then balked at the bill once he did it and refused to pay it.
But that isn’t what happened here. This mechanic did exactly the same thing as the guys who wash your windows at stoplights and then demand that you pay them do. He took it upon himself to do work that he was not authorized or asked to do, and then demanded payment for it, and when he didn’t get the money, he locked her car away and denied her access to it.
It’s only a purely civil matter when there is an actual contract involved. There is no contract for repair here, because she didn’t agree to anything or ask for anything beyond towing the car. As there is no contract, she owes him nothing and therefore he certainly does not have legal grounds to seize her property until she gives him money.
All the people in here saying it’s a purely civil matter would, I assume, not think it at all criminal if I came over to their house uninvited, replaced their roof, and then put padlocks on their outside doors until they paid me for the work.
This is a criminal matter. If the cops won’t help, go to the DA and explain what happened. It also would not hurt to go to the local media - they love a good “thief mechanic” story.
It is also, but again not only, a civil matter - i.e. you can, and in my opinion should, sue him for actual and punitive damages resulting from his purposely and unlawfully preventing you from using your own car.
But he is keeping your property without your authorization and without any sort of legal justification to keep it. He has, according to Ohio law, stolen your car.