When can you take your car from a repair shop?

[x0847Marine]

Thought this might interest a few of you, esp if in Ca... when can you liberate your car from a repair shop?

My xgf calls me with a long story about how these shady mofos were holding her car hostage at a repair shop, being a skinny 95lb waif shes not that intimidating despite her 50lbs of mouth.

This is a civil matter, 100%, however under Ca law repair shops can legally keep your car, while demanding payment, as long as they have a signed work order / authorization.

Well... too bad for these yahoos they didn't have a signed work order, they towed & repaired it... but never asked her to sign anything. I argued with them to no avail, they even threatened me with a monkey wrench. This made me happy because I knew LA Sheriffs, not LAPD, would be responding... Deputies are infamous for taking zero feces, LAPD on the other hand eats it by the handful..

The Sheriff Deputy arrived 30 min later to keep the peace while I recovered the vehicle, he repeated the exact same things as I had "No work order, no car", the grease monkeys actually took an aggressive stance with the lone deputy, they were fuming at being proven dead wrong and swore the car wasn't moving 1 inch... big mistake, 4 min later 6 Sheriff units were there placing everyone in cuffs... it was beautiful.

Enter one of those great moments in life... I walked, with pep, past the former wrench yielding trash talking grease monkey with a poop eating grin making sure the car keys in my hand rattled off a tune, I got in her newly repaired car and drove out with a sarcastic "Happy holidays jerkoffs" while extending my middle finger.

Upsetting the Sheriffs was a bad call, the deputies found their business license had expired, cited the owner and locked them out... 2 others went to county jail for the weekend on warrants.

My dreary holidays will now be "warm'n fuzzy", in more ways than one. They can still claim a verbal agreement was made and sue her, until then they have been pwned.

[M36]

Bravo!!!!!:rofl

Stupid grease monkeys, I guess their little BS, rip the public off game came to an end.

[culero]

So, M36, what was it in this post that made you assume there was a rip-off going on?

xMarine, I didn't catch your explanation as to why its OK to not pay for services rendered? Or did I miss something?

culero

[Shane]

maybe they overcharged and wanted it paid in full... maybe they did unauthorized or bogus repairs... maybe they wanted the extra daily storage fee...

but the main point is they were operating illegally, acting intimidating and making physical threats. so they got what they deserved.  they should still be paid for whatever valid (and authorized) repairs were made at reasonable market rates.

i'd be more concerned about them knowing where the car resides with its owner, tho'

[ByeBye]

What culero said. Basically you are saying that she didn't pay for the repairs, then you drove off with a chit-eating grin on your face in her newly repaired car.

Based just on what you have written, I'd have to say that you are the stunninghunk.

[Suave]

xMarine did you ever get your million dollars?

[Suave]

Originally posted by ByeBye
What culero said. Basically you are saying that she didn't pay for the repairs, then you drove off with a chit-eating grin on your face in her newly repaired car.

Based just on what you have written, I'd have to say that you are the stunninghunk.

Well lets not go that far, he really didn't tell us anything about why they were keeping the car at all.

[ByeBye]

Originally posted by x0847Marine
Well... too bad for these yahoos they didn't have a signed work order, they towed & repaired it... but never asked her to sign anything.

So let me get this straight. They towed her car and repaired it against her will. Did she call them out to tow it?

They sure sound like a bunch of crooks!

[LePaul]

This sounds pretty fishy....flamboyant...and a lot of other colorful metaphors.

So "why" was her car being held "hostage"?  

Details...

[john9001]

we never pulled a car into the shop without a signed work order,   no tiky, no worky.

and we never released a car without a "paid in full".

[Roscoroo]

Originally posted by john9001
we never pulled a car into the shop without a signed work order,   no tiky, no worky.

and we never released a car without a "paid in full".

True in all the shops ive worked over the years ... no sig / no estimate ... no workie   ... this applyed to most customers except for the long time regulars and they alway were givin a phone call w/ est befor any work started along with carrying a signature file/account for  them.

In this state its illegal to make repairs with doing the pryor .

[lasersailor184]

Wait, you need a license to run a business these days?  


Maybe the revolution is closer then I thought.

[john9001]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
Wait, you need a license to run a business these days?  


Maybe the revolution is closer then I thought.

i heard you need a license to go fishn, but i don't know why, it aint like you have to pass a test or nothing.

[Suave]

You need a license to trim other peoples finger nails, I suppose that applies to ones small children too.

Man for a socialist country we sure don't see much bang for our buck.

[storch]

Originally posted by culero
So, M36, what was it in this post that made you assume there was a rip-off going on?

xMarine, I didn't catch your explanation as to why its OK to not pay for services rendered? Or did I miss something?

culero

indeed, was the car not servicable before and now it's running?  you left without leaving any form of payment?  the work has no value?  I sure hope this is another fantasy bs story.  If I were that shop owner I'd file a lien on that car right now.