How does a mechanic get to hold your whole car for payment due? (vehicle, auto)
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First of all I don't have this problem... just something I am wondering about.
So a mechanic does some work on your $50,000.00 car. You owe him $150.00. He holds your car hostage until you pay. does he really have the right to hold $50,00.00 worth of your assets to secure $150.00 in payment due - or is this just an implied "right" because most people don't challenge it? Supposedly they can put a lien against your car for their money - but why is there the right to put a lien against something if they have the right to keep it until you pay? What is their real legal right here? It can't be both "I can keep your car until you pay" and "I can put a lien against your car until you pay"... can it? Sounds a little over kill, and also the penalty is way out of proportion to the amount owed.
Sounds fine to me. You brought the car and the intent was for them to do X work for Y remuneration. Until both sides of the contract are fulfilled, they keep the car. If the mechanic performed a whole bunch of work that wasn't agreed upon, that would be different. Says I've brought a car in for a bigger repair and they don't know how much it will cost until looking at the car. In that case, I'm bringing the car in for diagnosis and they call and let me know what they find out. At that point I can just go in and pay for the diagnosis and take the car or authorize the repair. If you took the car in for an oil change and they found that the head gasket was leaking and just went ahead and repaired it without telling you that would be different.
First of all I don't have this problem... just something I am wondering about.
So a mechanic does some work on your $50,000.00 car. You owe him $150.00. He holds your car hostage until you pay. does he really have the right to hold $50,00.00 worth of your assets to secure $150.00 in payment due.
YES.
Quote:
Originally Posted by magusat999
- or is this just an implied "right" because most people don't challenge it? Supposedly they can put a lien against your car for their money - but why is there the right to put a lien against something if they have the right to keep it until you pay? What is their real legal right here? It can't be both "I can keep your car until you pay" and "I can put a lien against your car until you pay"... can it? Sounds a little over kill, and also the penalty is way out of proportion to the amount owed.
When you tell your mechanic to fix something, you enter into a legally binding contract. Most mechanics usually charge storage fees and give a set amount of days before they begin the lien process. The lien is the legal process needed to take possession of the vehicle to recoup there losses. Most mechanics lose money for storing a vehicle, its room they don't have to work on a different vehicle. So, yes, they can keep it until you pay, and if you don't pay within a set number of days, they put a lien on it so that if you then don't pay (I believe is most everywhere 30 days), then they get your car.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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It's not unlike a lean on your house if you don't pay the roofer, but the roofer doesn't have possession of your house. The mechanic does have your car, and can lock it up until paid.
The only chance of getting out of it would be if he didn't abide by the laws in your state, such as written estimate, phone confirmation to go over the estimate etc. even then the original agreement amount would have to be paid while disputing the balance.
I'm with you, OP. I don't think it fair that the mechanic can hold a $50,000 vehicle for a bill worth 1/10th of that.
Mechanics should have to do what the rest of us do when a customer doesn't pay the bill---take them to court.
Don't even get me started on tow truck drivers.
Ok so that means anyone can take their car in to a mechanic and say fix this. Then not pay. Take me to court. I don't see that happening. Getting rid of a car is way too easy.
I'm with you, OP. I don't think it fair that the mechanic can hold a $50,000 vehicle for a bill worth 1/10th of that.
Mechanics should have to do what the rest of us do when a customer doesn't pay the bill---take them to court.
Don't even get me started on tow truck drivers.
That's not what the rest of the world does. Go drop of a $2,000 suit for dry cleaning and try and pick it up without paying. There's not a whole lot of things we bring in to a place to have a service done. Where it gets a bit more questionable for me is say, veterinarians. In some states a vet can hold your animal until you pay your vet bill and ultimately adopted it out if you choose to abandon it by not paying your vet bill. California is not one of those states. I'm a little more sympathetic of that than a dead beat who won't pay a mechanic's bill.
Tow truck drivers, especially if they're highway patrol/police contracted almost have a license to steal. On the other hand predatory towing laws in many states also aren't without their own problems. Say you own a store where habitually non-customers make a habit of parking in your lot. There's nothing you can do to stop it legally. Even if the car is already hooked up or booted when the trespasser comes back on your property, legally there's nothing you can do except unhook/unboot the car and allow them to drive away. Growing up in a family that owned a small business, that was always a problem. Mostly it was habitual offenders. There was a gym next door and the same people would park in our parking lot over and over again rather than find street parking a few blocks away. Since we couldn't boot the car ourselves and tell them tough luck, pick the car up at impound or pay $50 and we'll take the boot off there was absolutely nothing we could do to stop it. 90% of people are reasonable but you have that 10% that since they know there's nothing you can do to stop them from trespassing they almost seem to go out of their way to do it.
Same thing with anything else. Vast majority of people are going to pay their bill but for that minority that doesn't, I'm 100% fine with holding property hostage. I'm more split on a vet doing it. In most things it's not as practical. Restaurants, for example. Again, probably 90% of people who can't pay a restaurant bill (card isn't running for whatever reason or cash only or forgot wallet), then you have your deadbeat losers. Most places aren't going to try and detain and arrest them and they know it.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,551 posts, read 81,085,957 times
Reputation: 57734
Like tow truck companies, the auto mechanic can also charge you a storage fee while holding your car for non-payment, and that can add up fast though in some states there are laws on it, such as having to file paperwork after the 10th day.
Say you own a store where habitually non-customers make a habit of parking in your lot. There's nothing you can do to stop it legally. Even if the car is already hooked up or booted when the trespasser comes back on your property, legally there's nothing you can do except unhook/unboot the car and allow them to drive away. Growing up in a family that owned a small business, that was always a problem. Mostly it was habitual offenders. There was a gym next door and the same people would park in our parking lot over and over again rather than find street parking a few blocks away. Since we couldn't boot the car ourselves and tell them tough luck, pick the car up at impound or pay $50 and we'll take the boot off there was absolutely nothing we could do to stop it. 90% of people are reasonable but you have that 10% that since they know there's nothing you can do to stop them from trespassing they almost seem to go out of their way to do it.
I used to work at a store where we had that problem a lot. We just took to parking our own vehicles directly behind them so they couldn't move. Wasn't a thing in the world they could do about it. They just had to come back after the store closed, and we had all gone home for the night.
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