How does a mechanic get to hold your whole car for payment due? (insurance, credit)
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Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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Yea, but what mechanics could do is have people put down a deposit before they even start the work. Or, heck, even pay in advance.
As for the dry cleaner reference, my dry cleaner brings me my clothes and THEN I pay. While I'm familiar with the automatic attachment of a mechanic's lien, I've never heard of anything like that for a dry cleaner.
While I know that the mechanic lien is automatic for "authorized" (talk about ambiguous term) work, it shouldn't be.
It's often called a mechanic's lien, but it applies to other things, contractors, roofers, etc. In the case of a contractor they usually can't take your house, but if you go to sell it the lien will turn up in the title search. Laws vary from state to state, I had a friend who was a blasting contractor, he told me how they made the lien laws easier in NJ. The old law you basically had to file an intent to lien before you started a job. Like telling someone in advance you didn't think they'd pay you. The newer law you could file it anytime when doing a job.
Especially in the construction industry people don't pay their bills. My father had a wholesale lumber business and got burned for $5K in the 50's, (a lot of money then). My mom said they'd run around and chase people, then be flush for a while, then chase after them again. I read a recent article in USA Today how Trump didn't pay contractors for work on his Atlantic City casinos. The bigger the business the worse they are.
Yea, but what mechanics could do is have people put down a deposit before they even start the work. Or, heck, even pay in advance.
As for the dry cleaner reference, my dry cleaner brings me my clothes and THEN I pay. While I'm familiar with the automatic attachment of a mechanic's lien, I've never heard of anything like that for a dry cleaner.
While I know that the mechanic lien is automatic for "authorized" (talk about ambiguous term) work, it shouldn't be.
Well, but you still aren't allowed to take your clothes and leave without paying. So being in possession of the clothes is sort of akin to keeping a spare set of your car keys, in cases where the mechanic parks your car in the external lot after service.
Do you know why laws like this exist ? It is because of dishonest people. If everyone didn't try to stiff other people, we would have no need to do things like this.
Mechanics are in a vulnerable position. They spend time to work on your car, buy parts for it, and, if they didn't keep the car until paid, some people would drive off into the sunset and never be seen again. As for taking people to court, mechanics do not have the time or money to pursue deadbeats.
I took my car to the shop this week for a minor issue I couldn't track down myself. The mechanic called and said he couldn't duplicate the problem and to take it home and drive it until it comes back so he can diagnose it better without charging me hours and hours of diagnostic time. When I asked him how much I owed him, he said "Nothing, I didn't fix it", so I put $40 in his hand and thanked him for his honesty.
But people try to stiff mechanics all the time, hence the mechanic's lien laws were put in place to protect them.
A local repair shop will wait until half a dozen cars are waiting to be picked up, then will auction them to pay off the mechanic's liens. They are only required to store the car for 30 days, but most shops will give customers six months to come back and pay their bill. Fortunately, my dry cleaner is more liberal. I have forgotten dry cleaning for months sometimes.
As the one poster said, simply pay your bill when the work is done, no problem. But some people like to work the system, even if they are in the wrong, and it causes problems for all of us.
I've never had a car grabbed by a mechanic shop, have you ?
Yea, but what mechanics could do is have people put down a deposit before they even start the work. Or, heck, even pay in advance.
As for the dry cleaner reference, my dry cleaner brings me my clothes and THEN I pay. While I'm familiar with the automatic attachment of a mechanic's lien, I've never heard of anything like that for a dry cleaner.
While I know that the mechanic lien is automatic for "authorized" (talk about ambiguous term) work, it shouldn't be.
If they think the car is not worth it after they put in the parts and labor, they may require that. Especially if its a new customer they think may stiff em after the bill comes in. I've seen both sides of that, where a customer just flipped out on the mechanic once the bill came in, even after knowing what the bill was but telling him to fix it all anyways. The mechanic told me there was no way in hell he was going to be able to sell the car for what he just put into it, (was an older Subaru). I'm pretty sure he fixed a couple more things and gave it to his daughter for a first vehicle.
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But some people like to work the system, even if they are in the wrong, and it causes problems for all of us.
