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Someone in my area took their car to an independent repair shop. The car has been there for a while(the shop has a reputation for being slow). The owner received a notice of a parking ticket at the airport, which is over 30 miles away, so the repair shop was using the car for something not authorized by the owner.
What would you do in this situation? Others have stated that they were told their car had been sent to another shop to do the repair, and if they didn't like it, too bad, find your car yourself. That seems problematic as well.
Someone in my area took their car to an independent repair shop. The car has been there for a while(the shop has a reputation for being slow). The owner received a notice of a parking ticket at the airport, which is over 30 miles away, so the repair shop was using the car for something not authorized by the owner.
What would you do in this situation? Others have stated that they were told their car had been sent to another shop to do the repair, and if they didn't like it, too bad, find your car yourself. That seems problematic as well.
Short of making the shop pay for the ticket. Nothing. Well.. MAYBE nothing.
If the work had been completed by that time.. the shop has a simple out of saying they drove it to the airport for a test drive to verify the repair.. And.. Technically.. That'd be legit. Pending on the repair.. Sometimes you do have to drive it a bit to verify that. Does it matter if they took it to do something personal or just took it to drive around town? I don't think so. In fact, driving it for a personal errand for the test drive could make more sense, because it could be more 'real world' than a test drive might be.
Regardless. The shop is responsible for the parking ticket. Well.. You've got to get it paid, so from that standpoint, in the eyes of the town/county/airport/whatever whoever owns the car is responsible. But, the shop got the ticket, they certainly should pay it or reimburse.
Take the ticket up there, show them the date on the ticket, they had the car at the time and explain that you (The owner of the car) expects them to pay that ticket.
I'd certainly bring this to the owner of the shop, or the highest person you can find. Because.. Gut feeling right now.. This is something an employee did that might have been unauthorized.. Which probably also means the ownership/management MIGHT be unaware of it.
No point going in guns blazing. It's totally right for the shop to pay for the ticket. Not much else.. So.. Shouldn't be going for anything else. Other than an apology. The apology being for getting a ticket and not telling you* about it.
* = I know you said it wasn't you, but it was just easier to type this as if it did happen to you.
I always record the mileage and other pertinent info at time of drop off. Any shop usually also makes such notes on their paperwork and invoice. I ask about any mileage that seems high.
Not much else I'd bother with. It's a car, test drive after most work is pretty normal. If they need to kill two birds and run to the airport and need to do a test drive after a repair, two birds with one stone. It's some extra miles beyond a normal test drive but it's not like they put 1,000 miles on it going to Vegas.
Someone in my area took their car to an independent repair shop. The car has been there for a while(the shop has a reputation for being slow). The owner received a notice of a parking ticket at the airport, which is over 30 miles away, so the repair shop was using the car for something not authorized by the owner.
What would you do in this situation? Others have stated that they were told their car had been sent to another shop to do the repair, and if they didn't like it, too bad, find your car yourself. That seems problematic as well.
Call the police dept in your area their information dept and tell them your story and see what they suggest. Ticket not paid can mean many nuisance troubles, like towing, going to court , fine, etc.
SECTION 16-21-100. False reports of stolen or converted vehicles.
A person who knowingly makes a false report of the theft or conversion of a vehicle to a peace officer or to the Department is guilty of a misdemeanor.
If you left your vehicle at a shop for repairs, there's an implied consent for them to test drive the vehicle to test the repairs.
There is NOT, however, an implied consent for you to pay fines they incur while test driving said vehicle, and no implied consent for EXCESSIVE test driving. Is 30 miles excessive? No.
Call the police dept in your area their information dept and tell them your story and see what they suggest. Ticket not paid can mean many nuisance troubles, like towing, going to court , fine, etc.
That's what I'd do, and just because their "using my car" for their purposes, I'd give my lawyer a quick call, too. I have to say, however, a parking ticket is small potatoes, compared to what happened to a neighbor of mine, a number of years.
He took his almost new car back to the dealer, for some minor repairs, under warranty. When finished, the mechanic took the car for a "test drive", which included a side trip home, for lunch. On the way back to the dealership, the numb nutz drove the 2 month old car into the back of a parked truck.....
Someone in my area took their car to an independent repair shop. The car has been there for a while(the shop has a reputation for being slow). The owner received a notice of a parking ticket at the airport, which is over 30 miles away, so the repair shop was using the car for something not authorized by the owner.
What would you do in this situation? Others have stated that they were told their car had been sent to another shop to do the repair, and if they didn't like it, too bad, find your car yourself. That seems problematic as well.
I had an issue with this in an S class Mercedes. I picked the car up from an independent shop and it had no gas in it, low fuel light was on. My uncle is not that guy..........So I call him to break his balls about no fuel. He says that's impossible, he filled it on the way to dropping it off! He then asked the mileage, it just turned 36,000 miles. Car had like 36,800 on it!
Shop owner was sleazy, car was in for a $3000 a/c repair. Owner claimed his daughter took the wrong white S class to Disney with her kids. Funny the A/C is fixed but it gets road tripped to Disney rather than calling to have it picked up.
My uncle was pretty shrewd, he told the guy he wants his credit card refunded 50% by the end of the day or he was going to call the state dept of professional regulation and open a complaint case. Owner of the shop refunded the $1500.
I had to tell the owner that I didn't want anyone driving my car.
One of the workers drives me home and picks me up when I take my car in, in my car. He also attempts to hit on me. Pisses me off.
The owner replied about having to test drive it. ok, I get that.
But, then he eats in my car and leaves the wrapper and spills on my driver's seat.
So now he uses one of his shop cars.
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