# car theft by local mechanic?



## moneyhelp (20 Apr 2013)

Hi, Im hoping someone might shed some light on this matter.

My mother blew a gasket in her mercedes [2000] or so the mechanics told her. They told her it was not worth fixing and would cost thousands to do it. They also told me this [I used to use the same mechanics.] 

She told them she would have to think about what to do. 

Nothing is written down here in these exchanges by the way.

A couple of weeks later she saw the mechanic driving her car around the town.

She confronted them and they refused to give her back her car. The car is still in her name and on the paperwork for ownership. But they are still holding onto the car.

She went to the guards and they told her this is a civil matter. 

Surely this is clear cut theft? What should she do?


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## Vanilla (20 Apr 2013)

Are you telling us the full story?


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## Sandals (20 Apr 2013)

moneyhelp said:


> A couple of weeks later she saw the mechanic driving her car around the town.



This happens all time with my neighbour, who's a mechanic, out on school runs etc, once seen him attend removal with a friend's car.

Does she owe them any money, they could be holding the car till they get paid?


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## Palerider (20 Apr 2013)

did she sell the car to the mechanic..?, If so the mechanic may have repaired the car at zero labour charge, this is common, if the repair was for your mum there would have been labour charged.


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## mark1 (21 Apr 2013)

She needs to sort it out pretty rapidly too, any parking fines, speeding fines etc will be landing through her letterbox. I have exchanged a car this way for services with my own mechanic before as even though it was not worth my paying to fix it, he was able to do it himself and just buy the parts. Win win for both of us.


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## moneyhelp (21 Apr 2013)

No she did not owe them money.

No she did not sell the car or parts to the mechanic. 

She did not ask them to fix it. She did not agree to anything they may have done to the car.

Yes this is the full story as far as anything I am aware of.


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## burmo (21 Apr 2013)

Sounds like to me your mum just got her car fixed for free. As nothing was agreed to be done to the car you may own them some nominal diagnostic fee (?) but hard to see them getting away with anything else.  Do they legally (can they?) legally have insurance to drive your mums car?

Solicitors letter? Threat of Joe Duffy / Q102's consumer affairs show?


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## shesells (21 Apr 2013)

Why did the garage still have the car a couple of weeks later? This makes no sense to me


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## SparkRite (21 Apr 2013)

shesells said:


> Why did the garage still have the car a couple of weeks later? This makes no sense to me




Yeah, I agree with you.

Something just doesn't add up here.


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## moneyhelp (21 Apr 2013)

shesells said:


> Why did the garage still have the car a couple of weeks later? This makes no sense to me



The garage had the car because they told her it would cost thousands to fix it and not worth doing.

They told her it had blown a gasket and was undriveable. 

So she left it until she tried to figure out what to do with it. Obviously as they told her it was undriveable, she hardly thought she could drive it home.


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## moneyhelp (21 Apr 2013)

burmo said:


> Sounds like to me your mum just got her car fixed for free. As nothing was agreed to be done to the car you may own them some nominal diagnostic fee (?) but hard to see them getting away with anything else.  Do they legally (can they?) legally have insurance to drive your mums car?
> 
> Solicitors letter? Threat of Joe Duffy / Q102's consumer affairs show?



Well when she saw them driving around in it, insurance was the first question. How did they insure it if it is in her name?

Talking then to my new mechanic he said garages have general insurance which covers them because to test cars etc they have to drive them.


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## Time (21 Apr 2013)

Car does not have to be in my name for me to insure it. All I has to say is I bought it in good faith and I am awaiting paperwork from Shannon.

This sort of thing happens all the time.


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## shesells (21 Apr 2013)

moneyhelp said:


> The garage had the car because they told her it would cost thousands to fix it and not worth doing.
> 
> They told her it had blown a gasket and was undriveable.
> 
> So she left it until she tried to figure out what to do with it. Obviously as they told her it was undriveable, she hardly thought she could drive it home.



It still makes no sense as no garage will store a car indefinitely, days maybe but not weeks.


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## moneyhelp (21 Apr 2013)

shesells said:


> It still makes no sense as no garage will store a car indefinitely, days maybe but not weeks.



Do you think they scrapped it? Can they do that without the papers?


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## shesells (21 Apr 2013)

Was there any further interaction during those weeks. The garage should have made contact about asking your mother to move the car or charging a storage fee.


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## LS400 (21 Apr 2013)

moneyhelp said:


> Do you think they scrapped it? Can they do that without the papers?


 
?? How do you think they have scrapped it if was seen on the road. A question I have to ask is, how long was your mother planning to leave her car in a garage while she decided what action to take. While what was done is completely wrong, I think the garage got the hump with a car left on their premisis with no communication.


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## moneyhelp (21 Apr 2013)

shesells said:


> Was there any further interaction during those weeks. The garage should have made contact about asking your mother to move the car or charging a storage fee.



No. She was very surprised to see it on the road, especially as she was told it was undrivable. 

I think it was a couple of weeks later after she was told this that she saw him driving it.

A storage fee? For a car they refuse to release? 

They had her phone number. They also had my phone number. We were both loyal customers for a number of years.


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## moneyhelp (21 Apr 2013)

LS400 said:


> ?? How do you think they have scrapped it if was seen on the road. A question I have to ask is, how long was your mother planning to leave her car in a garage while she decided what action to take. While what was done is completely wrong, I think the garage got the hump with a car left on their premisis with no communication.



I was asking shesells if she thought they have scrapped it since because she said a garage wont store a car for weeks. 

So it has been more than weeks by now, so what is going on? If they dont store it and they havent made contact what has happened to it?


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## Time (22 Apr 2013)

Look up what a mechanic's lien is.


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## SparkRite (22 Apr 2013)

Is it the case that your Mother did not want to pay the cost of the diagnosis? 
Hence they held onto the car.


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## DaveD (22 Apr 2013)

Even if money is owed for diagnostics, or anything, a garage can't hold on to a car until its paid, they may claim they can but legally they can't. Presumably your mother still has keys to the car, just go and take it, it belongs to her. If the garage want to pursue her for any money owed then let them do it and have that argument once the car is returned. I wouldn't inform the garage beforehand that you intend to come and take the car back, you may find it suddenly immobile again!


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## Bronte (22 Apr 2013)

moneyhelp said:


> She confronted them and they refused to give her back her car. The car is still in her name and on the paperwork for ownership. But they are still holding onto the car.


 
Can you clarify this a bit further?  What exactly was said.  There must have given her a reason for not handing the car back?


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## moneyhelp (22 Apr 2013)

Bronte said:


> Can you clarify this a bit further?  What exactly was said.  There must have given her a reason for not handing the car back?



The problem is neither of us are clear on it either.

She brought the car in after over heating.

They told her it was undrivable and would cost thousands to fix and not worth fixing.

[I can verify the above because they told me the same thing about the car. I used to use the same mechanic until this happened.]

So she left it for a couple of weeks while she considered what to do with it. Pay the thousands? Scrap? or sell for parts? She didn't think this was a problem as no one from the garage contacted her about it and as she had a good relationship with them and had given them plenty of business in the past. 

During that time, she saw the mechanic driving around it in. How could he be driving around in a car that was undrivable? He either lied about it being undriveable or he went ahead and fixed it without her consenting to it or to the costs.

When she went to confront him about it he refused to release the car until she paid for the costs of the repairs, which she did not agree to him doing.

She went to the local guards and they told her this was a civil matter.


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## Time (22 Apr 2013)

Go get legal advice from a solicitor.


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## SparkRite (22 Apr 2013)

moneyhelp said:


> The problem is neither of us are clear on it either.
> 
> She brought the car in after over heating.
> 
> ...



Now its starting to make sense, just took 23 posts to get the relevant information !

My advice would be to approach the garage and try and come to some arrangement over costs before going down any legal route


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## Bronte (23 Apr 2013)

moneyhelp said:


> When she went to confront him about it he refused to release the car until she paid for the costs of the repairs, which she did not agree to him doing.
> 
> .


 
Very odd that he would do repairs without authorisation.  How much is the car worth, how much were the repairs?

Would she not be happy to pay for the repairs and get her car back?


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