Overhaulin'

Can you stop a mechanic's lien against a car and how do you do so.?

My son-in law took his car into a repair shop to see what was wrong with his transmission. The shop advertised a free diagnosis and my son-in law asked just to make sure first. They initially told him it would cost around around $800 to repair, at first sight but said they needed to pull out the transmission for a better look.......... he then asked would the diagnosis work still be free and they said yes. After that they looked at the car and said it would cost about $1900 to fix, he then told them he couldn't afford that not to do any work on it and he'd pick it up. He was prepared to pay the $800 but not $1900. The shop told him okay but he had to first pay for taking out the transmission..........which would be about $400. He explained that they advertised a free diagnosis and that he asked them about that prior to them looking at it. He would have even paid to have it looked at if it had been a reasonable amount. He called them again and they claimed that they had started to work on it so now he would have to pay the $1900. My son-in law has tried everything he contacted Consumer affairs, the BBB, but the shop submitted falsified paperwork. They copied and pasted his signature on a false estimate that even contradicts them, using his signature written for the free diagnosis. Which he can prove is false once he gets to court. He has gone to the police who can not help........ and he doesn't have the $1900. He filed a small claims suit which he hasn't got a date for yet. In the meanwhile they filed for a mechanics lien and the time is almost up the car goes to auction in a week. We've looked at review sites for this business and see that there are similar complaints made about them but that doesn't help us now. Any legitimate advice please.

Public Comments

1. Get a lawyer and take them to court. That is about the only recourse you have at this point. You can get an injunction to prevent them from selling the car and you can ask for damages. If he did not sign a written work order for them to work on the car, he has a good case and can get his car back as well as some extra money as damages.
2. have you contacted an attorney?
3. as much as it would hurt pay them and continue on with the small claims court P.S. no body can sign their name exactly the same way twice this can be used in court to get your money back plus a little i think
4. free dianosis does not mean thta they take the tranny down it means probably driving the car to tell wether the tranny is good but they should not paste his name on an agreement if that car goes to auction and he is negligent they will have to pay him back the amount of the cars worth go to consumers advocate it takes along time but you will get your money call fraud dept
5. call me van @ 404 693 1100