Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Alabama

I live in Alabama. My vehicle broke down on the side of the road and a mechanic stopped to give me some assistance and told me if I could get it to his shop he would look at it for me. I got it to his shop and he told me it needed a fuel pump, he told me the price would be one hundered dollars for pump and one hundered dollars for labor. I said ok and he said it would be ready the next day by lunchtime. I got off work at 2 pm the following day and went to get my vehicle, he told me that he hadn't had the time to work on it yet and he would call me when it was fixed. He called two days later and I went back to get it. When I arrived he said the cost was now two hundred and eighty dollars, he said he had to pay extra for the pump, all I had on me at the time was two hundred and seventy two dollars and he said that would be fine. So I paid him and got in to drive it home and it would not start. He looked it over again and said I needed a new battery, so he used a charger got it started. I attempted to leave with it again. I made it half a mile and the car went dead. I started walking back to the shop and saw him leaving, some of his employees saw me on the side of the road and jumped me off a second time but, it wouldn't stay running. The person who originally gave me a lift to the shop took the battery out of their vehicle and put it in mine and still my vehicle would not stay running, so, the shop employee called his boss and was told that I should leave it at the shop and he'd check it out again the next day. The shop owner called me a couple of days later and told me that he didnt now what was wrong with it and he was going to have a friend look at it. A couple of weeks later he called back and told me that my gas tank was contaminated and that it was common for that model, he also told me that the manufacturer had done a recall on the gas tanks for that particular model. I was told that the shop had contacted the manufacturer for another tank and that it would be replaced for free but would not be available for nine months. The shop owner told me if I didn't want to wait for the new tank to be shipped he could get a used one from most likely from one of the two totaled ones he had behind his shop (meaning he had two vehicles of the same make already on hand) and that he would charge me one hundred dollars for it. I told him I would pay the one hundred because it would be better than having to wait nine months. He installed the used gas tank but it still giving him trouble. He apologized for the inconvenience and let me know that he had never had a vehicle give him this much trouble before. He said he would keep looking into it and that he would use the totaled vehicles he had out back for spare parts until found the right part to get it running again. He has now had it for two months he just called me and said it was done, that I could come and get it. He said the total for repairs was now four hundered and fifty dollars, I let him know I didnt have that much on me, so he said four hundered and thirty dollars. I offered to pay two hundered dollars in cash and a check for him to hold until my next payday he said no that he was having surgery this week and will be out for awhile. He said he had made deals like that in the past for people and they didn't pay him. He said l needed to pay all of it now before he goes into the hospital in three days. I didn't expect the price to be that much and I am unclear on where I stand legally as the owner of the vehicle. I feel like I have been scammed. I don't think it is fair or right for him to not keep me informed on the changes he was making to my vehicle and for not giving me a good quotable price on the charges before he started working on it. Can he keep my vehicle until I can come up with the full price of repairs or is there some sort of legal safety net I can use in this state to get my vehicle back and a payment plan worked out?


Asked on 6/19/10, 6:44 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

James Coleman Murchison & Howard, LLC

Can he keep your vehicle until you pay him -- yes. You left the car with him with instructions to fix the tank, battery etc. You did not agree on a price, or agree that he would not undertake work until a price was agreed upon.

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Answered on 7/01/10, 6:48 am


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