twister

Just after some advice. Well I carried out a repair on a customers car on 8th feb and he auth'd work to be carried out. He's given every excuse going top and bottom he has'nt got the money to paid for it.

Where do I stand? Any help will be most help full.

andy escos

iTrader: (1)

have you still got the car if so hold onto it until he pays

gouch1

as above dont let him take the car if he dont pay i know a few garages who have had to take the car for payment dont accept a cheque it will bounce

focusv8

So he doesn't have money for petrol, food, clothes, drink etc.
Or is it he just doesn't have money to pay for car repairs and thinks you will work for free?

twister

Yes cars safe and sound

twister

Some people are nightmare's Kept him in the loop from start to finish. Just wondering what the time line is until I could sell it.

CBenno

Im sure after a certain amount of months you are legally allowed to sell the vehicle to recover your costs I cant remember how long it is but Im sure its 3 months.

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

I think it's 3 months too from memory when I had the garage.
No customer issues but I was forever chasing insurance companies for recovery/storage money and I ended up scrapping a few of them or selling on as ongoing projects etc.
Wank situation to be in but my advice is to send him a professional letter asking politely when he intends to remove the car from your premises upon full payment otherwise you will have no option but to charge storage for the next 30 days at Ł20 per day and then sell/dispose of the vehicle to recover costs.
I can write you a good letter if you send me the facts via pm,it's my speciality!!!

botters

iTrader: (2)

right this is what you need to do
make out a bill, include everything you did to vehicle dont miss anything, itemise it to the last dot on an i!
make a copy for yourself, give the other to the customer
make customer aware he has until xx/xx/xx to pay again in writing with a copy for yourself
after the date has come inform customer that storage will be charged
if still not paid, start making bills for storage, daily weekly monthly etc,,, make sure you send bill to customer as well as a copy for yourself

if still no luck, begin court proceedings for your money if customer fails to present himself you will win, then after a total of 3 months in your possesion you can technically sell his car, i say technically because my ex boss technically sold a customers car this way but for whatever reason LEGALLY customer took him to court and was awarded the costs of his car back!

matts1

Nightmare, my mechanic had this with some young lad, in the end he said 'keep it' but the next thing, a finance company got in touch saying they wanted to recover the car as payments had stopped.

My mechanic informed them they car would not be moving until his bill plus storage had been paid and he ended up buying it from them for peanuts. His misses has it and its been great for the last 4 years lol!!

I would say the guy is a chancer, the threat of legal proceedings may make him buck his ideas up.

Oranoco

I think you will find you have no right what so ever to sell the vehicle. There have been a couple of cases where clampers have sold cars on that they impounded and got royally shafted for it as did the people buying the cars. Clampers got shafted twice in the end, first for selling a vehicle they were not entitled to do so then again by the people who purchased the car and lost it when the court returned it to the original owner

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

Tricky situation – No offense to the people offering advice but I'd definitely get some actual legal advice before even considering selling the car. Definitely document everything though.

I'm always surprised that garages don't make you sign a contract when you drop a car off agreeing to pay in full by a set date.

Psycho Warren

iTrader: (5)

I agree dan!

Look at the fuck up with TT's car project.

Had a contract with all pertinant factors agreed been signed by both parties then chances are the situation would have not got out of control.

SteveB

iTrader: (3)

A mate of mine had a similar situation....

Customer called police and said that she hadn't authorised the work....
Mate had to give car back and told by police it was a civil matter and he had to go through court to chase payment.


Steve

fuzzy

from the view of the customer you cant legally withhold their car unless theyre refusing to pay anything. should the customer be offering payment for some of the work you have to give it back and as above it then becomes a civil matter for you to persue them through the courts for outstanding money rather than a police matter .
the customer could call the police themselves and ask them to attend as theyre offering to pay something but you are refusing to release their car and are acting in a threatening manner.the police will side with the customer and return the car.
thats what trading standards told me . whether its different in scotland i dont know.