A mechanic said a customer hired AAA to tow her vehicle from his shop before she paid for it. He said she then called the police when he wouldn't release the car to her.
TikToker Justin Matis (@jaymanfam802) says a nurse brought her Range Rover in for some repairs. He says he gave her a "great rate" as a nice gesture. Matis notes he previously fixed two of her other cars. The total was around $1,500 for his work on her car's thermostat and radiator, he says. The video has over 177,000 views.
"My shop's rates are already low. Seventy dollars an hour," Matis says. He recalls telling her he'd hold the car at his shop free of charge while she was out of town.
Matis says the woman told him she was on her way to pay and pick up her car. But, he says, she never showed.
Three days later, as he woke up from a nap, his co-worker asked him if he had received payment for the vehicle, he continues. He says AAA, a roadside assistance and towing service, dispatched a tow truck to pick up the car.
"So the customer tried to have her vehicle towed out of the shop without paying for it," Matis says.
In the comments section, viewers offered ways to prevent cars from being towed without payment.
One suggested, "Always switch a few wires around until a customer comes and picks it up if you know what I mean. "
"As a shop, you need to put a fence around your shop to keep people from picking up their cars without paying," another said.
"I’ve had customers set up a fake 'Repo,' cut gate chains, or try to sneak in the back; why on some customers, it’s a deposit down," a third added.
Matis says he called the customer and asked when she planned on paying for the repairs.
"I invested my time, my energy, my money into the parts. Come pay for your vehicle," he says in the clip. The woman, Matis continues, didn't respond to his message.
Matis says he told her that he would no longer hold the vehicle for free and would charge her $40 for every day she didn't pay. He says the woman told him she didn't have money to pay and thought he would accept a payment plan.
"Before you get your vehicle fixed, maybe ask, 'How much will this cost?'" he says. "Don't get the work done if you can't afford it."
Matis says he put a mechanic lien on the vehicle, as the woman refused to pay. A mechanic's lien is a legal claim that a contractor can place against a customer's property to ensure they are paid for their work. In Matis' case, this lien would allow him to sell the vehicle to repay the money for the parts and labor he put into the repair.
"If we reach X amount of days and we still haven't received payment, I'm going to sell it to recover some of the money," he says in the video.
Matis says he didn't involve the police because he thought they would consider it a "civil matter." Law enforcement only handles criminal matters. However, he says he was surprised when an officer showed up at his shop. The woman apparently called and told police the shop wouldn't release her car.
"We as a shop can get ripped off consecutively for thousands of dollars, and law enforcement [will say] it's a civil matter," Matis says. "But if a customer calls them up and says, 'Hey, can you go make the shop give me my car back?' the cops show up."
The police did not force Matis to return the car, as he had to leave the shop before giving a statement.
In a follow-up video, Matis says he can't share many more details until he meets with a lawyer. But he does share that the woman who wouldn't pay for her repairs, ironically, used to work as a debt collector.
He shares several screenshots of him asking the woman when she planned to pick up her vehicle. Matis says that he even offered to waive the $40 daily storage fee if she started making payments on the repairs.
The Daily Dot reached out to Matis via TikTok direct message and comment.
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The post ‘I’m going to sell it to recover some of the money’: Woman tries to tow Range Rover from mechanic shop because she can’t afford the work done on it appeared first on The Daily Dot.
