Getting sued tonight :)
 

You may or may not remember my dream car, the Fiero. :) I bought it last spring for a few hundred dollars. I had it towed to the mechanic I usually use to get the rear frame replaced...about $150. They then called and said something else was wrong and the total would be $600. I said ok and then they called again and said ti would be $1200. That made me think if I really wanted to put $1200 into a car I paid only a couple hundred for. So after the entire summer, they finally called and told me it was done and the total was $1900. At least in NYS, a mechanic has to update the customer whenever the price goes up. Up to $1200, they did that.

I went over to the mechanic and told them I was not going to pay the $1900. They said, what do you want to do? I said the car was theirs. The manager said, "ok, what do we do for a title?". I just happened to have it with me so I gave it to him.

Done and done, right? Consideration offered and accepted. And yet, 2 weeks later the owner called and said that the manager had no right to do that. He also told me that the people that wanted to buy the car couldn't come up with the money. I asked what that had to do with me. He just said he had to get his money.

And now tonight I go to small claims court for this matter.

I am taking wagers...will I win?

I had a Toyota MR2 that I gave to an ex. Signed the title over to them and thought I was done with the car. A few weeks later I get a car from a bus station saying that my car is sitting on their lot. Found the car there all smashed up and I got stuck with a huge city parking fee and towing charge because the title that I signed over had never been recorded.

Yes and No.

Either you'll win or have to pay $1200 for the repairs and get your car back.

And if you do win it'll be because the manager being management and not an employee has the right to talk and make decisions on behalf of the garage. That manager entered an agreement to take the car over instead of making you pay. It's binding therefore end of story.

I am thinking that as well Ramster. And Cleo mentions something that I may or may not mention. When I bought the car, I never put it on the road. I never signed the title and my name is not associated with this car at all. But, I wouldn't want to go to court and say that the mechanic has to go to the rightful owners. I was the one that brought the car in.

that would be the biggest point when this would happen in holland, when your name is with the car then all bills or whatever is yours, no matter what, i had this with my brother inlaw twice, he deals in cars, i sold him the car and asked him to sign the title and send me the papers , he didnt, i got the traffic tickets because he driveed to fast and the car was still in my name, my mistake (bad brother inlaw), nothing i could do about it.

So I just went through all my phone messages from this guy. In 5 of them he admits that they shouldn't have tried to overcharge me. In another he says he has a buyer for the car. In another he lies completely saying that he talked to the people who owned the car and he has the bill of sale I signed. I have never signed a thing.

I am giving myself a 50/50 chance. :)

Go Jim, go! :)
Take the phone messages with you.

Got them all...
Part of the beauty of Vonage. Even if I delete them from their server I have them in my email.

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Jim, I'll give you a 51/49 chance. Seems the Mgr. entered into an agreement when he took the car/title from you that day. They received the car for the work they did. So the actual cost to them was a few hours. Make sure you have all your conversations, any receipts, any written estimates they gave you, and most of all stay calm cool and collected. The worst that will happen is you'l be stuck with the full bill and have your car back. 8-1 odds or You'll get hit with the originally agreed upon cost of 1200 and have your car back 5-2 odds or lastly, You'll leave with nothing owed, nothing gained and they keep the car 3-1 odds.

Nice odds Jester :)
I don't really think there is much of a chance of having to pay the full amount he is asking for. Every recording I have has him saying he will take $1200.

If it were for more money, I would bring in a witness. The day I gave the manager the title, he went to the Harley mechanic that I also deal with and told him that they were proud owners of the Fiero. I am not about to ask the Harley mechanic to lose business for this little amount.

Shame you are not in the UK. Here any deal entered into by an employee of a company is legally binding on the company. So when the manager took the pinks off you it would be considered "done and dusted". The garage owner would have no hope.

Not when it comes to cars, that's why they brought in the new V5 where you have to get the new owners to fill their details in and you send it off.
If you don't you are liable for anything that car is involved with.

I got clobbered for road tax on a car i sold before that and it took a huge fight to get out of paying that. |badidea|

omg the drama! I want to know what happens next.

Well, court was weird :) Not a thing like Judge Judy. We were the only parties and we had to sit together for about 20 mins before they called us in.

Both the owner and the manager were there and the manager lied through his teeth. He claimed that I walked in with the title, slammed it on the counter and walked away. But when I mentioned that I also picked up a second car at the same time, the walking in, slamming and walking out kind of went out the window. Near the end, it looked like it was going their way until I asked the judge about them taking the title. I said, "wasn't consideration being offered and accepted a binding contract?" The judge said he would have to look it up. :) I have to wait a week or two for a decision. The judge told both of us to try to settle this before he did the decision.

Justice is not only blind its lazy too! HAHA Seems like you made some headway Jim.

He kept trying from before the hearing to the end. Kind of made me look like the bad guy. The mechanic kept saying, I will take $1200 right now.

Give him the $1200 and be on your way. Then you get your dream car. ;)

Fuck me but is that a volunteer position? Or maybe the judges are selected like jurors and he's just some guy forced to sit on the bench? I mean, surely that's not a paying job, and it's not being held by someone with any training whatsoever for the position?

Oh, and I also agree that settling for $1200 and getting the car sounds like a good way to go.

That's a toughy...I'm just disappointed you didn't have that gay judge david young...he's pretty funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TB1eBw6p1E

I was talking about business deals (like selling the car, getting it repaired etc.) not motoring offences. Yes, if you do not notify the DVLC that you have sold a car, they assume you still own it and you are liable for things like parking offences, and even accidents if the driver does a runner.

A few years ago I did some work as an outside clerk (the guy sitting next to the barrister if a solicitor is not sitting there). Some judges know even less about the law than me (and I've had no formal legal training). I have no idea where they get them from, but sometimes I think it must be the local branch of "Idiots R Us".

If nothing is down on paper then i'd assume it would be difficult to prove, even so a ccj isn't enforceable through a small claims court so even if it was me and i lost i wouldn't pay up.

Same problem here as you know with garages etc trying it on with excessive charges.

Local judges are just people that want the job and are elected. They don't have to be lawyers even. We had one judge that used to sell acid (lsd) on the side before he was elected. :)

Yeah that is the problem. A verbal contract is legally binding but a bastard to prove. I actually have a letter from CitiBank that basically says "We have looked into your claim and decided that you cannot prove our representative promised you that, so we are not going to honour his promise."

The other side only has to go back to court to get it enforceable, then you get his legal fees for the second court appearance added on to the bill and they can attach your earnings (i.e. until the debt is discharged, including all legal costs and interest at 2% above Barclay's base rate; your boss becomes obliged to pay your salary to the courts, they send you the minimum they consider necessary for you to live on, then the rest goes towards paying what you owe).

The city/town judges here need to have law background, they are elected and I believe they get a salary.

Most of our officials have no real training. The coroner is a funeral director and judges are mostly business people. Hell, we don't even have a chief of police. :)

Most times I like it this way. Sometimes it does suck that they really don't know what they are doing. We have a friend that has a 14 year old daughter involved with a 24 year old married man. The local police claim they can't do anything about it. Of course the county DA saw it a different way :)

I assume the "purchaser" never signed the title...If not and there is no bill of sale you are essentially relying on a verbal contract, and it sounds like they are denying any such contract, so the burden of proof is on you. Of course they have the title and they have the car, so their only recourse is to get a mechanics lien and sell the car to satisfy the lein, or just "buy" the car. I think you have the upper hand here.