I'm not sure if I have a case or enough evidence to pursue this in small claims court here in TN. My husband's car, which is a 2001 Jaguar, stopped running while driving one day. Battery turning over, but not getting any gas. Since our car is now 8 years old and out of warranty, we had it towed on a flat bed trailer about a mile away to a shop that works on imports. We previously used this same shop in July this year for brakes without a problem.
The owner called a few days later to tell us that we had a blown fuel pump circuit fuse and that they had replaced it, but that something was obviously making it blow still. I asked him what expenses we had incurred so far. He gave me a total of around $300 which included: $84.50 diagnostic, $130 smoke test, and $100 labor to replace fuse. I relay the info to my husband who then calls the owner. Owner says our fuel pump is good, but we have some hoses under the engine leaking so my husband authorizes to have them all replaced due to the fact that it's not that much more to replace all rather than some because the expense is in the engine removal. Our bill is now up to $1200.
About 10 days later we've heard nothing from owner so my husband calls. Owner now says fuel pump is bad when only a week earlier he claimed it was good and said we needed hoses. After some discussion and feeling like we're getting hosed in more ways than one, my husband okays the new fuel pump due to the fact of the amount of money we're already out and it isn't driveable to the dealership 40 miles away without one. Our bill is now up to $2000.
Another 10 days go by and we receive a call from the owner. At this point he has had our car for one month. He says they've been test driving it the last few days and everything seems okay now, but that we'll have to take it to the dealership to get the suspension fault light checked out because they can't do it there. What???
This is the first time he has brought this light to our attention. We go to the shop to speak to him in person. He says he doesn't know why the light is on, but only the dealership has the correct tool to test it. I asked him why he didn't tell us about it sooner. He said he assumed we knew about it or he would've brought it up. I asked him what he based our knowledge on and he said people bring cars in all the time with other things wrong with them. I tell him that every time without exception I have taken a car in to be serviced/repaired, the mechanics alert you to any other issues as they find them. He claims they noticed it at some point after they replaced the fuse. I told him we would not have authorized any further repairs beyond the initial $300 we were out if we knew it would have to go to the dealership anyway. Our car only has a kelly blue book value of less than $6000. We told him that we were unhappy with the situation to say the least. How can you ask me for $2000 and then tell me to go the dealership for repairs you might've caused, or at the very least should've alerted us to before sinking anymore money into it? We said we'd call him the next day and we left without paying, or our car.
I called the dealership in the meantime. They said it's definitely possible that the shop caused the light issue while they were doing repairs and they can check it out for $135 and let me know the cause (his fault or otherwise). I don't have the car though.
What is the best way to pursue this?
a. Pay the $2000 and the $135 plus whatever the repair costs at dealership
and take our lumps?
b. Pay nothing, file in small claims court for possession of our car to take to
dealership?
c. Pay the $2000, plus dealership cost and try to partially recoup in court?
d. Any other options?
Other than the initial sheet we signed to look at the car, everything else has been verbal. I did get an interim invoice when we went down to speak to him. It's pretty much a parts and labor list, but does mention that our fuel pump worked when we replaced the hoses. We feel we have definitely been taken advantage of. Sorry to be so lengthy, but that was the course of events. If anyone has any helpful info we would greatly appreciate it.
One more tidbit, I don't know if this guy is an LLC, corp, or sole proprietor, but was told if he was anything other than sole proprietor that he'd be required to have an attorney present in small claims (which means we should probably also have one). Then is starts to get costly and negates me recouping money because you can't include that in your claim. Is this correct?
The owner called a few days later to tell us that we had a blown fuel pump circuit fuse and that they had replaced it, but that something was obviously making it blow still. I asked him what expenses we had incurred so far. He gave me a total of around $300 which included: $84.50 diagnostic, $130 smoke test, and $100 labor to replace fuse. I relay the info to my husband who then calls the owner. Owner says our fuel pump is good, but we have some hoses under the engine leaking so my husband authorizes to have them all replaced due to the fact that it's not that much more to replace all rather than some because the expense is in the engine removal. Our bill is now up to $1200.
About 10 days later we've heard nothing from owner so my husband calls. Owner now says fuel pump is bad when only a week earlier he claimed it was good and said we needed hoses. After some discussion and feeling like we're getting hosed in more ways than one, my husband okays the new fuel pump due to the fact of the amount of money we're already out and it isn't driveable to the dealership 40 miles away without one. Our bill is now up to $2000.
Another 10 days go by and we receive a call from the owner. At this point he has had our car for one month. He says they've been test driving it the last few days and everything seems okay now, but that we'll have to take it to the dealership to get the suspension fault light checked out because they can't do it there. What???
This is the first time he has brought this light to our attention. We go to the shop to speak to him in person. He says he doesn't know why the light is on, but only the dealership has the correct tool to test it. I asked him why he didn't tell us about it sooner. He said he assumed we knew about it or he would've brought it up. I asked him what he based our knowledge on and he said people bring cars in all the time with other things wrong with them. I tell him that every time without exception I have taken a car in to be serviced/repaired, the mechanics alert you to any other issues as they find them. He claims they noticed it at some point after they replaced the fuse. I told him we would not have authorized any further repairs beyond the initial $300 we were out if we knew it would have to go to the dealership anyway. Our car only has a kelly blue book value of less than $6000. We told him that we were unhappy with the situation to say the least. How can you ask me for $2000 and then tell me to go the dealership for repairs you might've caused, or at the very least should've alerted us to before sinking anymore money into it? We said we'd call him the next day and we left without paying, or our car.
I called the dealership in the meantime. They said it's definitely possible that the shop caused the light issue while they were doing repairs and they can check it out for $135 and let me know the cause (his fault or otherwise). I don't have the car though.
What is the best way to pursue this?
a. Pay the $2000 and the $135 plus whatever the repair costs at dealership
and take our lumps?
b. Pay nothing, file in small claims court for possession of our car to take to
dealership?
c. Pay the $2000, plus dealership cost and try to partially recoup in court?
d. Any other options?
Other than the initial sheet we signed to look at the car, everything else has been verbal. I did get an interim invoice when we went down to speak to him. It's pretty much a parts and labor list, but does mention that our fuel pump worked when we replaced the hoses. We feel we have definitely been taken advantage of. Sorry to be so lengthy, but that was the course of events. If anyone has any helpful info we would greatly appreciate it.
One more tidbit, I don't know if this guy is an LLC, corp, or sole proprietor, but was told if he was anything other than sole proprietor that he'd be required to have an attorney present in small claims (which means we should probably also have one). Then is starts to get costly and negates me recouping money because you can't include that in your claim. Is this correct?
