Consumer Law, Warranties Mechanic's lien

[dave0112]

Jurisdiction

Colorado

I understand how a mechanic's lien works for, say a subcontractor who was not paid by the GC... even though that GC has been paid by the homeowner, the subcontractor can still put a lien on the house rather than going after the GC (or maybe in addition to). And more obviously, a mechanic who has not been paid by the owner of a car does not have to release the car until payment is made.

I'm a bit more confused with this scenario though and not sure it applies. Maybe someone can shed some light....

Suppose a auto body shop is working on a car that was in an accident and thus being paid for by insurance. It's going to take a while so the shop has agreed to reimburse the owner of the vehicle for rental car charges (a sign of good faith and to show that they have a stake in finishing the wok as soon as possible) .After a little bit of work a supplemental claim is submitted for newly discovered damage that was caused by the accident. And this causes the insurance company to pull the plug and declare a total loss. The owner of the vehicle signs the title over to the insurance company and gets their check then returns the rental car. Now the insurance company owes the shop for storage fees which they are refusing to pay.

Under the mechanic's lien, can the shop refuse to reimburse the owner of the vehicle for the rental car until they are paid the storage fees (or given the title to the vehicle, which they agreed to in lieu of storage fees) by the insurance company? To me it's similar to the situation with the subcontractor but not exactly the same thing. Maybe I'm missing something blatantly obvious. If anyone has any wisdom to impart, i'm all ears.

Thanks!!

 

[doucar]

I understand how a mechanic's lien works for, say a subcontractor who was not paid by the GC... even though that GC has been paid by the homeowner, the subcontractor can still put a lien on the house rather than going after the GC (or maybe in addition to). And more obviously, a mechanic who has not been paid by the owner of a car does not have to release the car until payment is made.

I'm a bit more confused with this scenario though and not sure it applies. Maybe someone can shed some light....

Suppose a auto body shop is working on a car that was in an accident and thus being paid for by insurance. It's going to take a while so the shop has agreed to reimburse the owner of the vehicle for rental car charges (a sign of good faith and to show that they have a stake in finishing the wok as soon as possible) .After a little bit of work a supplemental claim is submitted for newly discovered damage that was caused by the accident. And this causes the insurance company to pull the plug and declare a total loss. The owner of the vehicle signs the title over to the insurance company and gets their check then returns the rental car. Now the insurance company owes the shop for storage fees which they are refusing to pay.

Under the mechanic's lien, can the shop refuse to reimburse the owner of the vehicle for the rental car until they are paid the storage fees (or given the title to the vehicle, which they agreed to in lieu of storage fees) by the insurance company? To me it's similar to the situation with the subcontractor but not exactly the same thing. Maybe I'm missing something blatantly obvious. If anyone has any wisdom to impart, i'm all ears.

Thanks!!

It is probably covered by your rental agreement, read it if you haven't.

 

[dave0112]

Huh? The rental car agreement will say whether or not the auto body shop is required to reimburse me before they receive payment from my insurance company? Sorry, I'm a bit confused.

 

[Zigner]

Huh? The rental car agreement will say whether or not the auto body shop is required to reimburse me before they receive payment from my insurance company? Sorry, I'm a bit confused.

No, I believe the above responder misunderstood your post.
What will happen here will depend on your agreement with the shop regarding the car. You did get it in writing, right?

 

[dave0112]

No, I believe the above responder misunderstood your post.
What will happen here will depend on your agreement with the shop regarding the car. You did get it in writing, right?

R
I got it in writing that they agreed to pay for the rental car, yes. It doesn't specify any time frame in which the reimbursement is to be made, but it's been like 2 months since I returned the rental car. They're not denying that they need to pay me. They're just refusing to do so until they are satisfied by the insurance company and are claiming that falls under mechanic"s lien.

 

[Zigner]

R
I got it in writing that they agreed to pay for the rental car, yes. It doesn't specify any time frame in which the reimbursement is to be made, but it's been like 2 months since I returned the rental car. They're not denying that they need to pay me. They're just refusing to do so until they are satisfied by the insurance company and are claiming that falls under mechanic"s lien.

The problem you have is that it doesn't matter if it "falls under mechanic's lien" or not. They are simply applying what they owe you to what you owe them. Get the storage paid and you'll get your money. It's on YOU to lean on your insurance company.

 

[dave0112]

It's on YOU to lean on your insurance company.

That's the part I'm confused about. I can't make my insurance company do *anything* much less something they claim they are not required to do. What a great world that would be. If that's really the case, maybe I should be looking into whether or not THEY should be paying me that reimbursement.

Th storage fees were never my responsibility. There's nothing in contract I signed that says "if storage fees are owed, you have to pay them if your insurance refuses to". My understanding is that in situations like this, storage fees are a pretty standard deal between the shop and the insurance company. There must be some reason they're saying they don't have to pay them. The shop never said "well they're not paying so now this falls on to you". At any rate, I didn't think they involved me at all. If there was something saying I could be responsible for them, I would never leave my car in the shop for as long as they said they needed it for... nobody would.