abandoned vehicle??

laurenfederici

New Member
Jurisdiction
New Jersey
7CA60A0F-42D1-4930-9F84-8C4527DCDB65.jpeg 26A3DBF0-43BE-4AA9-8AEA-969A6CDD856D.jpeg 0BEB2E12-33E9-4CF4-925D-92D0DEEF69C0.jpeg EA783E06-3869-46AE-B03B-32D9B93DA399.jpeg EA783E06-3869-46AE-B03B-32D9B93DA399.jpeg 0BEB2E12-33E9-4CF4-925D-92D0DEEF69C0.jpeg 7CA60A0F-42D1-4930-9F84-8C4527DCDB65.jpeg 26A3DBF0-43BE-4AA9-8AEA-969A6CDD856D.jpeg hello, i am in a very confusing situation and i need some advice. long story so bare with me, here is where the story begins... i live in new jersey and i'm 18 years old. got my first car, wasn't the best. it's a 2005 and understandably has a lot of issues. met a mechanic through my mom who knew him from being friends with his mom.. anyway, he would work on me and my moms car, multiple times. never really had any issues with his work and was always very easy going. about a month ago, something major happened to my car and lt needed a lot of work. dropped the car off at his house and gave him over $200 to fix it. i'm guessing sometime when my mechanic went to fix my car he noticed the issue was a lot bigger than we originally thought and texted me saying it would be a couple more hundred and he'd have to get all these different parts and me and my mom talked and decided we should just get rid of the car because it's going to keep having issues and costing us more... let's not forget about the original $250 we gave him to fix it (don't know where that went never got the money back).. but once i told him we want to get rid of it he said i'd get the most money parting the car out and i could probably get atleast $2,000 because i had a good amount of new parts. he said he'd want a percentage of what i make since it's fair and i took the deal considering i don't know many other people to help me out in the situation and i really needed atleast a thousand for a new car. (i have screenshots for proof of everything) so anyway, we came to this agreement TEN days ago. october 14th, a saturday. he told me within two days, on monday, he'd have money for me. have not seen a penny. he would not text me any updates on what is new with the car unless i ask and it was always an excuse. id drive past the car and see the wheels off, engine, lots of parts. figured he was just selling them as planned. well, we drive past two days ago, the entire car is just gone. i texted him and asked where it is, and he said the police towed it because it was unsafe ?? now, my car is registered, still insured as well. the car is under my mothers name. neither me or her were contacted by anyone(mechanic or police) about this and i think we should have been. my mom called the town who towed my car and did confirm a vehicle was towed from the street he lives on, on saturday but couldn't give any details or if it was even my car. we know my mechanic does have a drug issue and we think he's just selling my parts and taking the money. he did not have consent to do this. my mom has called him and he just says oh ill have to call you back, doesn't answer my messages regarding the money. my mom wants to take him to court but i'm just not sure what rights we have in this situation. screenshots attached
 
I can almost guarantee that when you read the ordinance you will find that it prohibits inoperable vehicles on private property, not just unregistered or abandoned vehicles. And from your description, the vehicle was certainly inoperable.

As for what you do with your mechanic, sure, you can sue him in small claims court but he's a low life druggie and you'll never collect even if you win.

Life lesson from the school of hard knocks.
 
I agree the tow was likely legitimate.
The longer it takes you to get the car out of storage the more it will cost you.
It doesn't sound as if you have anything significant to sue over.
 
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