Auto body agreement with a third person involved

[jturkey69]

Well here is the story, I was conversing through emails with an acquaintance that does bodywork, and we had agreed in the emails for hime to repair rust, and paint , and install a 4 wheel disc brake kit on our 1971 Olds Cutlass as to what was to be done, and a total price, down payment, and including time frame of completion. The third party is involved because this person runs a towing business, and came to my house to pick up the car Feb 12th 2010, and provided me a receipt that said 2050 dollars cash down to (name of body person) for body and paint. 150 dollars for towing. The body person said he would be doing the work in a shop, and even told me to check out some of the work at the shop on an instant message one night. I was impressed which made me believe that the job would be done. weeks of conversing through emails, the body person would tell me the updates that has been done. Finally May 1st rolls around, and I decide to pack up 4 kids, and drive the hour and 45 minutes north to check the progress in person as the deadline had come and gone, emails were not being returned, and cell phone was shut off. In between this time A friend had said he seen what looked like our car in March somewhere out of town. So with receipt in hand from the towing guy, I went to that address, and lo and behold, found my car, and the body person working on some dirt track race car. NOT at the place where we thought it would be, but the towing guys property. Our car had been taken apart what looks like in February, and left in the small drafty, leaking, barn cat occupied garage, untouched. So at this point I found all the emails were a lie, and he assured me he was going to have it ready for paint the following Wednesday, so I left since I had 4 kids in the car with, and could not get a way to take the car at that time. At that time I did take multiple pics of the car and surroundings of it pulled into pieces. May 15th 2010, I rented a tow dolly, and used my car to go up north, and with the help of my brother, and ironically a little bit from the towing guy, my brother and I put the car back together so at least it could be towed home, so now I had to rent that, and possibly have damage/or wear and tear done to my car that had to pull the other car home. Here is the kicker, and wondering my options. I recently found out through the body guys ex, that he has a child that he has not paid support to since it was born, and will be going to court. The body guy has no mailing address, and lives kind of under the grid with other people, and works for cash. He has a few things that might be worth money, but child support will definitely intercept that, so my only option is to take the towing guy to court for the max of 5000 as not there are damaged parts, and the interior and whole car is now significantly worse then when it was picked up.

Does this sound right?
Is there anything I should do like having a local body shop give an estimate of the car to take to court?
Can I work on the car at all after I now have it home and I had taken a ton of pics?

Thanks all for the help

 

[mightymoose]

You are in a bad spot over this.
While you could sue this guy, it sounds as though you have nothing to gain from this.
You might want to consider if you are better off to just take the loss and move on rather than put more time and money into court and STILL not get paid.

Yes, you have a legitimate complaint, but it sounds like slim to no chance of being compensated for your loss.

Lesson learned... find a reputable shop or repairman to do this kind of work and get the repair agreement/estimate in writing.

 

[jturkey69]

Thanks for your reply...is there a reason I cannot take the towing guy to court as he allowed this to happen on his property, and I have a receipt from him. Since he owns a business that he runs out of his home?

 

[FlaRiptide]

Yes you could sue, but you will be ahead by taking mightymoose's advice. There are expenses involved in going to court, even if you win the court does not guarantee or help with collection of the judgement. There are costs involved with identifying assets and having a Sheriff execute a judgement. Per your post this is not a reputable business (towing guy) and thus collecting from him may be fruitless. Thus it is your choice on how much more blood & sweat you wish to put towards what may be a deadend.

 

[mightymoose]

Thanks for your reply...is there a reason I cannot take the towing guy to court as he allowed this to happen on his property, and I have a receipt from him. Since he owns a business that he runs out of his home?

You have nothing to sue the tow company for. You paid to have the car towed and they towed it. Your dispute is with the person that was to do the repair. Granted, this was set up in part by the tow person, but the responsibility for that agreement will fall back on you.