Basically I have an old car. All estimates given were verbal. After everything, the total ended up being 6k of work. I can finance about 3, which leaves 3 for me to make cash. In the event that I cannot pay the bill, what will happen?
I assume my car will get repossessed by the mechanic and sold at auction, but how will this affect my credit? Will this affect my credit at all? Has anyone had a similar situation where they were able to settle on the final bill? Any insight is welcome and appreciated
Don’t stiff your mechanic. Your duty next time is to get an estimate in writing and advise your mechanic what your spending cap is, and any repairs beyond that are with your approval only.
Your mechanic has to eat, too. It’s not in his job description to alleviate your financial woes.
I believe in most states, it’s the mechanics responsibility to give a written estimate, and it’s also state law in many states that the shop requires a signature before performing work. I’ve been a mechanic with my own business for over 40 years and it’s been a common practice for my business to do this.
Verbal authorization is allowed in some states. Written is always better. That still doesn’t stop a customer from being a scum bag and abandoning the vehicle after authorizing the repairs. If the work we are doing approaches the value of the vehicle we will get a 50% deposit on the repair. If the work is much less than the value of the vehicle, and the customer doesn’t pay, we put a lien on the vehicle and sell it and are allowed to keep the profit.