Hypothetical problem

[C. Grimsley]

If say you had a car repaired at a garage and never paid the bill, after quite some time the garage owner towed the car away for the payment where do either people stand?

Would the garage owner be in trouble for possible theft or would the police think it's a civil matter and not want to get involved?

Carl

[Jasandjules]

Was the car taken from the garage prior to their "towing" it?

[Hamish Finn]

Jasandjules said:

Was the car taken from the garage prior to their "towing" it?

Presumably if it was still at the garage, the garage owner wouldn't have to tow it back there?

[krisdelta]

Surely it's "taken without owners consent" rather than "intention to permenantly deprive". I guess they'd be made to hand it back. The outstanding monies would be a civil matter. Happy to be wrong

[Jasandjules]

Hamish Finn said:

Presumably if it was still at the garage, the garage owner wouldn't have to tow it back there?

Depends, he may have towed it away to storage or somewhere else off his site to free up space.....

[Pope]

Brings back a distant memory.......

'A' painted 'B's' Capri 3.0
B didn't pay by the agreed time and then refused to pay as he had no money
'A' removed Capri engine and locked it away until money was forthcoming; which it never did.

As a 7 yr old it was an interesting thing to see......!? It also formed an early lesson on pay your way.

[C. Grimsley]

Seems this may be resolved, basically work was carried out on a vehicle and the bill was never paid, the next thing all contact was ignored, the vehicle was spotted and removed, as you can imagine once removed the garage owner was worried he could be the one in the wrong.

Carl

[Jasandjules]

C. Grimsley said:

Seems this may be resolved, basically work was carried out on a vehicle and the bill was never paid, the next thing all contact was ignored, the vehicle was spotted and removed, as you can imagine once removed the garage owner was worried he could be the one in the wrong.

Carl

Chances are he is. Been a while since I've done criminal law but sounds like he is pushing into criminal territory by nicking the car back.

Had it not left his premises and he moved it elsewhere it would be different, he would be holding on to the car until payment was made for the goods.

Releasing the car however changes things.

[Roo]

It stops being a lien if he voluntarily released it doesn't it?

[anonymous-user]

Why is this non hypothetical question marked as hypothetical? OP, was it you who took the car? No BS about your "friend", thanks very much!

As others have noted , you could have exercised a legal right that is called a lien in respect of the car if you had kept possession of it, but, having released the car to its owner, you had no right to re-take possession of it. You could sue for the money owed, but the car was not security for the debt unless you had agreed that to be so, and I doubt that you did. Give the car back before you get into deeper water.

[anonymous-user]

If by any chance you own the car, and the garage owner will not return it, you could sue for an order for the car to be returned to you. You will still owe the money for the work done on the car, however, unless you have a legit reason for not paying. "Don't wanna" is not a legit reason.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

I never get involved in hypothetical questions, although I wonder if that would be different if I were female?

[Monkeylegend]

A check of OP's profile would suggest maybe he did the work so is the one owed money.

But I could be wrong, I am no SH.

[imagineifyeswill]

Once you release the car you cannot take it back. If the customer should come back for more work to be done you obviously wouldnt release the vehicle until the current bill is paid but you cant hold the car for the previous bill.