By Steven Symes 
When you hand the keys to your beloved ride over to a repair shop, you’re trusting the owner and employees with one of your greatest assets. While most of us don’t think too much about this, a woman in Memphis, Tennessee has been living the nightmare of having no idea where her 1993 Mercedes 190 E is two years after taking it to a shop.
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We see stories like this now and then, so it’s not horribly common. Still, this is the type of thing which if it did happen to you could turn your world upside down. That’s especially true with a ride that’s loaded with sentimental value, which was exactly the case for this woman since it belonged to her late father.
Desperate, she contacted local news station WREG for help and an investigative reporter started digging into the situation. Originally, the shop was supposed to fix the problematic ignition in July 2021 with the woman providing a deposit of $1,500 up front for the work to be done.
However, in the following months instead of seeing progress with the Mercedes, the woman says she only got excuses from the shop owner. Then one day she swung by the business to find it was empty and her car was nowhere to be found.
Again, we’ve seen this happen from time to time. When a repair shop suddenly folds after the owner hides mounting financial and/or legal problems, they sometimes take all the vehicles left in their care.
The state department of commerce said it could do nothing about the situation. She contacted the police and tried to file a theft report, however police said it was a civil matter.
After asking questions of the former owner of the shop, which had been sold, the reporter finally learned the Mercedes had been towed to a wrecking yard. That business sent certified letters to the late father’s address, which of course never reached the current owner, his daughter.
But that wasn’t the end of the story. As you probably know, wrecking yards don’t just hold onto vehicles for free, so the daily storage fees have stacked up to an unbelievable amount, over $5,000. As we’ve experienced firsthand, these businesses don’t care what your story is, they want your money or you don’t get your car.
Funny enough, the woman finally got some police to pay attention to her case. When she showed up at the wrecking lot with cops, they rapidly released the Mercedes and she had it towed to her house. Funny how that works.
Image via WREG News Channel 3/YouTube
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