Repair Shop Keeps Man’s Car, Racks Up Thousands In Parking Tickets

For over a year and a half, a repair shop in New York City kept a man’s car, accumulating thousands in parking tickets the city sent to the man. It’s a nightmare scenario we see play out more often than most people would suspect. The lesson is everyone should be careful who they hand their keys over to, because it could cost them dearly.

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The man, a retired janitor, took his Ford Flex to the repair shop after it was in an accident. The insurance company cut a check to the shop, which was later cashed, but after a year and a half the business continued making excuses about why the guy didn’t have the vehicle back in his possession.

In the meantime, the poor Flex owner gets over $2,000 in parking violations sent to him, allegedly because the shop parked the vehicle illegally repeatedly, reports CBS News New York. Later, the guy tried taking the Ford from a lot but was blocked, plus it wouldn’t start and the tires were flat anyway, and it also came out the owner of that lot was trying to get the shop booted from the property.

On top of that, the name of the shop was changed during all this and it was sold to another guy who seemingly also gave the Ford Flex owner the runaround. This isn’t the sort of thing you’d expect from a legitimate car repair business.

But we’ve seen this sort of thing many times before. Some cases have taken years and years for the owner to get their ride back, thanks to laws which mechanics exploit. Others have had to track their car down after a shop suddenly closed and their vehicle was whisked away to another location.

In short, you should do your homework before handing your keys over to any mechanic. Research the shop online, see if other people are complaining about problems like this, and see how long the business has been around. It’s also a good idea to check with the state to ensure it’s properly licensed and insured.

The guy in this story eventually got his Flex back and a judge ordered the business to pay the parking fines, but it seems the new shop owner is fighting that.

Image via CBS News New York