Yahoo Autos The Ultimate Tuner Shop Horror Story
My client, Jerry, had a little foreign car he wanted to hop up a bit. Y'know, what the kids call "tuning." He found a shop which claimed a specialty in his particular brand of car and he went in and talked to the owner. Not only could the guy tweak the car–he could swap in a newer, higher-performance engine from a slightly newer model year. They agreed on a price, Jerry paid a deposit and he left the car. Modification Guy's shop was small but he talked a good game.
A few weeks later, Mod Guy called Jerry and told him the car was done. Jerry paid the balance of the bill and drove off in his car. Shortly after, his dashboard lit up in a conflagration of idiot lights. He returned to Mod Guy who assured him he could fix this "little" wiring problem which was probably the result of some mismatch between the model years of the car and the transplanted engine.
Mod Guy never called Jerry to update him on the status of the car and began avoiding Jerry's calls. Jerry stopped by from time to time and was pretty sure the car was not being touched between his visits. When he finally told Mod Guy he needed a resolution SOON, Mod Guy seemed to be concerned and promised a quick resolution.
A few weeks later, Jerry got a letter from a towing service in a town not far from Mod Guy. If Jerry wanted his car, all he had to do was pay the towing and storage fees. Wait, What?! Jerry called and the towing company said they had towed the car from the local Honda dealer when it was reported abandoned there. Jerry called the Honda dealer and they told him that Mod Guy had brought the car to them and asked if they could resolve the "Everything Under The Hood Appears To Be Malfunctioning" problem being reported by the warning lights. When they told Mod Guy they wouldn't touch it, Mod Guy left the car and stopped taking their phone calls. Fed up, the dealer simply called the police.
Here's a little recap: Jerry had a car that would not run properly and he would have to cough up a substantial amount of money just to get possession of the car. Oh, and if he did not pay it fairly soon, the car would be auctioned off to pay the towing and storage fees.
Litigation ensued.
Although I am an attorney and I enjoy litigation, there are some kinds I'm not crazy about. This particular legal action involved three parties on the other side (Mod Guy, Honda dealer, Towing yard) and I correctly predicted that they would all blame each other.
Mod Guy: "The Honda dealer messed up the electronics on the car and called the towing yard to shift the blame."
Honda Dealer: "Mod Guy left a non-functioning car on our lot and wouldn't retrieve it when we called him."
Towing Yard: "Hey, we just pick up cars when people tell us they are abandoned."
Us? We were tied up in court for a time, during which Mod Guy went out of business and then everyone blamed him, of course. We eventually got the case resolved to where pretty much everyone got as much as you could expect. Still, it took time. And Jerry's car had to be finished by someone else.
But there is a takeaway here. None of this would have likely happened if Jerry had done enough research on Mod Guy. Research, research, research. The internet makes it easier, and in Jerry's defense, this case was a few years ago and the research wasn't as easy back then.
Find a reputable shop. The more you are going to spend, the more time you need to spend on research. Want to modify an unusual car? It makes no difference these days: You can always find discussion groups, bulletin boards, Facebook pages for any make, model, vehicle type you can imagine. Join them and ask questions. Find someone who has been in business a while and ask to see their work. Any reputable shop will have happy customers who will tell others about their experiences.
And the opposite is true: The internet will also hook you up with disgruntled customers who have had less than stellar experiences with shops like Mod Guy's which shouldn't even be in business in the first place.
Steve Lehto is a writer and attorney from Michigan. He specializes in Lemon Law and frequently writes about cars and the law. His most recent books include Preston Tucker and His Battle to Build the Car of Tomorrow, and Dodge Daytona and Plymouth Superbird: Design, Development, Production and Competition. He also has a podcast where he talks about these things.
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