Boy is my customer going to be pissed
 

So as you all know I rebuilt a California emissioned Mustang last year, and when I finished up and gave her a price ( including a discount on labor and parts) she said she wouldn't pay. SO, the car has been sitting in my back yard for almost a year now with no contact from her, and I was just about ready to file for small claims until a couple of my customers who are mechanics came and and we talked about the situation and he said I have two options.

1. ( I have to apply for a business LLC at least) put a mechanics lean on the car, but to me that doesn't do much since her enthusiasm ( spell check) has left the car in my yard for over a year now. she would NEVER be able to register it till I get paid adn remove the lean. pro is I'd get all my money, con is I may never get my money lol.

2. Apply for a salvage title since it's been abandoned on my property for 90+ days . Hell, it's been there a year, and 6 months of no communication from her. It will certainly hurt the value of resale unless I part it out, but if I can get rid of it, whatever, I finally get my money. The best part is any Tom, Dick, and Harry can do this.

Best case scenerio, I get the 2500 I would want for it, which is what covers the time, parts and a little bit extra, worst case is I get for just the parts, but either way I get my money back and I get this thing out of my yard!! I have so much on my plate but this has been a major stopping force for me to fix my ranger, and other stuff done.

do it...you did the work....work has price, she didn't pay, you get her car lol

What kind of car?

I bet she was expecting you to give her the car back and try to set up some kind of payment situation, then she would just not pay you back. I haven't been in the situation so I can't say if there's anything else that can be done. Applying for a salvage title seems like the best thing to do out of what you've mentioned.

:mrgreen:

It's a 1994/95 Mustang 3.8. And it had OBDII since it's a Cali car!!!

Well first she said I gave her a quote. In all my years working on cars I have not once given a price quote till after the job is done, case in point, the more I opened that engine, the more problems that were present. It was really a 2 year produced motor, so I couldn't find one with decent miles, nor without a blown head gasket ( 3.8's are prone to bad head gaskets) So I had to rebuild the engine from the ground up.
She then said she was only going to pay the amount I apparently quoted her, which was half the price, then she asked if i wanted the car, that she would be willing to sell it to me....a car that has more money into it then what she bought it for. She's 18, it's her first car, and I tried to sway her to a neon/cavalier, but she wanted to look sporty to her friends, so now she's got to pay the sporty price.

And thus why I parked it in my back yard with my Ranger parked right behind it so she couldn't pull a fast one on me. Doesn't matter I have it disabled if she tried to anyway, the only way to get it out would be for a tow truck to pick it up.

Why are you going to lean on the car? Ohhhh yeah mean put a lien on the car. :D

Do it man, a year is being pretty patient and generous on your part.

I do lean on the car from time to time, depends if I'm tired enough when around it :rofl:

Why don't you report it abandoned to the police?

which dmv to do use, if it is the one in eht i recommend doing that in manahawkin. that is if you decide to get the title which i believe you would need in all cases. i would check the laws pertaining to your case, you dont want her to get the upper hand in any way.

what kind of advantage would I get from that ( just curious if it would help me)

I usually go to the DMV at the Shore Mall ( EHT) and I do work up in Manahawkin every other Saturday, and I'm right across the street from there. I'll look into it a little more, but they said it's pretty cut n dry.

the reason for avoiding the shore mall dmv is, it is a training center or so my brother inlaw found out. it is almost always overcrowded and they make you take extra steps. my last visit there i had more than enough to renew my license, i was also changing it back from fla. but the woman wanted a piece of mail with my address on it, it was about 4 months old she said it couldnt be older than 3 months. besides the fact ive been dealing with mostly the same people since i first got my license in 1982, this was really ridiculous. any way my inlaws buddy goes there quite often to register cars every month. he buys fixes and sells them for some side cash. good luck

Since you've had no contact from her for a year, I think it's safe to say she's given up on the car. She knows where it's at. If she was going to do something about it, you would have heard something by now. It's a legit abandoned car now. If you hear anything from her about it after you get a title, you can say by law it was considered abandoned. She must have found something else to drive by now

From the write up on the DMV's site it sounds like it needs to be in a public place, which your driveway / yard isn't. Might have to leave it disabled and put it on the street for three days to legally claim it as abandoned.

- Justin

That's very sneaky Justin!

Oh and this wouldn't be complete without a "Fail Mustang drivers.."

NahNah

Good catch Adam, I didn't see that line.

- Justin

It's a Rustang so just strap some fireworks (read C4) to it and have some fun this weekend... Happy GM Day

Thank for all the info guys, time to claim thsi Mustang. Our road never sees cops so i could say it's been there for three days whenever lol.
I....I like your thinking

Time to make rear engine, twin turbo 3.8 Mustang rally racer!

DAMN IT AL!!! no epic ideas!!!

(Talking in my head) Yea...a SN95 RS200, that's the ticket! With a Lancia S4 style induction system, where they had a supercharger blowing into a turbo setup....and a Subaru AWD setup... Wait, no I still want to follow my dream of a 1988 Fiero with either a Cobalt SS turbo motor in it, or a Cosworth vega rev happy motor with an AWD setup..... Why am I no longer single and rollign in money?


Well now, with 24 hr. lemon rules, would this car be filed under $500/less for buying it....but say i bought it for a $1? this...just...may...be a...lemon racer?

If you want to enter lemons with it, let me know! I believe they race at NJMP.

They do. EchoMirage raced/was going to race in it.