Advice - panel shop

Just seeking some advice.

If your car is in a repair shop and unfinished and you want it back and you dispute the amount owing/work done do you have any right to take the car back or does the repair shop owner have a legal right to hold onto the car until he is paid or until a legal settlement is reached?

No offense to anyone but I would prefer to hear from people with experience with this sort of thing in NSW with some legal reference.

I am having issues with my panel repairer (also known as the guy who stores my car for long periods without actually working on it) and I want the car back. I paid him for a bunch or work that has yet to be completed and he has done a few things that weren't originally quoted. I have the suspicion things may get ugly and I would like to know that the car and all my gear is safe at home.

My least preferred option is to pay him for all the extras and sue him for the work that has yet to be completed.

I have yet to hear just what he thinks he is owed but I have little or no experience in these matters so would like a better idea of what my position is.

Am considering talking to a legal professional but they cost money so thought I could get some dubious free advice here first.

Cheers

Unfortunately this gets a little hazy so bear with me. The quote is quite long as is the whole drama so I will attempt to make this the short version.

My Capri started out quite rusty. After my original quote the panel repairer (who I prefer not to name at this time, sorry) told me that he was unable to find any replacement panels for the car and had quoted on prices to make new items from scratch. Pretty much he quoted repairs to every panel on the car.
I started off with a different car that had been tubbed and had a roll cage in it. The work agreed upon was as follows:
* remove roll cage from original car
* supply and fit tubs and 4 link rear end (Macdonald Brothers supply)
* new boot floor
* new parcel shelf
* stretch rear guards
* re-fitment of all panels
* set the diff
* fit chassis kit
* fit roll cage

What he told me was this would bring the car to painting stage with all rust removed and the underside of the car would be completely finished. This was in September 2009.

Fast forward to April 2011 and the car still isn't finished and it doesn't look like it ever will be. He has been stalling for quite some time and the car should have been finished by September last year at the very least. I am sure he originally told me March 2010, and then it just stretched out and stretched out until now where the car has hardly changed in some time. I have had to move away from the area and so the car and shop are now a little over 2 hours away.

Some of the issues and adjustments to the quote are as follows:
* I sourced sill panels and some rear guard repair sections from the UK meaning he didn't have to make them from scratch.
* The original roll cage wasn't any good so I paid for a guy to make a new one and fit it. The panel shop supplied the steel.
* The fibreglass front guards I supplied were deemed beyond repair so some steel ones were sourced. These are unrepaired and unfitted at the time of writing.
* The panel shop wasn't able to fit the brackets required for the 4 link onto the diff. This was then performed by someone else and paid for seperately by myself.
* Panels have been rust repaired but have not been gapped or finished. Welds and dents still evident.

The panel shop has had some extra costs along the way for some mods and materials but there is substantial work that has not been done on the car that I have already paid for. I am waiting on the repairer to come back to me with what he feels I owe him.

I think that he should probably owe me but most likely I am willing to take a loss to get away from him. I had a ten week work trip last August and the car was supposed to be completed when I returned. I paid the final balance of the quote before I left for the trip.

In the event that I strongly disagree with his accounting of money owed I don't know if I am better off paying it, getting the car back and then pursuing him for work not completed or if that would be a mistake.

I have read some things saying to mark the final payment as "payment in dispute" and to pursue him after the fact and that the car is under a "lien" (?) meaning he can hold onto it until I pay him.

I am trying to get a bit more aware of my options at this time is all.

I hope you still have receipts or documents for everything you paid for out of your own pocket? otherwise things might get ugly.

The MVRIA has been swollowed up by Fair Trading.

You can get free advice from the Legal Aid Commission, which has an office in Newcastle. There is also a community legal service in Hunter Street, which apparently offers free advice.

Otherwise, the repairer is entitled to a lien on your vehicle until he has been paid for the work done.

Good luck.

When your ready,give this guy a ring as he is doing my sons ht van and he painted my esky.
Street Elite ph,49662888

You quote a job, you do the work, the customer pays for it. How is that complicated?

You don't quote the work, the customer doesn't approve the work and you don't do that work. Simple, right?

You quote the work, have the customer pay for the work, then you don't do it and lie about it repeatedly. You tell the customer on the phone work has been completed and when they show up it hasn't been at all.

Customer gives you a deadline, you can make the deadline so you take the job.

Customer gives you a deadline and you can't do it, you tell the customer and negotiate or you don't take the job. Seems fair?

Customer gives you a deadline, you lie about it over and over and 19 months later sweet freak all has been done. That's not right imo.

None of things are rocket science and this particular "Car Modifications" shop from East Maitland is guilty of all the above. I won't mention which "Car Modifications" shop but suffice it to say they weren't just a normal smash repairer but someone who claims to do "Car Modifications".