In Massachusetts, can a auto mechanic repair your car without your permission?

Question

I have a friend who brought her car to a local, reliable mechanic. He has a small shop and the vehicle was brought into the garage. The vehicle had some broken struts and various other issues which made the car inoperable and unable to back up - even in neutral. She went and purchased another car as a result of these issues. She received a call from the mechanic who told her that due to the fact he was getting backed up with cars and needed to perform other work, he did some basic repair work to make the car able to move/back up out of his garage. Is this allowed without her permission?

Answer 1

that depends on how much time it was at the garage, if it was really preventing other cars from being repaired then I think the mechanic has the right to move it (even if it needs some "basic repairs" to do so) and if not charging for these repairs, at least charging for the time it has been "abandoned" in the garage.

Answer 2

He shouldn't charge you anything other than a storage fee which could be 30 dollars a day. He cant tie up a bay waiting for your friend to authorize the work, he'd lose money. As far as repairing anything, some states allow up to 50 dollars without customer approval but any decent shop wouldn't do any work without getting prior approval.

Answer 3

Sure it is, but she doesn't have to pay for it.  She pays for nothing she didn't authorize.  Go get the car and sell it.  

Answer 4

Yep indeed. It's allowed for a mechanic to find and repair malfunctions that the client didn't ask for, IF they are needed for proper function or safety in traffic. In fact, the mech is even obligated to do so.

For example if a client brings a car in for a tire replace, and the mech sees that the oil is gone bad and he replaces it. That he can do.

But in this case, it was not the intention of the client to bring the car into traffic. On the contrary, she bought a new car.

So every cost the mechanic has done for his own comfort, is on his expence…

Answer 5

elinq, Try calling an auto repair center in Massachusetts. http://www.autorepairshoplocator.com/Mas... They can help you get on the right track. Try vistiting a few repair centers and compare what they say.