In the mid-1990s, I worked in a small automotive repair shop doing general repairs on most brands of vehicles. There were three of us working there: the owner and two techs.
We got a call one day from a new customer whose BMW would not start at a nearby golf course. I sent a tow truck and had the BMW put into a stall. Sure enough, it would crank over but not fire off and start.
I checked for spark, and there was plenty. Now to check the fuel system. No fuel pressure. I went under the hood again to check the fuel pump relay. No problem there. Now to check power at the fuel pump. The manual said the fuel pump was in the inner fender liner in front of the left rear wheel. I pulled the wheel off and the liner back, and lo and behold, no fuel pump. There was a fuel filter there, though.
I went back to the manual and looked up the next production year BMW, and it said the fuel pump was internally mounted in the fuel tank. I cleaned myself up well (the car had white leather) and removed the rear seat to access the fuel pump. The fuel pump only had power while cranking or engine running, so I got [Coworker] to crank the engine over while I checked power to the fuel pump. Pump had no power to it.
I priced out the fuel pump and wrote the estimate. It came out to approximately $525.00, broken down like this.
- Labor for diagnostic time and install: 2.5 hours at $75.00 = $187.50
- Tax and shop supplies: $38.18
When the customer called for the estimate, [Coworker] answered the phone and gave him this total of $525.68. No towing included; it was on the ticket, but [Coworker] just missed it.
At the last minute, I remembered the fuel filter and ordered one and installed it on the vehicle. I didn’t add the labor cost of that, just the cost of the fuel filter plus a little tax.
When the customer came to pick up the car, I heard a lot of loud voices in the office and went in and took over.
Customer: “Why is my bill $625.00 instead of the $525.00 I was quoted?!”
Me: “The quote my coworker gave you did not include the charge for towing, which was $75.00. I also forgot to add the fuel filter at $25.00 plus tax; I installed it at no labor charge.”
[Customer] raised his voice, suggesting that the fuel filter was the problem, not the fuel pump. I assured him that this was not the case, and he demanded the old parts. That was no problem as we would just throw them away anyway.
He wrote a check.
About a week later, the check came back as a stopped payment. It turned out that [Customer] lived in another county, and our DA’s office (local prosecutor) will not take action on out-of-county checks.
The shop owner called [Customer] to see why he would stop payment on the check, and [Customer] started ranting.
Customer: “I took the fuel pump to my mechanic, and he said the fuel pump was good and you ripped me off!”
That was total bulls*** as a restricted fuel filter will hardly keep a vehicle from starting, although it might affect the acceleration a bit.
A few months later, we sued [Customer] in small claims court. An attorney friend represented us for free and said if we collected, to add $500.00 for his fee. We paid $25.00 for a process server, and he was served. [Customer] never showed up for court, so we won by default. Now his bill is around $1,175.00 with court costs, attorney fees, and such.
In Texas, if a customer does not pay for a car repair, we can enforce a mechanic’s lien on the vehicle, which the customer agrees to when he signs the repair order, and we can even take it from anywhere we find it. Also, it can’t be sold to another party with a lien on it.
A couple of months later, we were telling this story to another local who owns a tire shop. It turned out that [Customer] had bought a set of tires from them and stopped payment on that check, as well. [Customer] was trying to play the system knowing that out-of-county checks won’t be prosecuted.
A few months after that, I saw the BMW at the local golf course parking lot and sent a wrecker to pick it up.
Now the bill is $1,350.00 with the impound fee. The wrecker company took the car to their yard and then called the local police department to inform them of a repossession.
When [Customer] finished his golf game and came out to go home or wherever people like him go, and he found his car missing, he called the police to report it stolen. The police informed him that it had been taken on a mechanic’s lien, and they warned to not come onto our property unless it was to pay for his outstanding bill.
[Customer] called us and yelled at [Owner], cursing and hollering. [Owner] hung up on him. [Customer] called back cursing and hollering again. [Owner] hung up, again. [Customer] called back a third time.
Owner: “If you want to discuss this like an adult, we can. Otherwise, I am not going to listen to cursing and yelling.”
Customer: “Fine.”
Owner: “The bill to redeem your car is now $1,350.00.”
Customer: “I’ll sue you!”
Owner: “Do you remember being served by the constable a few months ago? We sued you already, and you never showed up in court.”
[Customer] then said he would just let the bank take the car back. Okay, no problem there. The bank would pay the bill and auction the car, and whatever wasn’t covered by the auction, [Customer] would still owe.
I got the call from the bank asking how much was owed on our bill. I informed them of the balance due, and I asked the banker what was owed on the car. The balance at the bank was around $9,000.00, and the car was worth around $6,000.00. At auction, it might bring $3,500.00. So, if [Customer] let it go back to the bank, not only would he have a repossession hurting his credit, but he would still owe the bank around $6,850.00 and have no car.
[Customer]’s wife called and asked to come in and pay for the car. We told her the amount and told her only cash.
She came and paid.
Now for the revenge. We called our friend at the tire shop that [Customer] had screwed over on the tires. I think it was around $1,100.00.
That friend arranged for a wrecker to pick up the car after [Customer]’s wife paid us, and they took it to another impound yard, incurring another $175.00 impound plus the $1,100.00 for the tires.
Trying to screw us out of $625.00, [Customer] ended up paying us $1,350.00 and our friend’s shop $1,275.00, for a total of $2,625.00. I bet his wife was pissed, and that probably put an end to his golfing for a while.
