didnt authurize

[ripp_jr]

youll like this one one of my trucks broke down in texas my driver took it upon his self to take and have the truck fixed the repair shop didnt call and authrize it with me now i have a 15000 dollar bill i have to pay correct me if im wrong the shop should of contacted me right should i have to pay for the bill being i didnt authrize it and yes driver is gone

[Mackman]

15,000 what it blow a motor??? Thats alot of money what happen tot he truck???

[utvolsr1]

The repair shop probably ask your ex driver if the truck was his and he said yes. The meeting of the minds never happened because your ex didn't use his.
The shop meant do you own the truck and the driver thought they meant something different. Just speculating. But to me with no telling who owns a truck that pulls into a repair shop they should have checked the paperwork on the truck to see if he was the rightful owner. I would think your ex driver would be responsible for the repairs. Someone had to OK the repairs. I'm not sure the driver can give that to you the truck owner.
If you don't pay your going to court. You will need your ex driver with you so the judge can ask his side of what went on. Did he give them the OK for you in legal terms by him being your employer. Will he even show up to help you is a very good question.
The shop my need to go after him and not you. But I bet they go after you becasue you are more likely to pay unless their lawyer say they are wasting the courts time no judge will make you pay.

I would at the very least call a lawyer tomorrow no matter what anyone says on here. As a matter of fact I wouldn't even ask your question on here. There is to much that could come into play here.
Talk to a lawyer

[rank]

Yep, call a lawyer. My guess is you won't see the truck for a while. Either you pay or get some kind of court order for them to release it until your court date.

[GMAN]

I would consult with an attorney. Laws differ from state to state. Some states have laws where a garage can put a "mechanic's lien" on a vehicle on which they have worked. You may wind up paying for repairs even though you did not authorize them. Your driver is technically a representative of your company. I don't see how the garage could have known if the truck belonged to him or not. On the other hand, I don't think it is right that repairs could have been performed on your equipment without your authorization. My guess is that you will wind up paying at least part of the bill to get the truck back. Again, your best bet will be to find a good lawyer. Just out of curiosity, what did they do which cost so much?

[merrick4]

You know since I've been out here and the couple times I've pulled into a shop, they have always asked for the company's number (my cell) but they never called for authorization and I never told them I was an O/O. Mostly they just assume I am a company driver and I just go with that.

When I was with the company, I know for example at the T/A there was something in the computer that said no work was to be performed without calling the company for authorization. So I kind of assumed that was general policy but like I said they always assume I am just a company driver and unless specifially asked (never asked) I just keep my mouth shut and they still do the work.

But now that I think of it, they always ask how are they going to get paid and I say credit card and I know they won't take a credit card over the phone so I guess as long as they get paid I guess they don't care if I own the truck at all. In the OP case, I'm surprised they did that much work without finding out first who was going to pay and for that amount to at least check with that person. Sounds funny to me.

[ripp_jr]

thanks for the tips just wanted you guys opoion done contacted attorny suppose to get back in touch with me tommorrow dont want to be a ***** just think that they could of called me i mean that all they had to do is run my dot # or mc # to get all my info correct

[DD60]

WHAT did they do to the truck? The highest repair bill I have had was 10k and that was for a blown acc. drive,cracked head,water pump,5 new gears and a head gasket.

[Dispatch_This]

ripp_jr-

A $15,000 shop bill and they didn't call someone first to get it approved? Something doesn't smell right. There may be fraud involved here.

[ripp_jr]

well things are looking up guess they new they was in the wrong the shop found a way to warrenty most of all the labor and parts which is a good thing ill only be out around 3500 dollars now for a complete new engine thanks for all the advice

[rank]

they were proabbly going to warranty it anyway....and charge the $15000.

[jonboy]

youll like this one one of my trucks broke down in texas my driver took it upon his self to take and have the truck fixed the repair shop didnt call and authrize it with me now i have a 15000 dollar bill i have to pay correct me if im wrong the shop should of contacted me right should i have to pay for the bill being i didnt authrize it and yes driver is gone

I know from the automotive business that most large cities require a license to repair vehicles and you must have a written "signed" work authorization. If you don't get one, the customer can demand his vehicle and you have to release it. Call the city and ask them if repair shops are required to be licensed.

We NEVER did large repairs without talking to the owner of the vehicle, not the teenager, and in some cases, the wife without running it by her husband without making her feel demeaned. If I didn't know the person, I required a signature. I believe a telephone authorization is acceptable, but must be logged as who was spoken to and time/date.

I cannot believe any shop would do a repair that large without speaking to the owner. It is totally irresponsible and kindred to stealing.

I would investigate the local laws on work authorization and make the repair shop produce one. Compare the signature against your driver to see if he even signed it, and if he did, it could be more difficult, but may be contested in court. Repair shops are at a severe disadvantage in court (I know from experience), even if they are in the right, because so many people have been taken advantage of by mechanics. A jury will sometimes rule against a repair shop just because they perceive they have plenty of money. A lot of repair shops will avoid going to court because of this.

If you kick up enough dust, and get an attorney to write a letter, you may see some reduction it the repair cost. I would request verification of the repair by visual inspection of the failed parts (even if you don't know what you are looking at). You also might consider paying another mechanic to go and speak to the repairman to request verification. They will see you are serious and their work may come under some scrutiny, and therefore may become a little more willing to come to some sort of compromise. Even if they reduce the price, I would not feel bad about verifiying the quality of the work, after all, it is your money, and quite a lot of it.

The work authorization laws and mechanic licensing was done to protect the consumer from crooked mechanics and situations like this.

Good luck

btw, I'm from the Dallas area

jonboy

[mike3fan]

youll like this one one of my trucks broke down in texas my driver took it upon his self to take and have the truck fixed the repair shop didnt call and authrize it with me now i have a 15000 dollar bill i have to pay correct me if im wrong the shop should of contacted me right should i have to pay for the bill being i didnt authrize it and yes driver is gone

I know from the automotive business that most large cities require a license to repair vehicles and you must have a written "signed" work authorization. If you don't get one, the customer can demand his vehicle and you have to release it. Call the city and ask them if repair shops are required to be licensed.

We NEVER did large repairs without talking to the owner of the vehicle, not the teenager, and in some cases, the wife without running it by her husband without making her feel demeaned. If I didn't know the person, I required a signature. I believe a telephone authorization is acceptable, but must be logged as who was spoken to and time/date.

I cannot believe any shop would do a repair that large without speaking to the owner. It is totally irresponsible and kindred to stealing.

I would investigate the local laws on work authorization and make the repair shop produce one. Compare the signature against your driver to see if he even signed it, and if he did, it could be more difficult, but may be contested in court. Repair shops are at a severe disadvantage in court (I know from experience), even if they are in the right, because so many people have been taken advantage of by mechanics. A jury will sometimes rule against a repair shop just because they perceive they have plenty of money. A lot of repair shops will avoid going to court because of this.

If you kick up enough dust, and get an attorney to write a letter, you may see some reduction it the repair cost. I would request verification of the repair by visual inspection of the failed parts (even if you don't know what you are looking at). You also might consider paying another mechanic to go and speak to the repairman to request verification. They will see you are serious and their work may come under some scrutiny, and therefore may become a little more willing to come to some sort of compromise. Even if they reduce the price, I would not feel bad about verifiying the quality of the work, after all, it is your money, and quite a lot of it.

The work authorization laws and mechanic licensing was done to protect the consumer from crooked mechanics and situations like this.

Good luck

btw, I'm from the Dallas area

jonboy

posted above

well things are looking up guess they new they was in the wrong the shop found a way to warrenty most of all the labor and parts which is a good thing ill only be out around 3500 dollars now for a complete new engine thanks for all the advice

[jonboy]

Sounds like they've found a way to rip off the warranty company instead of you. I wonder how they got that authorized "after" the truck was repaired? I bet they had some splaining to do.

Anyway, Good things happen for good people.......


Best of luck,

jonboy