Hello, I’m attorney Hunter Cavell, and today I’m going to talk with you about car repairs and specifically what happens when they go wrong.
So everyone needs oil changes, but when you go to the oil change place, you expect them to know what they’re doing and to change the oil. However, sometimes that might not happen, and they may drain the oil and not fit the filter right and it leaks out or simply not put any oil in, which can be a costly repair.
Other times, your power windows may stop working and you take it to the shop for repair, and you hope that they fix it. Sometimes they’ll tell you they can fix it, and it may work for a day or two, but then it breaks again. So what can you do about it? Well, you expect a repair person to be the expert, and you’re relying on their expertise to fix your car.
Sometimes that doesn’t always happen. It may be just a shoddy mechanic or just had a bad day one day. So what can you do about it? Some people will brush it off, try to fix it later. But what happens if the oil change goes wrong and your engine’s out and you’re out $5,000?
Well, Ohio has something called the Consumer Sales Protection Act, which I’ve talked about before. And what it does is it allows consumers to go to a repair shop and the repair shop to repair the car. If it doesn’t get repaired correctly or if it causes more damage, then the repair shop is liable to fix it. And if they don’t, you can file a lawsuit against them. Sometimes they won’t work with you because they say you can’t prove that their mistake caused it, which is when your own mechanic may come into play. And that’s when it’s helpful to get an attorney involved early to investigate the case, to send a demand letter, and to put the repair shop’s insurance carrier on notice to try to work through the file to get your car fixed. So what happens?
Hopefully, they fix your car. What if they don’t fix your car? Well, then you can get three times the damages that were caused to you, plus a fine of $5,000 and your attorney fees. So while it may seem like a hassle to go through a lawsuit, the consumer protection laws are out there to make sure that it’s kind of worth your time and as a deterrent to stop repair places from making shoddy repairs. If you have a case like this and you want to talk about it, please give me a call or look at the contact page for my information. I’d be happy to sit down and talk with you. Thanks and have a great day.
