I have a 1973 Ford Econoline that just had a ton of work done to it (engine rebuild, trans, brakes, etc.) and it was driving like a dream. I was picking up my daily a local shop in Temecula, CA and they said they could find a rare steering component that I was searching for and to leave it with them overnight. One night turned into 5 days only for them to call on day 5 to tell me “the brakes failed and our tech crashed into the lift”.
Luckily for me, the damage wasn’t terrible but it did destroy an extremely hard to find mirror and some minor warpage/paint damage. They made me tow it out of there and take it to my guy that did all the brake work. The guys that had done all the previous work (all the way up in Temple City) is extremely reputable and he is telling me there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the brakes and that it sounds like they’re trying to cover themselves for crashing the van.
They only credited me $80 for the mirror although I told them I can’t find a single mirror for sale and the only sets available are used ones on eBay for $150 – $200 on average. They also required me to tow it to another shop over two hours away so it would have been an insanely expensive tow if I didn’t use my last AAA tow for the year. On top of that, they lost my wheel lock key and now my main mechanic can’t get the wheels off.
Is there any sort of action I can take against the local mechanic for damaging my vehicle, under compensating for damage, and losing essential components to my vehicle?
Any advice is greatly appreciated, thank you!
Location: Temecula, California