Car Repair Shop Legal Question

[Seamus McBundy]

Is a car repair shop legaly obligated to inform a person in writing what the problems are with a vehicle if said person paid for a diagnoses? The repair shop only issued a reciept stating the amount owed and refuses to give anything in writing (as far as I am aware).

Thanks,

 

[accuratehorn]

I don't think there is a legal obligation in the state of Texas. It would be ethical of the shop to put in writing what their diagnosis found, however.
Also, just because you paid a diagnostic fee, or for a scanner check of the car, don't expect every problem to be found.
Many things are intermittent, and also depend on the skill of the technician and/or the equipment being used to perform the diagnosis.
Sometimes a symptom is found, but not the real cause, which may only be apparent later.
They should have communicated what their diagnosis consisted of, and what you would get for that fee. Some customers expect that the "diagnostic fee" will find every problem with a car, and sometimes this is not the case.
It might find a problem with the EGR system, but then the tech starts digging into it, and finds out the reason the scanner showed an EGR problem was pressure in the exhaust system from a clogged catalytic convertor, for example.
Some states require a written estimate signed by the customer prior to beginning any repairs over a certain amount, and a phone update and additional estimate and signature prior to going beyond that-but Texas does not have these requirements. You can see this can get burdensome if a tech takes apart a car to do a job, say a timing belt, and the water pump is leaking, and you can't proceed without the customer coming back to sign another piece of paper, which normally takes an extra day of time.
What exactly is the problem with the shop?
Did something crop up later that they did not find on the original diagnosis?

 

[Seamus McBundy]

This person is having trouble with her transmission. I have limited information on what all transpired, but from what I gather, she wanted to have her transmission looked at to see what the problem was. She agreed to pay the shop to do this. They apparently found the problem(s) and told her that it will cost her $1200 to fix. Now she wants the shop to giver her a written statement of these things but they refuse.

This shop was also was pushing her to take out a loan to fix the problem from some person who is associated or works with this shop. They wanted her title to hold as collateral. Good thing she refused! And now that she wants her car towed home, they are now pushing her to use their tow truck driver for this.

Seems like they are trying every which way to get money out of her.

 

[accuratehorn]

That does sound fishy.
They should give a written estimate if the customer wants one, but I don't know if they can be legally compelled to do so.
Maybe they spent a lot of time tracking down some odd problem, and they don't want to put it on paper for another shop to use as an easy diagnosis or something, but who knows? It could be easy to fix once you know the answer, but hard to find the problem. Just speculating-maybe they are dishonest, I don't know.

 

[bevosayshi]

Is this at a Firestone by chance? They are notorious for that sort of crap. Back in the mid-90's, they tried to rook me for 6 radiator flushes (they said it took that many to "completely" clean out my radiator system) and also wanted to sell me on a tune-up (i'd just had one a week and a half before). My water-pump went out and i was stuck there at their mercy basically. They had me take out credit (i had zero cash on me at the time and was brand new to Austin) that was just enough to cover the bill. I know someone that works for Firestone back home and when I told them what they charged me, he went to corporate with the bill and I got the bill reduced to just a little over $100 from nearly $700. Crooks.

 

[Seamus McBundy]

No, this is not at Firestone. This is some small operation.

 

[cbs]

She likely has either a breach of contract or Deceptive Trade Practices Act claim against them. Hard to know which without knowing more details.

 

[Seamus McBundy]

Again, thanks to all for the information. If the situation becomes worse, I'll know by Monday and will be able to provide more details.

Thanks,