EveryBody's Guide to the Law

epair shop tow the car in or reimburse you for the cost.) If you do any driving other than back
to the repair shop, the repair shop may claim that your continued driving of the car made the
problem worse, which relieves the shop of any responsibility for correcting the condition.
All this points up the importance of discussing the guarantee with the repair shop before
any work is authorized. Should the shop now claim that no guarantee of any kind was made,
you may be up a creek if you don’t have a written warranty to back you up. Even if the repair
shop insists that there is no warranty, don’t take it lying down. The law generally imposes the
warranty that all repairs be made in a skillful manner. If the repair wasn’t done correctly, then
the repair shop must either do it right or return your money.
After giving the repair shop a second chance, you have several options if you’re still not satisfied.
You can give the shop a third chance at correcting the problem (at no expense to you,
of course). Since it hasn’t been able to get it right in two tries, however, a third attempt might
not be worth your time. If you are fed up with the repair shop, speak to the shop’s owner or
manager and demand a full refund. If they refuse to give you a full refund, inform them that
you are going to have another repair shop fix the problem and that you will seek reimbursement
from them for this cost. You should back up this statement with a letter to the shop’s
owner or manager. Remember to always keep a copy of any letter you send so you can show it
to the judge in small claims court if necessary.
Then take your car to another repair shop for an estimate. If you think this new repair shop
can do the job, let it do the work, then pay the bill and send a copy to the original repair shop,
repeating your demand that it reimburse you for this cost. If the shop owner or manager refuses
to do so, or if you get no response to your letter, you should file a small claims action or have a
lawyer contact the repair shop on your behalf. The mechanic at the second shop will frequently
be willing to testify that the first shop did not repair the problem correctly. This is usually
enough to convince a judge that justice is on your side.
AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE
Most states require that you maintain certain minimum liability insurance coverage if
your vehicle is driven on a public street or highway. (Technically speaking, these are “financial
responsibility” laws that often permit the owner of the car, in lieu of purchasing insurance, to
deposit an equivalent amount of money in cash or bond with the department of motor vehicles.)
If you don’t have insurance as required by your state’s law and get into an accident, you face
loss of your license for a year or more, plus a fine. To cut down on the number of uninsured
drivers, many states now require you to show proof of insurance coverage when stopped for a
traffic violation by a police officer or when renewing your car’s registration each year.
Apart from the consequences to your driver’s license, getting into an accident without
insurance can be very expensive. If you do not have insurance and cause an accident, you will
Automobiles 69