S
Spillane
Guest
What is the name of your state?
Florida
My car broke down one day and my fiance's dad has a friend who inherited a huge amount and no longer needed to work, but had been a mechanic and occasionally fixed cars to help out friends.
My fiance and I contacted him and he agreed to fix my car, for a minimal price of $300-400. (Repairs in an actual repair shop would have cost greater than $1000.)
We brought the car to him and he had it for three days, during which he said he had to take the entire engine apart to fix the broken head gasket. He said it was very labor intensive and he had to replace several parts, one of which was the head gasket. He ended up charging us $525.
We were only able to pay $325 of it up front because that was the amount we had agreed upon, but promised the rest of it to him in two weeks.
Two days after I had my car back, it broke again with the same problem because he had neglected to flush the system of all the water/oil that had turned into gunk (causing me to miss a day at work). We brought the car to my fiance's father who flushed the system and said it should work this time. It broke a day later, presumably for another warped/broken head gasket - (overheated, oil in coolant/coolant in oil, etc). When we contacted the man who had "fixed" my car, he said he wasn't doing the job over.
My car has now been sitting in my yard for a month (AFTER he "fixed" it) and now he is threatening small claims court for the rest of the money ($200).
My questions:
1. I thought small claims court couldn't be used for anything under $1000. Can he bring this claim against me since it is only $200?
2. Since the agreement was that I would pay him for him to fix my car and he did not fix my car, am I liable for the rest of the $200?
3. If it is possible to bring this claim to court, can I countersue for the $325 that I did pay since he did not hold his end of the bargain, ie. fixing my car? Especially since I now have to pay the $1000+ to fix it for real?
Any help will be MUCH appreciated!!
Florida
My car broke down one day and my fiance's dad has a friend who inherited a huge amount and no longer needed to work, but had been a mechanic and occasionally fixed cars to help out friends.
My fiance and I contacted him and he agreed to fix my car, for a minimal price of $300-400. (Repairs in an actual repair shop would have cost greater than $1000.)
We brought the car to him and he had it for three days, during which he said he had to take the entire engine apart to fix the broken head gasket. He said it was very labor intensive and he had to replace several parts, one of which was the head gasket. He ended up charging us $525.
We were only able to pay $325 of it up front because that was the amount we had agreed upon, but promised the rest of it to him in two weeks.
Two days after I had my car back, it broke again with the same problem because he had neglected to flush the system of all the water/oil that had turned into gunk (causing me to miss a day at work). We brought the car to my fiance's father who flushed the system and said it should work this time. It broke a day later, presumably for another warped/broken head gasket - (overheated, oil in coolant/coolant in oil, etc). When we contacted the man who had "fixed" my car, he said he wasn't doing the job over.
My car has now been sitting in my yard for a month (AFTER he "fixed" it) and now he is threatening small claims court for the rest of the money ($200).
My questions:
1. I thought small claims court couldn't be used for anything under $1000. Can he bring this claim against me since it is only $200?
2. Since the agreement was that I would pay him for him to fix my car and he did not fix my car, am I liable for the rest of the $200?
3. If it is possible to bring this claim to court, can I countersue for the $325 that I did pay since he did not hold his end of the bargain, ie. fixing my car? Especially since I now have to pay the $1000+ to fix it for real?
Any help will be MUCH appreciated!!