repair shop has my van

Help I need advice. i had a repair shop put a motor in my van. they said it would take 7 to 10 days and i specified a time frame i needed it back by and was quoted a price of 1399 including labor. now three and a half weeks later the van is just done and we missed a vacation because it was not done on time after repeated phone calls to this place. now they want me to pay 1800 to get my van back. do i have to pay them this price we did not agree upon and can i get my van back without paying it. Can they keep the van on their property or can i take it.this happened in SC

[This message has been edited by shelle (edited September 02, 2000).]

I am a law school graduate. What I offer is mere information, not to be construed as forming an attorney client relationship.

I think I answered you before. No, they can ONLY charge you the original quote, it is their fault if they under quoted. In legalese, that is called a unilateral mistake. In addition to that, they can only keep your car a reasonable amount of time to do the necessary repairs. If you feel they kept it longer than that, you should have a policeman escort you onto the property and retrieve your car. In addition, you may think about suing the car place for what is known as conversion -- they essentially interfered substantially with your ownership of the car. The damages to pay out for conversion is usually the fair market value of the car at the time of conversion.

Thank you again i am having trouble in my state getting the help of the police and the magistrate. They want me to pay everything then sue the repair shop for what we feel we were wronged. I think this is a poor way to protect the consumer. The repair shop still has my van and refuses to give me a breakdown of the charges. I want to get my van back leagaly and still dont know if i can just go and get it. They even tried charging me for towing but i drove the van to them. I am trying to get leagl advice from my state and i apreciate your help. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face=" Arial, Verdana, Helvetica">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by shelle:
Help I need advice. i had a repair shop put a motor in my van. they said it would take 7 to 10 days and i specified a time frame i needed it back by and was quoted a price of 1399 including labor. now three and a half weeks later the van is just done and we missed a vacation because it was not done on time after repeated phone calls to this place. now they want me to pay 1800 to get my van back. do i have to pay them this price we did not agree upon and can i get my van back without paying it. Can they keep the van on their property or can i take it.this happened in SC

[This message has been edited by shelle (edited September 02, 2000).]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>



[This message has been edited by shelle (edited September 08, 2000).]