Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 16, 1993 TAG: 9301160190
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
STOLEN CAR GOES TO SHOP; OWNER GETS BILL
Wanda Roberts says she should not have had to pay a $450 repair bill on her 1987 Mustang, which was stolen last month and then towed to a garage after it broke down on the thief.The man tried to pay the repair bill on Dec. 15, but Davis Garage and Body Shop wouldn't take his out-of-town check. He never came back, so the car just sat in the lot.
Roberts wound up ending a standoff over the bill by paying it and selling the car.
A police officer spotted the car Thursday morning and called Roberts, who has moved from Winston-Salem to Roanoke, Va.
"I thought it was stripped down and sold for parts or something," Roberts said. "Who in their right mind would steal a car and have it towed, knowing that the police are looking for it?"
Chris Davis, who helps his father run the garage, said someone had to pay the bill or the car would stay put. Roberts said she shouldn't have had to pay because she didn't ask for the repair. Her insurance carrier refused to pay the bill.
"It's the guy who made the repair's mistake, not mine," she said. "This guy should have asked for proof of ownership before he touched it."
Davis said there was no way he could have known that the car was stolen.
"We can't get the police to run a check on every customer who comes in," he said.
The car was the only collateral for the work, which included a new clutch, a new headlight switch, the tow and storage. Davis was relying on a state law that allows mechanics to hold a car until a repair bill is paid.
Roberts drove to Winston-Salem from Roanoke on Thursday and paid the repair bill. Friday, she sold the car.
"Absurd is an understatement," she said. "It's crazy. I appreciate that they found my car, but they should do more."
She asked for an officer to go with her and get her car, but the department declined.
Capt. E.L. Moreau of the Winston-Salem Police Department said the case became a civil matter.
"The mechanic took the car in good faith but it turned out to be stolen property," he said. "We can't make the man give her the car. We'd be stealing from him."
An acquaintance of Roberts' was in the car when her husband, Bruce, went into a convenience store on Dec. 8, she said. The car and the acquaintance were gone when he came out of the store.
Officer B.K. Brown investigated the case, tracking the man through seven aliases and several addresses, until someone who knew the man said the car was at Davis' Garage. No charges have been filed.