should I take legal action, Do i have a case

[maxwax]

I had this guy calls me and asks if my car was for sale?
I told him no, so over the next 3 days he keeps at me about selling it,
so I tell him ok $10,500.00, so he says he and his mom would come by and look at it,
so I figured that was the end of that, but to my surprise, about 4pm friday they show up.
I know the guy pretty good ,he has actually driven my car before and even went to the track with us several times,
anyhow his mom looks at the car and asks a few questions etc.
Then they want to drive the car so I tell them sure, so they get in and take off up the road.
10 min passes, 20 min, 30min. so I start to wonder where they went.
I go back inside my sop to finish a job I had started, then I hear them pull up,
I said I was wondering where they had went, she explained to me that they had went to look for a friend of hers that was a big ford guy and was going to show him what a real car was.

I said uh ok what ever, so I ask her what do you think about the car she said she would get back with me about it,
but it seemed to have a little more power than she was used to , she told me,I left the top down, and that I might want to let it up because it looked like rain.
I told her I would get it because I was about to go to the bank.

I walk down to my car about 5pm and start it up.
I said to myself I dont remember leaving the cut out open,
I have a manual cut out that un screws ,I look in the pass side floor and the cut out cap is in the floor,and the car seems to be skipping, so I pull it into my shop and put the cap back on , and not only is it skipping it is knocking.

I call the guy and ask him just what exactly did they do and where did they go, then he gets real offensive and hangs up on me, and wont answer my calls, so I get his moms number and call her and she said yeah I heard what happened, and I said well if you heard why haven you called me back,and it escalated from there. Her husband gets on the phone and starts talking mumbo jumbo ,and starts to explain that he is a county commissioner,and if want to talk it any further I would have to talk to his atty .

And he goes on to tell me I shouldn't drive my car so hard myself, that it has NOS on it and has proof that I had drag raced it before.

I told him what I did with my car was none of his business ,but when his wife and son takes my car off for a 1/2 hour and takes parts off of it, and brings it back knocking. then it is my and his business.

[third_shift|studios]

Dude...you let them go w/out you? You have NO case. If you give a person permission to drive your car, you've released their liability for such an instance. Don't get me wrong, i'd be pissed as hell and thinking the same way. But damn you learned a hard lesson here.

[cammed goat]

Go after them. It is YOUR car they drove. YOU are STILL the legal owner. Probably street raced it and effed it up and refuse to admit it.

[ARM5280]

Drive it straight into their living room. Fuck em!

[cammed goat]

Ya...whatever happened to the ol saying "ya break it, ya bought it"?

[Sarge]

You gave them permission to drive your car. They are not responsible for any damages. they did not steal it. Beat his ass.

[maxwax]

Drive it straight into their living room. Fuck em!

My thoughts exactly. LOL

[310stanger]

first off, get a lawyer, number 2 THOROUGHLY inspect the car, 3 go over to the "ford guys" place and politely ask him stuff and see if you could get any answers. If you dont walk up pissed off he might answer you. Why on earth they took the time to remove parts is fucking beyond me and NEVER let someone drive your car alone. They might have just drove the car to steal a part they knew you had.

[maxwax]

You gave them permission to drive your car. They are not responsible for any damages. they did not steal it. Beat his ass.

He is only 20yrs. old That was my first thought.

Kick his ass r@#$^^%$(&^%%@pe his mom and castrate his dad,
.

[pajeff02]

Unless you have some proof (ie. witnesses) that can testify to what was done to your car, you may not have much to go on. It would be your burden to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that they somehow damaged your car.

Yes, it ran fine when they drove it away... and it ran like crap and had been messed with when they returned it. I know all to well that one plus one equals two... but that is far different from proving it to a court's satisfaction, especially when, as they have already shown, they are going to lie their asses off.

On the other hand, you have nothing to lose at this point...

[maxwax]

You gave them permission to drive your car. They are not responsible for any damages. they did not steal it. Beat his ass.

Even though I gave them permission to drive my car I DID NOT GIVE them permission to remove any parts, so that is where i think my loop-hole is .

[310stanger]

Even though I gave them permission to drive my car I DID NOT GIVE them permission to remove any parts, so that is where i think my loop-hole is .

dealerships allow "customers" to test drive cars all the time, that doesnt give them the permission to remove parts or return a car with the engine knocking. Stealing is stealling and tampering is tampering. What the hell made them think returning the car uncapped and with the fucking part laying right on the floor was acceptable. People like this end up in the news hanging from a tree. Check your tires, your tranny operation, and for any and EVERYTHING else while your at it bro. This thread just got me real pissed off for some reason and now i wanna kick the kids ass and i dont even know them.

[maxwax]

Unless you have some proof (ie. witnesses) that can testify to what was done to your car, you may not have much to go on. It would be your burden to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that they somehow damaged your car.

Yes, it ran fine when they drove it away... and it ran like crap and had been messed with when they returned it. I know all to well that one plus one equals two... but that is far different from proving it to a court's satisfaction, especially when, as they have already shown, they are going to lie their asses off.

On the other hand, you have nothing to lose at this point...

I have proof that it was running fine 1hr before because 1 of my employees and myself had driven it to the store, and I have 3 more people who were there that can testify that it was running great before they left and that the cut-out was intact before they drove it.

[310stanger]

better yet, lesson learned, dont even bother letting 20 yr olds test drive your cars when you sell them for that matter. because they aint gonna buy the car you can bet on that and now your car is fucked up

[maxwax]

better yet, lesson learned, dont even bother letting 20 yr olds test drive your cars when you sell them for that matter. because they aint gonna buy the car you can bet on that and now your car is fucked up

That is just it , His mom was the one test driving the car.

[cammed goat]

That is just it , His mom was the one test driving the car.

Then make her pay for the car or the repairs. Your fault for allowing this indeed, but if you have a chance to recover monies for the damages she did to your car, go for it. This is WHY no one drives my car other than me.

[310stanger]

That is just it , His mom was the one test driving the car.

if it was a stick i'd check the clutch operation too. For all you know she was bouncing off the rev limiter because she cant drive for shit

[Y2KPewterSS]

This is one of those rare times that an "eye for an eye" comes into effect. Its going to be next to impossible for you to prove anything if you take legal action and it will probably be more costly to take legal action than its worth. Figure out what serious damage, if any, that they did and then make amends your own way.

[KahanaReef]

That is just it , His mom was the one test driving the car.

Get your witnesses together, your estimates for repair and take her ass to court!

[SeVeReDiStOrTiOn]

Put an incendiary grenade on the roof of their family car....you can find'em around if you look hard enough.