Mechanic buddy refuses to return my vehicle. How do I get my vehicle back?

[ExtraSlow]

I heard locks break more easily in colder weather.

[schurchill39]

OP we need an update!

[D'z Nutz]

CPS refuses to show up if it's a civil matter, but now that it's a homicide they might be more inclined to investigate.

[AlbertaCowboy]

Unfortunately nothing yet. I may have to file a civil claim. This extremely frustrating.

[Kloubek]

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The cops would have record of communications i'm sure tied to his name and number.. I'd just bite the bullet rent a unit walk in take my car and fuck off haha.

Well, they would, but I bet they wouldn't immediately pull up that information in the event he called them, so long as he makes no mention of it. I actually think Misterman came up with a good idea. And that's saying something!

Otherwise, the only other (legal) route I can think of is court. It's not expensive to file ($100), but takes forever to move through the system. Perhaps you'd get lucky, and have an agreement made during mediation.

[88CRX]

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Sounds like the property owner already told you what to do to get your car back. So show up there, phone the police, do not reference any prior interactions about this, say your car has been stolen and you found it in a locked yard and need the police there. When the cops show up, you've satisfied the property owners requirements to let you in, then go get your car.

Seems like the solution has already been posted.

[AlbertaCowboy]

UPDATE:

Finally got my vehicle back. Managed to lure the guy into a public place where my and a friend were, grab my keys, and told him to get his shit out of my vehicle, and leave now (I was worried I would be facing jail time if I lunged at him, considering there were roughly a dozen people in the vicinity). So the dude still owes me $1500. He also screwed around with my battery, taking the bolts/latch that held it down). I ended up buying 2 bungee straps for now so it does not gyrate under the hood.

Even worse, is the other side of my vehicle has minor damage, which may cost me an additional $1000. Looks like he used sandpaper on it. He also removed the rear bumper (which needed replacing anyway), but why remove it in the first place, if he's not going to replace it? I'm super furious. Contact AMVIC, and they are useless. Very frustrating. There were also 10 empty bottled drinks, mud, etc all over the place.

Is it against forum rules to post the individual in question and the storage business where he spends nearly all his time at/

[ExtraSlow]

Sounds like a real shitbag, this former buddy of yours.

[Buster]

It is not against the rules. Post it.

[AlbertaCowboy]

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Sounds like a real shitbag, this former buddy of yours.

Well as I said, he did do prior work for me, and he did a good job. However this time around, he was always acting bizarre...over the phone he seemed really out of it. I try not to speculate, but he could be battling personal demons. If one were to look at the texts between us - 10 pages in duration, one would get an idea of what his mental state was from December onwards.

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It is not against the rules. Post it.

TERRY MASLANKA

works out of CONTAIN-A-LOT (off 199 Street NW, Edmonton, AB) (rents a large unit for several years, not employed by them)

[littledan]

drugs are a helluva drug

[ExtraSlow]

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drugs are a helluva drug

Facts

[AlbertaCowboy]

My apologies for bringing this up again. The last thing I will try to do, is to try and bring attention to this issue, either by the media, blog, etc. Perhaps to get the powers that be to toughen the laws when it comes to this type of thing. I don't want anyone else to experience an ordeal like this. It makes one question the law itself. It also breeds vigilantism. I'll have to ask around and find others who have been victimised by unscrupulous mechanics. If anyone has idea, feel free to let me know or DM me.

And get this- we exchanged texts for the first time since the ordeal on Monday. He actually blamed me for "hurting his mother." How? He supposedly "had a dead cellphone, and had to wait for a cab", while his mother got "frostbite waiting for him to come home". I cannot even make this shit up, and I have the screenshots. He is 53. The dude is a man-child.

People are also coming out of the woodwork to state that they too were victims of this "mechanic," some well over a decade ago.

[ExtraSlow]

The problem with regulation, is that it really can only be applied to legitimate businesses, not "buddies" or to use the old-fashioned term, "shade-tree mechanics". You really can't regulate the shadow economy, because the onerous regulations drive people into the shadow economy.

Your situation is unfortunate, I've had friends who went though a mental heath episode, and it's always ugly.

[killramos]

Yup. You cut corners on your fix and ended up cutting the quick.

Painful lesson and it sucks, but you probably need to understand that this was always a reasonably likely outcome.

Doesn’t excuse buddies actions, but the story of the frog and the scorpion comes to mind here. Screwing you over was in this guys nature.

[jwslam]

You could try small claims court

But that kinda process is probably more likely to mess with you mentally than help you financially

[AlbertaCowboy]

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You could try small claims court

But that kinda process is probably more likely to mess with you mentally than help you financially

Plus the dude is not going to pay. It's like squeezing blood from a rock.

He messaged me to say that I owe him money for all the "Parts" he ordered and somehow "removed" when I demanded my vehicle back, and "storage fees" from October to January. He is not playing with a full deck obviously.

[Gman.45]

I don't get the "you hurt my mommy" part. How does him being late and having a dead cell phone relate to you? Does he claim you "blew up my phone and made my battery die" or something similar to that? What a tard.

One thing that pisses me off with this story is how L/E isn't allowed to intervene. The whole "its a civil matter" seems to apply to this and a lot of other stories I've read or heard of. Ya civil matter. Until someone like the OP is forced to take matters into what should be LE's hands, and violence ends up in the mix. I mean I get that the cops are handcuffed - heh- by stupid laws and courts, but this all could have been solved with about 10 minutes of police work by them showing up at tard's home with the flashy lights and shiny badge, telling him he's going to be in worse trouble unless he hands back the stolen - and it was stolen by any definition IMO - vehicle. Poof, like magic, a situation that could VERY easily become violent is averted, and justice is served. Rules on this "civil action situation" need to be changed so L/E can action things like this.

Glad you got your vehicle back OP. Fuck him and his mom (and his dad since this is Beyond and people here seem to encourage that).

He sure has a nice shop.

[AlbertaCowboy]

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I don't get the "you hurt my mommy" part. How does him being late and having a dead cell phone relate to you? Does he claim you "blew up my phone and made my battery die" or something similar to that? What a tard.

One thing that pisses me off with this story is how L/E isn't allowed to intervene. The whole "its a civil matter" seems to apply to this and a lot of other stories I've read or heard of. Ya civil matter. Until someone like the OP is forced to take matters into what should be LE's hands, and violence ends up in the mix. I mean I get that the cops are handcuffed - heh- by stupid laws and courts, but this all could have been solved with about 10 minutes of police work by them showing up at tard's home with the flashy lights and shiny badge, telling him he's going to be in worse trouble unless he hands back the stolen - and it was stolen by any definition IMO - vehicle. Poof, like magic, a situation that could VERY easily become violent is averted, and justice is served. Rules on this "civil action situation" need to be changed so L/E can action things like this.

Glad you got your vehicle back OP. Fuck him and his mom (and his dad since this is Beyond and people here seem to encourage that).

He sure has a nice shop.

Thanks...dude has used his health (cracked rib, "COVID", etc), his sons health, his brothers health, his daughter's uncle's health, and his mother's health for two months straight in order to deny me requests to see or obtain my vehicle. Now that I have my vehicle, and I am demanding the 1500.00 he owes (on top of the stolen parts and damage to the other side of my vehicle), he cries that he is going to have me arrested by the police (he's claimed that he called the cops on me 3 times- for what I don;t know....). The idea that he is now using his mom's health to justify not paying me and to call the Police, when she has absolutely nothing to do with this, is beyond pathetic. Just a man-child.

Yeah it took a lot of will power, and reminding myself that the remand centre is not the place to go, in order not to knock the dude out when I saw him, as there were too many witnesses around anyway ( i happen to be 6'2/220, opposed to him being 5'10/170). They need to strengthen the law so that situations like these do not arise, as all it does is encourage vigilante actions.

On a side note he does sell a lot of things on Facebook groups, so I went to about a half dozen groups in the Edmonton area, and posted my story, the condition he left my vehicle, and and his picture in said groups. He ended up texting me with a variety of insults, and locked his account down. With all the "shares" on Facebook, it's probably going to hurt him financially when it comes to selling things. A small win is better than no win at all, I suppose....

[schurchill39]

At this point you're better off to just block his number and move on. You're not gaining anything by keeping communication going