body shop gone AWOL need advice!

[aablown]

What's up guys, well my e30 m3 project has come to a screeching holt. First of all I dropped my e30 off to get painted, interior re-done, and some style 5s re-finished in JAN 13. It has been over 6 months and my car is still not completed! That's not the worst of it. The bad news is within the past 2-3 months I've heard from my painter once! He apologize for not getting back to me and said he was working on other stuff and he had no updates for my car. Well he's borrowing space from a friend to do his business out of a storage facility in Tampa, FL. This is common around where I live for small independent shops. I've used him before on much smaller projects and with success but im afraid this project has been too much for him to handle. So now I have a e30 M3 sitting in someone's shop and no way to get ahold of them. His phone is turned off or no longer in service and I don't have the shop owners information. I have a buddy that has driven by the shop three times and its always been closed. I have another buddy that owns a performance shop that I use for all my performance mods has agreed to help me out in trying to locate the painter through his network. He stated that they cant legally keep my car because it would be grand theft since I don't owe them anything. But this question is, how do I legally get my car out of the shop if its always closed and I cant find the shop owner.

any ideas would be greatly appreciate.

[NeedaE30]

maybe he parted it out about 3 months ago

why would you do such a thing? that's my only question

dropping your car off to a storage unit "body shop" is not a smart thing to do

[Dj Buttchug]

this cant end well :(

[aablown]

I've used the guy before, and he was known for good work on another forum. One of the biggest performance shops in Tampa started off in a "storage unit". Not everyone operating out of a unit is bad.

[NeedaE30]

I've used the guy before, and he was known for good work on another forum. One of the biggest performance shops in Tampa started off in a "storage unit". Not everyone operating out of a unit is bad.

But how well do you know him? obviously not too well, you said hes done little things for you in the past, you probably should have worked your way up to leaving your m3 with him for 6 months instead of using him a couple times for some little things then BAM! heres an e30 m3... I'm willing to bet he parted it out, sold it or up and skipped town with it... put it this way... i could drive "your" m3 to nh and register with no title and just a bill of sale and a forged signature... technically the car would be mine...

Just saying


Its florida bro... when i lived in florida.. neighbors cars/bikes were getting stolen CONSTANTLY! i would also constantly see cars up on cinder blocks with no wheels... police never did shit about any of it.. so i honestly wish you luck but again that was not a smart thing to do


I like living in a small new england city.. much less of that kind of shit to worry about, i can actually park my car outside of my house every night and expect it to be there in the morning, Florida is where all the douche bags go that are running from things they've done in their home towns... in florida everyone is from somewhere else... i bet this guy went "home"

[aablown]

But how well do you know him? obviously not too well, you said hes done little things for you in the past, you probably should have worked your way up to leaving your m3 with him for 6 months instead of using him a couple times for some little things then BAM! heres an e30 m3... I'm willing to bet he parted it out, sold it or up and skipped town with it... put it this way... i could drive "your" m3 to nh and register with no title and just a bill of sale and a forged signature... technically the car would be mine...

Just saying

I am pretty positive its not parted out and or sold. But thanks for the advice.

....and I could also go track my VIN down through various Government agencies and find you in NH and raid your property and charge you with grand theft auto amongst other things. Just saying


....can we please keep this on topic. I ask kindly for advice on how to get my car out, not speculate if it was chopped up and sold in pieces.

[aablown]

But how well do you know him? obviously not too well, you said hes done little things for you in the past, you probably should have worked your way up to leaving your m3 with him for 6 months instead of using him a couple times for some little things then BAM! heres an e30 m3... I'm willing to bet he parted it out, sold it or up and skipped town with it... put it this way... i could drive "your" m3 to nh and register with no title and just a bill of sale and a forged signature... technically the car would be mine...

Just saying


Its florida bro... when i lived in florida.. neighbors cars/bikes were getting stolen CONSTANTLY! i would also constantly see cars up on cinder blocks with no wheels... police never did shit about any of it.. so i honestly wish you luck but again that was not a smart thing to do


I like living in a small new england city.. much less of that kind of shit to worry about, i can actually park my car outside of my house every night and expect it to be there in the morning, Florida is where all the douche bags go that are running from things they've done in their home towns... in florida everyone is from somewhere else... i bet this guy went "home"

we shall see. I return home in a couple of weeks and I plan on stopping by.

[aablown]

ehh I found a googlemaps image of the side view of the shop. It says "work shop storage for lease" cant make out the numbers though

[NeedaE30]

go cut the lock off the unit and see if your car is there?

Sorry i wasn't trying to be a dick, just being honest.

[aablown]

go cut the lock off the unit and see if your car is there?

Sorry i wasn't trying to be a dick, just being honest.

no issues. I've since located the owner of the storage units online. I will try giving him a call to see if I can get the leaser information for the said storage unit.

[cagedbunny]

If you are truly concerned (which it sounds like you should be), stop wasting time trying to "network" and call the police. Start the paper trail now in case things go sideways.

[deutschman]

Call police. File report.

[Roysneon]

You should be on the phone with the local police.

[Thizzelle]

call leaser and see if you can look at shop. See car, get in it and leave

[fronton]

Someone who can't afford to keep their cell phone number let alone rent their own shop space probably shouldn't be trusted with a quick $10k in parts. If/when you recover your car, install lo jack if you intend to continue handing keys to such upstanding professionals.

Best of luck, hope everything works out quickly.