Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

You should be able to win the value of the tires and rims. Small Claims court allows recovery up to $7,500. you should first wrilte a demand letter to the shop that took your items, pointing out that you never gave them permission to disposs of the items [first check any written agreement you have with them to be sure you are not giving them approval to do so], since the items were still usable they had no reason to beleive you would not want them returned and you had no reason to believe them would not be returned, you were available tobe contacted by them if they had any questions, they were not worn out tires than would be junked, if they sold them you certainly are entitled to the money they got, the price they charged you was not dscounted by the value of re-selling the items, etc. If you do not get a satisfactory response, call the head of the company and see if he/she will offer you anything [best to cc that person with copy of demand letter]. If still not happy, file SCC suit.

Consider reporting the company to the State Agency handling auto repairs to get them to act on your behave or provide statutory language that helps you. If the value of the items is worth more than about $1,000, it might be worthwhile to hire an attorney for $100-$200 to write the demand letter and prep you for SCC if needed. Most attorneys will charge $200 ; at that rate, not worth more than an hour at most of their time. Some semi-retired attorneys such as myself may charge less. If you want, you could call me for a free first 10-15 minutes telephone conversation to discuss the facts in greater detai and go over the value of lyour case.Thereafter, I charge $100 per hour plus out of pocket expenses.

not proof read

Teke them to small claims court.

Don't waste your time. California statutory law has a provision that parts removed from a vehicle during service must be returned to the owner ON REQUEST, but 99.99% of the auto shops have a provision on the form you sign when you are ordering the work that says you wiave that request and they are entitled to dispose of any used parts removed from the vehicle unless you specifically ask that they be returned to you after the work is done. That provision on their forms is legal and enforceable. So, unless you marked the place on the form requesting the used parts, or otherwise notified them in writing that you wanted the parts before they were sold, you will lose the case.

Depends on what your contract said and what you told the people. If it is as Tim says you lose, if on the other hand your told them you wanted old rims back then they will owe you the fair market value of those rims. To get fair market value check E-bay and Craigs list.

Check your contract and if you didn�t mark the box don�t want parts back write them a letter demanding return of rims or their value. Keep a copy of the letter. If they don�t respond sue them in small claims court.