Legal Question in Insurance Law in Texas
Unauthorized Vechicle Repair
My 19 year old son was in an accident while driving my vehicle. I was not in the car at the time, and because of Texas Clear-Safe law my son supposedly signed a document to only have the car towed to a storage lot but the towing company took the vehicle to an unauthorized repair and body shop who immediately began removing parts from the vehicle and created a markup damage estimate before contacting me. I am the owner of the vehicle, and I nor my insurance company did not authorize this body shop to make any repairs or provide any estimates. In order for the body shop to release my vehicle I will have to pay fees associated with the unauthorized removal of parts and repairs. Am I leagally bound to pay the unauthorized repair fees before I can reclaim my vechile?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Unauthorized Vechicle Repair
The autobody shop may have a lien on the vehicle for the repairs, unless you can demonstrate that they had actual knowledge of a fraud. You can file a court action, but that would probably wind up being an expensive endeavor. The path of least resistance is for you to contact your insurance company and see if they can work this out with the repair shop. Often, they have clout with repair shops.
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