[PA] Bodyshop has had my car since August and hasn’t even touched it yet, what are my moves?

Small Claims Procedure

I’ve been working on restoring an older Jeep and it needs some rust and hole repairs done specifically fabricating and cutting out spots to fit with new metal. The majority of the build is me working in my small garage space but have little to no bodywork experience nor the tools for this side of the job.

Looked up a few body shops near me last summer and had one come pick up my Jeep in mid August 2021. Guy looks over the Jeep as I point out things needed to be done and I also have him a list for the specifics to easily refer to. He said he would take it back to his shop to assess and give me some estimates and said the job would take 3-5ish months. I signed no paperwork or paid anything at time of pickup.

Fast forward to January when I reach out via phone to see how things were going and he states that he’s waiting on parts that are on back order. I just assumed that it was some metal he needed to acquire and said okay. After all it was winter and I was okay with waiting until sometime in the spring to get my Jeep back.

February roles around and I call once a week for three weeks to try and get ahold of the guy but his receptionist kept stating he will call me back. Finally on the 3rd call I get ahold of him and he states that he lost two guys at the shop so it’s now not going to be until mid-end of summer 2022 that it will be potentially ready.

Come to also find that he has my Jeep sitting outside un-covered (through winter snow and rain) mind you that the rear window and from windshield is removed and so is the driver door leaving everything inside exposed (most of it is gutted) This is the part that pisses me off because even when I was working on it outside last summer I would cover it with a tarp overnight or when the weather is bad.

What I want to know is if I can take any legal course at this point? I want to take a drive over there sometime this week to confront him and also look at my Jeep but would like some info before I do so.

Sorry for the long read

TL;DR: body shop holding my project for a long time and leaving it to rot outside potentially trying to charge me more because of that

Posted Mar 23, 2022, 4:21 AM UTC

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