What to do if you can’t afford car repairs and the body shop won’t let it go

Odds are most drivers on the road today will at some point be involved in an accident and will have to take their vehicles in for repair.

Repairs are costly and not everyone has the budget for it, and while insurance aims to relieve this burden, the excess payable could also be unaffordable in certain cases.

If you are caught in a situation where you have handed your vehicle to a body shop for repairs and the bill ends up much higher than you bargained for, or if your insurance excess is out of reach, there are few forms of recourse to get your vehicle back.

MotorHappy has interviewed Uvashen Bramiah, national director of the South African Motor Body Repairers’ Association (SAMBRA), to find out what motorists whose vehicles are stuck at the body shop can do to get them back.

Big bills

In the case where the owner of a damaged car decides to go directly to a motor body repairer (MBR) to get it fixed, and the bill that comes back is unaffordable, Bramiah advises that the individual immediately contact the MBR to discuss the problem of payment.

“The most important starting point is your contract (quote/estimate), which you will receive from the MBR or panel shop to sign and approve before any work goes ahead. This contract will deal with the cost of the repair, storage costs, expenses towards courtesy vehicles, etc,” said Bramiah.

“It will also cover no or partial payment and determines when the MBR is entitled to regard the vehicle as abandoned and to obtain an order to dispose of the vehicle.”

An accredited and reputable MBR will likely require the owner to sign an acknowledgment of debt and draft a new contract and payment structure, which will allow them to get their car back while also assuring the job is being paid for.

Owners must also keep in mind that MBRs have a right to charge storage fees if a vehicle is not collected within a specific time, and they can also dispose of unclaimed cars after a certain period if it has not yet been picked up, provided this is clearly stated in the contract that the customer signed.

Unaffordable insurance excess

If the owner of the vehicle decides to go the insurance route and afterward realizes the excess payable is unaffordable, the insurer will not pay the MBR for its efforts and it will again have the right to keep the vehicle until it receives remuneration.

In this scenario, owners must contact the MBR to arrange safe storage until the insurance excess can be paid.

If the owner is still unable to pay after an agreed-upon period, MBRs have the right to draft a letter of demand, demanding payment and collection of the vehicle within seven days.

If it remains unpaid, “the matter can proceed through the courts, or an attorney can be consulted to issue summons for the amount and have it served by Sheriff,” said Bramiah.

“Depending on whether the summons is defended by the owner, a default judgement application can be brought, or in the case of a defense, a summary judgement application since such costs will form a liquidated claim based on the signed contract between the parties and the invoice delivered.”

“Depending on the route of a defended matter or undefended matter respectively, once judgement is obtained, a warrant of execution can be issued and the Sheriff can be requested to attach and auction the property by way of a sale in execution.”

This sum will likely cover the claim of the panel shop, but if it doesn’t, the original owner will still be liable for the outstanding amount and will have to arrange a repayment plan with the MBR.

In the unlikely event that the insurer goes into liquidation while the car is being fixed, the responsibility of settling the outstanding payment will fall on the owner once again.

“A panel shop can keep the vehicle lawfully until you are able to pay in full,” said Bramiah. “You may be able to reclaim back some of these costs from the liquidator, but it will take time.”