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I Own A Mechanic Shop, Customer Took Their Vehicle Over The Weekend Without Paying. What Can I Do?

I own a mechanic shop in Texas. A few months ago, a customer brought their car in for an engine replacement, to the tune of ~$15,000. Customer had an aftermarket warranty (similar to CarShield) which covered about $10k of the repair. Customer had an outstanding balance of $5k, which they asked if I could "hold onto the car until they have the money." We show up Monday morning and the car is gone, customer likely took it with their spare keys.

The car has a lien on it, I contacted lien holder and they have no record of repossession, would not give much more info without police report.

Police department doesn't have any interest because I cannot report a car stolen if I am not the registered owner, we did not have cameras operating in that corner of the parking lot at the time so have no proof of theft.

Attempted to file a mechanic's lien with the state but they would not process it as I do not have an *original* signed repair order authorization (I do have a signed final invoice, agreeing to pay the listed amount).

This was all mid February, I have not pursued further as I do not know what my next steps are, if any.

Location: Texas

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I Own A Mechanic Shop, Customer Took Their Vehicle Over The Weekend Without Paying. What Can I Do?

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