Repair Shop Liability When a Bad Repair Damages Your Car

Attorney Answer

Yes — a shop that does the work carelessly can be responsible for the damage that follows, and your deadline for this kind of claim is the longer three-year property period, not the two-year injury one. What you have to prove is that the work fell below what a careful shop would have done and that the failure caused the damage.

The duty is statutory. Cal. Civ. Code § 1714(a) provides: "Everyone is responsible, not only for the result of his or her willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by his or her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person, except so far as the latter has, willfully or by want of ordinary care, brought the injury upon himself or herself." A shop that takes a car in for engine work and fastens it back together improperly, so that the motor drops, has not used ordinary care or skill. Someone with mechanical training will need to say so — a written opinion from a second, independent shop identifying what failed and why is usually what turns a complaint into a claim.

What you can recover is set by Cal. Civ. Code § 3333: "For the breach of an obligation not arising from contract, the measure of damages, except where otherwise expressly provided by this Code, is the amount which will compensate for all the detriment proximately caused thereby, whether it could have been anticipated or not." That reaches the cost of doing the repair properly, the additional damage the failure caused, towing, and being without the car.

Expect the shop to argue that you contributed — that you kept driving after a noise, or that the part was already worn. In California that argument does not end a claim. Fault is shared proportionally: a recovery is reduced by a claimant's own share of the blame rather than eliminated, the pure comparative system the California Supreme Court applied in Daly v. General Motors Corp., 20 Cal. 3d 725 (1978).

California also licenses automotive repair shops and has a state bureau that takes consumer complaints about repair work, and any written warranty on the job is worth reading before you do anything else.

What you can do

1. Stop driving the car. Have it towed rather than driven, so the condition it is in now is preserved.

2. Photograph the engine, the mounting points and the fasteners before anything is taken apart, and ask the second shop to keep any parts it removes.

3. Get a written diagnosis from an independent shop stating what failed and why.

4. Gather the original invoice, the work order, and any warranty the shop gave you.

5. Send the shop a written demand for the cost of putting it right, with a deadline, and keep a copy.

6. File a complaint with the state bureau that licenses automotive repair shops.

7. Ask a local attorney about a court claim if the shop refuses.

Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. A claim for damage to a vehicle generally runs on Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1), which allows three years for an action for taking, detaining, or injuring goods or chattels — longer than the two years Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 allows for injury to a person, which would govern if anyone was hurt when the motor dropped. A claim framed on the shop's written contract or warranty may run differently. Which period applies depends on your facts, so have a local attorney review the dates.