Unpaid Vehicle Repair: Your Possessory Lien Under Idaho Law

Attorney Answer

You are already holding the strongest thing you have — the car — and Idaho gives you a lien on it. But the lien exists only while you keep possession, so do not release the vehicle to get your space back.

Idaho Code § 45-806 covers liens for making, altering or repairing personal property. Anyone who makes, alters or repairs an article of personal property has a lien on it and may retain possession of the same until the charges are paid. The same section gives you the way out: if you are not paid within two months after the work is done, you may sell the property at public auction on ten days' public notice, given by advertisement in a newspaper in the county where the work was done — or, if there is no newspaper in the county, by posting notices in three public places in the town for ten days. The proceeds go first to your lien and to the cost of keeping and selling the vehicle, and any remainder must be paid over to the owner.

That matters because the prior advice you may have received was wrong in a specific way. This is not a construction-style mechanic's lien that you record with the county clerk against real estate. There is nothing to file. It is a possessory lien: it lives in your continued possession of the car, and it dies the moment you hand the keys back. If you release the vehicle to free up the space and then sue, you give up the leverage and the sale remedy and are left chasing a judgment.

What you can do

1. Keep the vehicle where it is, secured, and do not release it to her or anyone she sends until you are paid. 2. Write down the date the work was completed and confirm whether two months have passed since then. Everything under § 45-806 keys off that date. 3. Send her a written, itemized demand: the work performed, parts and labor, the total of $1,500, and a payment deadline. Send it in a way you can prove she received it, and keep a copy. 4. If she still does not pay and the two months have run, follow the § 45-806 sale procedure exactly — place the ten-day newspaper advertisement in the county where you did the work (or post in three public places for ten days if the county has no paper), then sell at public auction. Keep the ad tear sheet, the notice, and a written record of the sale. 5. Apply the proceeds to your charges plus the cost of keeping and selling the vehicle, and pay any surplus over to her in writing. Skipping that step is how a repairer turns a good lien into a lawsuit against himself. 6. If the sale brings less than you are owed, or if you would rather not run an auction, sue her for the unpaid balance in the magistrate division; you are not required to sell. 7. If you are unsure about any step of the auction procedure, get a lawyer to walk the notice and sale with you once — a defective sale can expose you to a conversion claim from the owner.

⏱ Time limits apply. Idaho Code § 45-806 ties your sale right to a two-month wait after the work was done and requires ten days' public notice before the auction, and a claim for the unpaid bill has its own limitations period running from when she failed to pay. Which clocks apply, and where they stand, depends on your specific dates.