Fraud of the Week
Repair Fraud – California
Amount – Unknown
A California auto repair shop owner was convicted of felony insurance fraud and lost his automotive repair license because of failing to repair vehicles, charging for phony repairs, and lying about repairs. The Bureau of Automotive Repair received complaints about the shop owner and his shop over several years. Complaints were about shoddy repair work, failure to honor warranty agreements, false and misleading statements, failing to provide written estimates, failure to complete work that was paid for, and failing to refund money for repairs not done. His automotive repair license was revoked in April 2019.
He charged one customer's insurance company more than $3,800 for replacing an engine when the engine wasn't actually replaced. In another instance the shop owner didn't disclose that his license had been revoked, and he agreed to repair a transmission that he did not repair but he kept the money for the repairs.