March 30, 2021—The owner of a since-closed auto repair shop in California has been convicted of fraud and lost his automotive repair license after an investigation uncovered years of wrongdoing, the Siskiyou Daily News reported.
The man was sentenced to two years of probation, fines and 90 days in prison. Over several years, the state’s Bureau of Automotive Repair received complaints of shoddy repair work, failure to honor warranty agreements, false and misleading statements, collecting money for work never done, failure to return money owed to the consumer, and not providing written estimates.
Incidents reported include billing a customer $3,800 for an engine replacement that was never actually replaced.
