What is considered the last day of substantial work for mechanics lien?

Mechanic liens suck because the mechanic can claim money is owed even thought the repair job may not have been done right or not done at all. Generally, as long as the repair shop has possession of the vehicle, then they can claim they have a lien on it for work done that hasn’t been paid for yet. But first, let me add some basic info on your car repair rights. When you take a car to a repair shop for them to do any kind of work on your car, you have the right to expect the work will be done right. And unless they use special language to avoid giving you a warranty, in most states you automatically get a warranty that they are going to do the work in a "good workmanlike manner." That basically requires that they do the repair or service work right. If they don't, then you have a right to recover damages for what they do wrong or the damage they cause (or, if they don’t return the car at all, for the value of the car itself). But you have to be able to prove that the reason for your new problems is something that the repair shop did or did not do. In other words, you have to be able to show that it was fault of the repair shop. The first thing to do is ask the repair shop to fix it. You did that and now the debate is over what the final repair bill would be even though they haven’t fixed it apparently. If they have possession, then generally the shop has the right to claim a lien (whether it’s justified or not) and refuse to release the vehicle until they get paid. You can pay, get the car, then sue them. Or, most states would allow you to sue them and post a deposit in court for the bill (without really paying the bill) in order to get your car back. If the bill is less than a thousand dollars or so, you may be able to sue the shop in your local small claims court without needing a lawyer, but that’s risky. Doing the repair work badly may also violate other consumer protection laws in your state and give you other rights too. Because the law is different in each state you need to talk to a local Consumer Law attorney. Call your local attorney's Bar Association and ask for a referral to a Consumer Law attorney near you or you can go to this web site page for a Free Online 50 State National List of Consumer Law Lawyers (http://www.ohiolemonlaw.com/ocll-site/ocll-loca...) and find one near you (lawyers don’t pay to get listed here and most of them are members of the only national association for Consumer Law lawyers, NACA.net). But act quickly because for every legal right you have, there is only a limited amount of time to actually file a lawsuit in court or your rights expire (it's called the statute of limitations), so don't waste your time getting to a Consumer Law attorney and finding out what your rights are. If this answer was helpful, please give me a thumbs up review below. Ron Burdge, www.BurdgeLaw.com