Auto Shop keeps and sells my car - is there a law?

[pianochik1]

Is there a NY state law allowing Auto shop owners to claim title to your car if you've left it in the repair shop for more than 30 days? I brought my car to have the engine repaired or replaced. A few days later, the owner told me the only engine he could get would cost $3000-$4000. I asked him to keep looking for something cheaper and he said he would. I called, at first, every two weeks, then once a month, for a year and he would tell me that he was still looking. Finally, I went to pick up my car - he said he had gotten rid of it. THEN, two weeks later, I was driving by the auto shop and saw MY CAR in the parking lot. I asked the owner about it and he said that someone else had found and brought him an engine to put in it, that he installed it, repairing the car and that the car no longer belonged to me because I had left it there more than 30 days and that there is a NY State law, which was just enacted, to back that up. Is there such a law - and does it apply to me when I repeatedly called to check on the status - until he told me he no longer had it? --

He cannot claim that if he said he was looking for an engine etc.

Based on what you say here, you could file suit against them (or at least threaten to do so) in small claims court or in regular court; filing in small claims court is easier and requires no attorney...you could try to collect all of the costs and damages that you suffered due to their behavior... You may also report them to your state attorney general's office.