I'm not a mechanic, and I have heard of mechanic liens. I've seen the
cars in shops that had liens on them. The liens (at least in
Maryland) get registered with the DMV. You can't sell the car with a
mechanic lien on it.

As to enforcement. Some folks can go to "small" claims court and
convert that mechanics lien into ownership, then sell the vehicle to
recover the repair costs. If that isn't enough the small claims court
may authorize other seizures. I heard of one small claims case where
the folks went to the peoples business (with a deputy sheriff.) The
Deputy said, take whatever you think will cover your costs. They took
the computers (with all the companies records on 'em.)

I'm guessing that they paid up quickly after that.

On Jan 18, 2007, at 12:25 AM, Geza Polony wrote:

> Other than lenders, I haven't heard of any cases where there's a lien
> put on a vehicle, though there must be some.