Gotta be honest, law or no, this has been pretty much our shops policy for years now. As far as we're concerned the records belong to the one who pays the repair bill. With their permission, we'll release what ever they'd like.

Several used car lots in our area use our services both pre and post sale, in those cases, they "own" the details of our actions. If the new owner of the car wants to know what was done, they need to contact the dealer who paid for the repair.

What get's ugly is when, during a private party sale, both parties show up for the "pre-purchase inspection". Then you have to deal with an "owner" who is unhappy with us disclosing the results of the "customer"'s paid for inspection.

Try to think of it with roles reversed, would you want everyone of your previous vehicle complaints printed out and handed to the purchaser of your old vehicle? Don't you suppose they might ask about why you decided just to charge the A/C a month ago rather than replace the evaporator? Maybe they're not happy that you disobeyed the manufacturer's recomendations and changed your transmission fluid anyway? Especially when the trans fails after they've owned the car for merely six months? Believe me we see a lot of strange happenings, and have had more than one customer state that they'll never sell private party again... Remember, lot's of times the folks you're selling to know where you live...

MV