Hey folks,
I am completely disgusted by all the lawyer bashing in this topic. I am proud to be a lawyer and proud of my achievement in completing the very difficult education, plus bar exam passage, necessary to practice this profession. I've been out of law school for ten years and I'm still paying back my student loans. I work with poor people and probably earn less than the majority of lawyers. I'll bet that you could find at least as many people who feel they have been screwed by auto repair shops as you could people who feel they have been screwed by lawyers. There are good people and bad people in EVERY profession.

That said, I completely sympathize with Steve's situation. Not only would I refuse to ever work on this particular idiot's car again, I would alert other local shops as to what happened and let them decide whether they wanted this customer. I wish I was the attorney for your insurance company, as I am quite certain I could have won that negligence case, and I'd have been willing to work on it on my own time. Perhaps in the future, if a customer declines recommended repairs, you could decline to do any more work on that car until they authorize the recommended procedures, or advise them to seek another shop. I'll bet the customers who are always trying to skimp on maintenance to save a buck are not worth the hassle anyway. Peace!
Colin