Keep in mind that the car was taken to the mechanic for some rear suspension work. Most mechanics would charge about $1200 for this work, including parts and labor, but this mechanic had other ideas.

How:

They basically separated the chassis from the rest of the car. Yes, that's a lot of work. Their destruction method was to charge more to put it back together than the car was worth. When my relative returned to the shop to see what was going on, the car was in several big pieces.

If a customer can't pay the mechanic, or the customer and mechanic agree that it would be too expensive to continue fixing the car, they can agree to transfer the car title to the mechanic as payment for the services already rendered. This lets a customer wipe their hands clean of the car, and the mechanic keeps the vehicle. The mechanic abused this by trying to charge an extra $4000 for the (completely unauthorized) disassembly of the car, and saying they would put it back together for another $6000, and it would never work nearly as well again anyway. My relative was so distraught that the option of wiping her hands clean was the best option at the time, and she didn't have the thousands of dollars that the mechanic wanted to charge her for the unauthorized work anyway. And if she didn't transfer the car title, the mechanic could put a lien on the car and take it as payment for the services, it's called a Mechanic's Lien.

Why: The mechanic wanted to get her car from her, one way or another.

We sued on the basis that the car disassembly was not authorized by my relative, and fortunately the mechanic hadn't scammed her into signing any backdated paperwork that would authorize the disassembly.