A woman on TikTok is dealing with a frustrating problem after leaving her Audi TT RS at a repair shop. Mel (@iamelvmarnn) posted a video explaining what happened, and now people are arguing about who needs to pay for the damage.
According to Motor 1, Mel took her car to get an oil change and new brake pads. She couldn’t stay at the shop while they worked on it, so she decided to leave it there for the night and come back in the morning. The next day, she had a meeting that made her late. She sent several texts and made phone calls to tell the mechanic she was running behind schedule. He saw her messages but didn’t write back, and he also didn’t answer when she called.
When Mel got to the shop, she found out why the mechanic had been ignoring her. Her car’s front headlight was badly damaged, and there was also a scratch on the bumper. The mechanic said someone had hit her car while it was parked on the street. He told her he had finished working on the car and moved it outside to make room for other vehicles. But he acted like the damage wasn’t something he needed to fix because Mel had been late picking up her car.
She already paid before seeing the damage
The whole thing got even more annoying for Mel because she had already paid for everything. She gave the mechanic his money the day before when she dropped off the car. On top of that, she left him a really big tip that was about 50% of what the repair cost.
Now she has to spend a lot more money to fix the headlight, which is very expensive for an Audi. She asked the mechanic if he was going to fix it, but he said no because she didn’t come get the car on time.
Mel didn’t drink and drive, yet her car still ended up damaged through no real fault of her own. And the worst part, she now has to pay for it.
People had very different reactions in the comments. One person said, “His fault.” Someone else wrote, “He’s liable.” But a shop owner named Joseph Christmann gave a longer explanation.
He said, “So here’s the deal. I own a shop, typically a shop has no liability for damage outside of the shop and it goes to your insurance however as a shop if a car gets damaged typically we split the cost no labor with the customer. If we damage we fix.”
Some people think the mechanic might not be telling the truth about what happened. One comment said, “Sounds like someone went on a test drive and got a little too excited with the gas pedal.”
Another person brought up good points about the situation and asked, “There are a lot of variables here. What are the shop guidance for vehicles left overnight? Did he leave the car on the side of the road overnight? Were was the car when you got to the shop? He should have notified you as soon as he noticed the damages and should have filed a police report.”
Even though Mel appears to have been treated unfairly, some user comments suggest this might not be as clear-cut a court win as it seems.
Published: Nov 17, 2025 11:30 am