Garage owner accused of destroying, not servicing, customer's Porsche

[austin552]

Google Alert: Porsche

June 04, 2007


Thomas Blaine of Honesdale just wanted his 1988 Porsche serviced. Inspection and oil change. Instead he got a nightmare.

Police say he took the sports car to Donald Howanitz’s business in Waymart. Instead of inspecting the vehicle, Howanitz decided to take the vehicle for a joy ride. Police say he got into a wreck with his passenger, Richard Leslie of Waymart, in the early morning and then left the scene.

The crash occurred as the Porsche was traveling west on Route 6 in Canaan Township, Wayne County, at a high rate of speed. The driver overcompensated a curve in the roadway and traveled off the left side of the roadway. It struck a sign and two pine trees.

Here's the nightmare: The Porsche suffered massive damage and was towed from the scene.

Police say both Howanitz and his passenger fled the scene after the crash. Neither suffered any injuries, and it is unknown if they were wearing their seat belts at the time of the crash. Howanitz will receive numerous citations.

Pennsylvania State Police at Honesdale responded to the incident. The Waymart Fire Company assisted at the scene.

[Hayabusa]

I am thinking ,,, a certain someone will own someone else's repair shop!

[jbrand540]

I will remember this the next time I am laying on the cold garage floor at 2 in the morning cursing over something that shouldnt be this hard and thinking maybe I should have taken in for this.

[movin]

Seen it before, Illegal Alien mechanic helper taking Cayanne out on a weekend without owner's knowledge. Another occassion got my wife's Corvette back from the body shop and found over 100 miles on the OD during stay in the shop, found burrito wrapper under the seat and radio stations tuned to Mexican stations. You got to seriously know your shop.

[dentist90]

NO, NO, NO!!! You guys got him all wrong! He's a very caring mechanic exercising due diligence by taking the car out for a 'road test' after servicing. Some shoddy places will only do this after a repair, say the brakes or tranny. This guy obviously takes professionalism to new heights... the high speed - after oil change- road test! Good thing too, or that wreck might have happened to the customer!!

[jbrand540]

Good point! We need to know if he atleast performed the work before he took his ride or not.

[VaSteve]

Originally posted by movin
Seen it before, Illegal Alien mechanic helper taking Cayanne out on a weekend without owner's knowledge. Another occassion got my wife's Corvette back from the body shop and found over 100 miles on the OD during stay in the shop, found burrito wrapper under the seat and radio stations tuned to Mexican stations. You got to seriously know your shop.

How long do you have to spend in a car to reset the presets. Jeez!

[randywebb]

The name of the tort is Illegal Conversion.

Since it's a tort, the owner can sue for punitive damages (i.e. big money) to punish the jerk, and also to teach others not to do this.

Personally tho, I'd rather have my car...

[David]

I had a friend take his WRX STi in for service and he got it back with 300 miles, a mess inside, and wheel curb rash. My friend keeps his car in imaculate condition so he's extra irrate. This was a dealership and no word yet on what they're going to do about it. So, yes, I'm also glad to do my own work even when it's midnight, my knuckles are bleeding, and that new OEM part doesn't fit.

[GO DAWG GO]

If I found a 100 miles on my odometer, a burrito rapper under my seat and someone screwing with my stereo resetting my stations....It would get ugly fast...I would be so far up the owners azz he would be very sorry or we would be defending himself...Thats just BS. I actually dont take my car and leave it anywhere..Not even for tires...Just what I need some test pilot driving my turbo...

[BeerBurner]

Here is the thread at Rennlist, posted by the owner of the car. It was a 928S4 with just over 28k miles.

BB.

[legion]

Man...what a beautiful car that was.

[Rot 911]

Unless the garage owner had some insurance, my guess is the owner of the 928 will never see a penny from the garage. He can sue and get a huge judgment as has been suggested on the Rennlist board, but the garage owner will just file bankruptcy to avoid the judgment.

[Tobra]

Depending on what the law is in PA, victim may end up siezing a lot of the perpetrator's assets. If nothing else, he is done working on P cars, in that area anyway.


Helps to know your shop too. I have NEVER had a good experience at a Niello dealership. When my bug was new, under warranty, they failed to fix the fuel gauge on a dozen attempts while under warranty, never adjusted the valves as they said they were doing(which cost me a new top end).


Took my Acura in to a different stealership, also owned by said Mr Niello, and they damaged the fuel vapor recovery cannister, and ended up having the car for almost a week waiting on parts, after I spoke to them the week before, made an appointment and they told me they had the parts in stock. While they had the car, they informed me of about $2000 worth of stuff that "needed" to be repaired. Have had the good sense not to take my Porsche to them, and would probably not buy a new P car due to my experience with the dealer.

[SLO-BOB]

Let the insurance nightmare begin! Even if the shop owner has insurance, they probably won't cover it under the circumstances because it hardly falls under business liability standards. That means he has to go after the business itself if it's anything more secure than a s.p.. If not, he goes after the guy himself, who probably doesn't have that kind of coin to throw at something like this. Finally, after a couple years, his own insurance may kick in and pay him what they think his car is worth-$2500 would be my guess. Unless, of course, he has some sort of collector policy which pays agreed (stated?) value but they may not cover under these circumstances. What a mess. I truly pity the guy.

(disclaimer-not in the insurance biz or a lawyer-just been there, done that.)

I take my car to shops where my car is boring in comparison to other cars. Not to mention they are PCA affiliated independants who are heavily involved in the sport. Something like this happening is very unlikely there.

[legion]

If he has comprehensive (which he should with that car), they will probably total it, pay him a fair value for the car, and then the insurer will go after the shop.

[oldE]

Chris,

Exactly what happened when the mechanic working on my truck burned it and the shop down around it, three years ago. It was just a used GMC, but I had only had it 5 months. Arrrg!

Les

[MRM]

The shop will have to have insurance as a condition of being licensed by the state. Their liability carrier will not be able to deny coverage to an innocent third party, such as the car owner, even if the shop employee was joyriding without the shop owner's knowlege or the shop owner was actually stealing the car. The car owner's comprehensive coverage will probably pay the owner's loss up front and will get its money back from the shop's insurer.

[legion]

Originally posted by MRM
The shop will have to have insurance as a condition of being licensed by the state. Their liability carrier will not be able to deny coverage to an innocent third party, such as the car owner, even if the shop employee was joyriding without the shop owner's knowlege or the shop owner was actually stealing the car. The car owner's comprehensive coverage will probably pay the owner's loss up front and will get its money back from the shop's insurer.

That makes sense to me. It will also make the shop owner uninsurable and therefore unable to get a license--at least in the state they currently do business...

[Rick Lee]

But didn't you guys see the Seinfeld episode where Jerry's mechanic ran off with his SAAB and Jerry's insurance refused to pay because Jerry had given him the keys?