HOUSTON – A Houston man says he is without a car, after the auto repair shop at which he dropped his car off to get fixed closed without notice.
"I'm thinking this guy has stolen my car," Randy Exom said, referring to the owner of the auto repair shop, after he could not find his vehicle.
Exom said he purchased the used vehicle, a Lexus, in November and immediately brought it to On Site Auto Repair, which is located in the 15800 block of Lee Road in northwest Houston.
Exom said he set up a biweekly payment plan with the owner, a plan he said was working until he stopped by on Jan. 19 to make a payment.
"Everything was going fine up until I came there to make a payment and there was an eviction sign posted, sign on the door, and the regular cars that were in the lot weren't there anymore," Exom said.
Exom first thought his car had been stolen. He said he called the owner of the repair shop, seeking an answer about its whereabouts.
"I gave [the owner] a call and I said, 'Hey, there's an eviction notice here. Did you move?' He said, 'Yeah, I'm at 59 and Little York now."
Exom said he wasn't given an exact address, however, which prompted him to believe something wasn't right.
"This is not something new, I guess," Exom said, referring to the business's owner and claims of missing vehicles.
As it turned out, Exom was right.
KPRC2 last fall reported cases of cars missing from an auto repair shop at 59 and Little York.
The owner of that shop, which is now shuttered, is the brother of the man who fixed Exom's car.
Shawn Gee is his name. Gee even worked at that shop before opening his own shop on Lee Road late last year.
"He could have been fairly with people and said, 'Hey, let's work this out. We've been doing business already,'" Exom said.
Exom found his car Friday. It had been impounded.
It will cost him $800 to get his car back. KPRC2 has learned other vehicles from Gee's now-shuttered garage were impounded, as well.
"My thing is my car was in your possession and you should have made some type of contact with me and say, 'Hey this is what's going on, sir,'" said a frustrated Exom.
KPRC2 spoke with Gee by phone Friday. He declined an on-camera interview but confirmed his eviction, saying he and the building's landlord had been deadlocked over repairs he said needed to be made. Gee also said that he was working with customers whose vehicles were impounded, to get their vehicles back.