THE $7,018 MERCEDES
The last thing my ex-wife expected when she refused to pay my $7,018 repair bill was for me to smile.
But I did.
“Okay,” I said.
Laura stared at me.
Brent looked almost amused.
Neither of them understood what I had just decided.
For six days, I had worked on their Mercedes until almost midnight every night. I had postponed other customers, borrowed money to order parts, and spent hours underneath that car making sure every damaged component was repaired properly.
Now the Mercedes sat outside my shop looking almost brand new.
The front bumper had been replaced.
The suspension had been rebuilt.
The damaged wheel assembly had been corrected.
The headlight had been replaced.
Even the paintwork had been carefully matched.
I had photographed everything before, during, and after the repairs.
And I had kept every receipt.
The final invoice came to exactly $7,018.
Laura looked at the number and immediately frowned.
“That much?”
I slowly looked at her.
“You saw the damage when you brought it here.”
“I didn’t expect it to cost that much.”
“You approved the repairs.”
Brent picked up the invoice.
He looked at it for perhaps three seconds.
Then he laughed.
“You’re charging us seven thousand dollars for this?”
