It sounds too awful to be true, but it is: A man who brought in a BMW to a repair shop for some minor work ended up with a wrecked car instead, after an employee admitted to taking it out for a joyride and wrecking it. And apparently, that is totally legal.

The customer is out one vehicle after the incident, but it appears all he can do is sue the repair shop, reports WESH.com in Orlando. Police confirmed that the worker was driving the car and was involved in not one, but two accidents in the wee hours of January 8.

The car was towed by another company, whose owner called up the repair shop to see what the heck had happened.

“He proceeds to tell me that it wasn’t the owner but one of his employees that wrecked it,” the tow company owner said.

But unfortunately for the car’s owner, it’s not against the law for an employee to drive a customer’s car, the cops say. And the repair shop apparently told the owner “Not our problem.”

“They gave (their employee) permission to take my car across the state of Florida and total it and not give it back to me. And in the meantime, I’m out a $7,000 BMW, and they told me tough luck,” the customer says.

It’s not like he’s totally out of luck, with no recourse. He can sue the repair shop — and it’s to be hoped that it was a fully licensed and insured because that would likely cover the cost of the wrecked car. But until he sorts through all of that, which would take place in civil courts, the employee is just fine in the eyes of the law.

Which brings to mind this, of course:

Repair shop employee wrecked customer’s BMW on joyride, police say [WESH.com]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.