Yes. A garage may keep a car until the bill for the repair to that car has been paid. This is called the right of retention: the right to withhold handing over an item until the claim has been paid. It only works as long as the car is with you. If you hand the car over, the right is gone.
The core is simple, the edges are not. Whether you may keep a car for an old bill, for storage charges or against a leasing company depends on the circumstances. The law is less clear on that. In those cases, word things carefully and, if in doubt, have it checked by a lawyer.
In short
- You may keep a car until the bill for the repair to that car has been paid. This follows from the Civil Code, articles 3:290, 6:52 and 6:57.
- The right ends as soon as the car is back with the customer or the owner. So only hand over the key after payment.
- For an old bill, storage charges you set yourself and a lease car for which the driver was not allowed to give the order, it is not certain. If in doubt, have it checked.
In this article
- Can a garage keep a car until the bill is paid?
- What may you do with a car you are holding?
- Can you keep a car for an old bill?
- Does the right of retention also apply to a lease car?
- Can you charge storage if the car stays with you?
- What if the car has already gone?
- How does a garage prevent it coming to this?
Can a garage keep a car until the bill is paid?
Yes, for the bill for the work on that car. You have to return the car to the customer, and the customer has to pay you. As long as he does not pay, you may delay that return. The law calls this the right of retention (Civil Code, article 3:290).
The basis for the garage is the right of suspension. Anyone with a claim that is due may delay their own obligation if there is enough connection between the two. That is the case if they arise from the same legal relationship (Civil Code, article 6:52). The repair and the return of the car arise from the same order. Because this suspension fits the description of the right of retention, the rules of the right of retention apply to it (Civil Code, article 6:57).
It helps if the customer knows this in advance. So say it when the order is placed: "We hand over the car after payment." Put that sentence on the work order and in your terms. Then the customer knows where he stands.
What may you do with a car you are holding?
You may keep the car inside until it is paid for. You do not become its owner. So you may not use it and may not sell it yourself to pay the bill.
You are in a strong position when it comes to recovery, though. You can recover your claim from the car with priority over everyone against whom the right of retention applies (Civil Code, article 3:292). How to do that in your case is work for a lawyer or bailiff.
The right of retention also covers the costs you had to incur for the care the law requires of you (Civil Code, article 3:293). So you must look after the car properly while it is with you. Keep it inside or on a locked site and keep the key with you.
Can you keep a car for an old bill?
That is not certain. The right of retention certainly works for the repair to the car that is with you now. For an unpaid bill for an earlier repair it is less settled. Do not simply assume it.
The law says there must be sufficient connection. That connection can exist, among other things, for obligations arising from dealings that the parties regularly have with each other (Civil Code, article 6:52(2)). The word "can" matters. Whether a regular customer with an old bill falls under it depends on the circumstances.
BOVAG's general terms state that the repairer only returns the car when the bill "for this or earlier work" has been paid (BOVAG Autobedrijven General Terms, article 12). Those terms only apply between BOVAG members and their customers. If you are not a member, do not copy the text without having it checked.
The safest course is not to let an old bill arise. Hand over the car after payment, also for regular customers. A regular customer with an invoice payable in 14 days is a choice you make deliberately.
Does the right of retention also apply to a lease car?
Sometimes. With a lease car the leasing company is the owner, not the driver who gave you the order. You can also invoke the right of retention against the owner, but only under conditions. Be careful here.
The law says you can invoke the right of retention against someone with an older right to the item, if your claim arises from an agreement the debtor was authorised to enter into. Or if you had no reason to doubt that authority (Civil Code, article 3:291(2)). So the question is whether the driver was allowed by his lease contract to have this repair done.
You usually cannot see that at the counter. Many leasing companies work with their own network of garages. Ayvens, for example, writes that it only works with selected garages, which work to the manufacturer's specifications and its own standard (Ayvens, service via Ayvens). A garage outside such a network runs the risk that the leasing company will not pay for the work.
So call the leasing company before the work. Ask whether you may carry out the order, who pays, at what price and under which order number. Record that on the work order. Then you do not have to argue about the right of retention later. If it still comes to a dispute with a leasing company, have your position checked by a lawyer.
Can you charge storage if the car stays with you?
If you agreed it in advance, you can charge them. Whether you may also keep the car for those storage charges is not certain. The right of retention only mentions the costs of the care the law requires of you.
The law says the right of retention also covers the costs you had to incur for the care you must take of the item "by law" (Civil Code, article 3:293). Your own daily storage rate is something different from care required by law. So do not assume you may keep the car until that amount has also been paid.
Under their terms, BOVAG members may charge storage if the customer does not collect the car within three working days of being told the repair is finished (BOVAG Autobedrijven General Terms, article 11). If you are not a member, state in your own terms and on the work order after how many days you charge storage, and how much.
What if the car has already gone?
Then your right of retention is usually over. It ends as soon as the car comes under the control of the customer or the owner. Only if you get it back under the same legal relationship does it revive (Civil Code, article 3:294).
That happens more often than necessary. The key is left in the drop box after closing time, the customer may "pay tomorrow", or the car is collected by someone else. After that you only have a bill. Refusing to help next time until the old bill is paid is a weaker position, because that is a new order.
If the car leaves your control against your will, for example because the customer takes it with a spare key, you may reclaim it under the same conditions as an owner (Civil Code, article 3:295). In that case, contact a lawyer quickly.
If the car has gone and a private customer does not pay, the normal collection route follows. With a private customer you may only charge collection costs after you have sent a written reminder stating the consequences and giving fourteen days, starting the day after the reminder (Civil Code, article 6:96(6)). With a business customer, at least €40 in collection costs is owed without a reminder, from the day after the final payment date (Civil Code, article 6:96(4)).
How does a garage prevent it coming to this?
By settling up at collection. Have the customer pay by card or a payment request at the counter, and only then hand over the key. Then you almost never have to invoke the right of retention.
Late payment hits small businesses hard. In a British study of 211 small businesses, 59.5% called late payment an important or very important problem, and 43.1% said the same about bad debts (Peel, Wilson & Howorth, 2000). These were manufacturing firms, but the mechanism is the same: anyone who hands over their work without payment is financing their customer.
A garage has an advantage most businesses do not have: the work stays in your workshop until the customer comes. Use it. A price agreement in advance, a call to the customer about extra work and the sentence "we hand over the car after payment" prevent most problems.
Sources
- Dutch Civil Code Book 3, articles 290 to 295, in force from 1 July 2025. wetten.overheid.nl
- Dutch Civil Code Book 6, articles 52, 57 and 96, in force from 16 July 2026. wetten.overheid.nl
- SER, BOVAG Autobedrijven General Terms for sale, repair and maintenance, with amendment of October 2024. ser.nl
- Ayvens, Service via Ayvens, accessed 22 October 2026. ayvens.com
- Peel, M.J., Wilson, N. & Howorth, C. (2000). Late payment and credit management in the small firm sector: some empirical evidence. International Small Business Journal, 18(2), 17-37. doi.org