An employee at a car repair shop in Melbourne admitted to taking a customer's BMW for a joyride and wrecking it, but that's not illegal, police said.

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A gray area in the law leaves us all vulnerable to the destruction of one of our most valuable possessions: our vehicles. As WESH 2's Dan Billow reported Tuesday, a man whose car was wrecked by a repair shop employee may be out of luck. Wrecking the car wasn't a criminal offense, and a lawsuit may not do you much good.Most watched video: Repair shop employee wrecked car on joyride"You might be trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip," said attorney Steve Casanova.Chad Henson, of Brevard County, took his BMW to a small auto repair shop in Melbourne called Cypress Automotive and Transmission.Florida Highway Patrol reports the car was involved in an accident in Orlando at 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 8, and then at 4:17 a.m. the same morning in St. Cloud. Police confirm the driver was an employee of the repair shop, and they said it's not illegal for a repair shop employee to drive a customer's car.Most repair shops, in the fine print on your paperwork, say they're not responsible for damage to your vehicle or theft of items from your car. But Casanova says that won't hold up in court."The judges will oftentimes, most of the time, I would tell you, overturn those words and say, 'Sorry, you're responsible for this,'" he said.Henson has to file suit, hoping to recover the cost of his totaled car.Experts say the best way to avoid Henson's fate is to use certified technicians. They're more expensive, but you're paying for protection. At Bob Steele Chevrolet, numerous cameras watch the service area day and night. Keys are kept locked up, and the technicians themselves are background-checked, drug-tested and extensively trained."The type of person who's going to go through that kind of training and dedication, they're career-minded people," said Tony Hannigan, from Bob Steele Chevrolet.Here's another protection: insurance.Henson had only the minimum insurance required by law, and it does not cover collisions caused by the repair shop employee. Comp and collision insurance would have covered that damage.