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.

Advertisement Repair shop employee wrecked customer's BMW on joyride, police say Police say taking car on joyride wasn't illegal Share Shares Copy Link Copy

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 say.It all began when Chad Henson took his 2003 BMW to Cypress Automotive and Transmission for some minor work.Watch this report from WESH 2's Dan BillowBut someone drove the car away from the repair shop -- a long way away. 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.Jack's Wrecker Service towed the car, and owner Shawn Beck called the repair shop."He proceeds to tell me that it wasn't the owner but one of his employees that wrecked it," Beck said.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.Top video: Caught on camera: Texting driver crashes, flips carIf it gets wrecked, the car owner can sue."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," said Henson.WESH 2 News was unable to reach the shop owner, and minutes after reporter Dan Billow arrived at the shop, the gates were lowered and the shop was closed.Jack's Wrecker Service says it will try to help Henson, but there's only so much they can do. While it is not illegal for a car shop to wreck a customer's car, they do have to be properly insured and licensed, but that is also a matter for the civil, not criminal courts, to decide.Also see: Which cars get hit with the most bird droppings?