Chris Mosley with his Lamborghini - he claims he paid his bill.

A Taupō mechanic accused of joyriding in a client's Lamborghini has put his business into liquidation, owing thousands to creditors.

Chris Timmerman of Power Torque says a $60,000 debt owed by Auckland Lamborghini owner Chris Mosley and defamatory comments Mosley made on social media that caused him to lose further business meant he had no choice but to liquidate.

Stuff revealed in November how Timmerman claimed Mosley, a convicted drug dealer, had paid only $17,500 of a $76,000 bill for work he did souping up the Lamborghini.

"If Mosley had paid his bill we wouldn't be having this conversation," Timmerman said, adding that the publicity had caused him to lose more than $300,000 of other work.

READ MORE:

* The fast and the furious: Reformed drug dealer takes aim over Lamborghini

* Taupo car tuner has history of disputes

* Lamborghini owner kicked of Big Boys Toys stand

He said the collapse of Power Torque had a wide impact.

"We were sponsoring schools in Taupō and employing people - all those lives are affected, it's all stopped now."

Mosley, who claims he paid Timmerman in full, said he had no sympathy for his former mechanic.

"I do however have empathy for the numerous small businesses that will never get paid."

Mosley claims Timmerman put 600km on the Lamborghini's clock and drove the car at more than 170kmh.

Power Torque's liquidator, Grant Reynolds, said it was originally thought the company owed around $76,000 to unsecured creditors, but so far only $32,000 worth of claims had been received.

IRIS RIDDELL/STUFF Timmerman met with Labour MPs to discuss a clean energy project.

"It may well be that some of the creditors have thought it's ... a waste of time filing a claim."

There was "no money in the kitty" so it was unlikely the unsecured creditors would see any money, Reynolds said.

He said he might go after Mosley for the alleged debt, "but before I do that there would need to be a lot more evidence supplied by [Timmerman]".

Timmerman said he'd tried hard to keep the business going so he could pay people back. Power Torque was owed more than $100,000 by parties other than Mosley, he said.

He'd been struggling since the business went under - "I've been on $85 a week since January, trying to support myself and my family".

But he'd just closed the "deal of the century" with someone in Australia. "That has secured our retirement."

"I've moved on from the whole ordeal - my life has been better than ever before.

"I've got a really strong backbone of customers still supporting me."

Meanwhile, a young Taupō couple have become innocent victims of the saga.

Timmerman had been sub-letting an apartment above his old workshop to Chase and Tarin Duncan, but when they moved out last year he refused to pay their bond back.

Normally a bond is held by a third party, Tenancy Services. The bond was never lodged.

The couple took him to the Tenancy Tribunal, but he claimed the tribunal had no jurisdiction because it was a commercial lease, not a residential one.

The adjudicator ruled that it was clearly a residential tenancy and ordered Timmerman and Power Torque to pay the couple $1200.

Timmerman said because Power Torque was in liquidation he didn't have to pay and said the couple should speak to the liquidator.

Chase Duncan, an electrical apprentice, said that was not correct.

"I checked with the enforcement people...they said his name is on the tribunal order so he has to pay.

"I felt like he judged me and my wife and looked down on us because we were poor and young and thought he could take advantage of us - he's just a really arrogant guy."

Timmerman said the tribunal order was "completely invalid - they leased a building which is covered under a totally different Act".

One of Power Torque's listed creditors is the company that owns the building Timmerman was sub-letting to the Duncans.

Stuff reported in November how Timmerman has had multiple disputes with car industry people and other service providers in Taupō, several of which ended up in the Disputes Tribunal.