Tom-I don't own a speedster(not yet) but I have been following your saga.You have to be realistic in deciding what you're going to get out of this. You obviously have a negative opinion of John Steele and I believe he has a negative opinion of you. You could go ahead and pay him the $800 dollars to have the car back to him. The question is do you really believe that he is going to admit(based on your correspondence back and forth)to all the problems with the car are his fault? He might admit to some of them. In that case you have to conclude that you will not get all of your $800 back. I'm sure that he will try and improve on some things based on his accumulated experience. The question to you is it worth the time and expense and will you get what you are after?He wants you to sign a hold harmless agreement and then wants this relationship and his responsibility to go away. If you go through with this you could be out some money and still not have the car the way you want it.