Mechanic has my car 8 months.

First stop ringing him to only get fobbed off. Go speak to him face to face and check on your car. He could have been driving around in your car for the last 8 months for all you know. Your not going to resolve this over the phone after 8 months.

Maybe not, would depend on the individual and circumstances, if its not an insurance job and if he is getting the repair job, then he may well go easy on the tow charges. But hindsight being what it is, before any work was started, he should have provided an estimate for the repairs, parts and costs in writing and getting the owners agreement before starting work. Then if the owner disagreed, nothing to stop him getting a 2nd opinion from another repairer, and actually getting the 2nd repairer to collect the vehicle from this garage, and take it to his own workshop. The Car owner would of course have to pay the tow charges to the first garage before they would release the car. While the time frame seems excessive given the present circumstances world wide re parts ( or anything else either) supply it well may be all legitimate. When you hear about delivery of new cars being delayed from between 6-9 mths due to chip shortages, it kinda puts it in perspective.

What was the actual extent of the damage?

How much was the estimate?

8 months.... Come on

Seems fairly unbelievable. You could probably have fixed it yourself in that time.

How badly damaged was it OP? Did you get him to give you a report on what would need to be fixed to get it roadworthy again? You may also need to get an engineers report saying it is roadworthy.

8 days would be a push for most repairs

I think when the OP used the term "new car", they meant new to them.... not a brand new car (I hope anyway). To be paying HP/PCP/Car Loan for 8 months on something that is not usable would be a little crazy.

OP: Call the mechanic and tell them you are going to the premises at a certain time of the next day. Turn up at that time and look at the condition of your car and ask what work has been done (they should have plenty of notice in the 24 hours or so you are giving to be able to collate all the info). If the car is driveable in it's now current state, pay the outstanding bill for the work that was done and take your car elsewhere to be finished. Even with component shortages these days, there is no way it should take 8 months to repair a car. Have you been without a car for all this time?

They said "Its a 2021 Dacia Sandero Stepway that I got in January and I'm paying 380 a month" so would assume a brand new car.

Id hate to see the bill you are going to get off this guy :)

OP - Something here does not add up. No garage would want to be keeping a car that long unless the bill was not being paid or else the owner told them to keep it as the repair bill was too large.

You need to avoid phone calls & go directly to the garage. And if the car is not driveable then you need more information on what the hell is going on.

Keep us updated.

Going and having chat with him is the right thing to do, for sure, but keep cool . Walk around the car, and let him explain the whys and wherefores of the situation. Compared to normal times, the delay seems a bit excessive, but then again, these are not normal times....he has supplied you with a car ( and for sure, the car he loaned you is aging and losing value while this is going on too ) World logistic supply chains are still in a mess, so his parts problem could well be true.

You got fobbed off again