Photo courtesy Susan Earle Photo courtesy Susan Earle
Chatham

Woman looking for answer after municipal snow plow hits her car

A Chatham woman who says she's out nearly $10,000 after a snow plow hit her car is frustrated with how the municipality is handling the situation.

The incident happened in the early hours of February 14. Susan Earle said she was asleep when the plow hit her BMW as it was legally parked on the road. When she awoke in the morning, she noticed damage to her car and initially thought it was vandalized.

"I went out to the area where I was parked on King Street and at first I thought it was vandalism because I didn't really look at the extent of the damage," said Earle. "I saw my window smashed, tires flat, the mirror was ripped off, there was damage to the driver's side."

Earle said she pays for parking at her downtown Chatham residence but had to park on the street because of the mess left behind from the flooding, something she said she never usually has to do.

"My road was barricaded, we couldn't get down there because the city was negligent in cleaning up after the flood," said Earle. "There was debris, logs, branches, mud, ice sheets and they hadn't gotten around to cleaning it up yet. I couldn't even access my paid parking, so that's why I parked on the road."

She said she noticed a note left on her windshield from Chatham-Kent police, explaining that there had been an incident with a snow plow. Earle said after bringing her car to a mechanic, the entire left side, back end, and front frame needed replacing and it was deemed a total write off.

"I don't know how the front end got damage, but they're thinking the snow plow, it must have been snow that fell on it. It's odd that that part was damaged where it was," said Earle. The only explanation they could come up with was that he dumped, probably accidentally, snow on my vehicle."

Earle said her insurance company gave her the value of the vehicle. However, she bought the car on finance seven months ago and said because of the warranty she purchased and taxes, she still owes the finance company about $4,000 more than the book value of the car.

According to Earle, the municipality offered to pay off the finance company and pay for a rental car for a week, but she doesn't think that comes close to what they should be offering up.

"That's not even a third of the money I'm out. I've lost $3,000 in car payments on top of all this. I need a down payment. I need a rental for more than a week," said Earle. "It takes more than a week to look for a car and get it financed. I don't even know if I'm going to get financing this time."

Earle said she met with municipal representatives last week to explain the nearly $10,000 she was out. She said they claimed they aren't responsible for the cost of her down payment or for the $3,000 in payments she already put towards her car.

"Their response was 'in Ontario, we have no-fault insurance.' That was their response. He tried to give me a pamphlet explaining no-fault insurance and I gave it back to him," she said.

David Taylor, manager of legal services with the municipality, told Blackburn News that the incident did indeed happen and that the municipality expresses its sympathy over the situation. However, he said claims through the municipality have specific procedures to follow.

"We only pay claims if the municipality is legally liable," Taylor said. "So what this matter really turns on is the car insurance situation in Ontario."

He explained that no-fault insurance means if a car gets damaged, the person's insurance pays for it and they are not allowed to sue the other driver.

"In this case, she has a right to make a claim, but it's against her own insurance company as a result of the province's decision of how to set up insurance for automobiles in Ontario. That's really the gist of our position on the matter," he said.

Taylor added that the municipality will be doing a full review and follow up of the incident.

As a single mother working as a supply teacher, Earle said the situation has been a stressful one, resulting in missed days at work and dozens of hours spent communicating with her insurance company. Earle said besides the money and the time, it's the principle of the issue.

"This really affected me in a negative way," she said. "I'm frustrated. I guess I'm disappointed, more disappointed and saddened that the city is not owning this incident."

Read More Local Stories