Montreal woman hoping city will compensate her for car damaged during storm

A Lachine woman is hoping the city will help after her car was destroyed by fallen trees during Tuesday's storm in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, because her insurance policy doesn't cover the cost to repair or replace it.

Julie Brunet is a waitress at Cosmos diner, on Sherbrooke Street near Draper Avenue.

She was at work when the storm hit, and had parked her car at the corner of Draper and Côte-Saint-Antoine Road.

When a customer told her the storm had knocked trees down on Draper, her boss told her she'd better go check on her car.

She said she wasn't expecting to find anything particularly bad. But she was wrong.

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Not one, but two trees had come crashing into her 1999 Lexus. The front and back windshields were both smashed in, and there is damage to both the front and back of the car.

"It felt like a bit of a dream. There are people everywhere and they're all taking pictures of my car. I didn't even have time to say anything about it and my cousin sent me a message saying 'your car is on the news,'" she told CBC Montreal's Daybreak.

"I tried to take some belongings out of my car, roll up my windows and lock my doors and I realized my window [pane had fallen] and my windshields are both smashed completely open, so why am I locking my car."

Policy doesn't cover damage

When Brunet bought the car three months ago, she purchased one-way insurance, which covers liability if she damages someone else's property but doesn't cover damage to her own. 

She figured two-way insurance wasn't necessary since it's an older vehicle. She accepted the fact that she'd have to pay for her repairs if she caused an accident.

"But here I didn't cause any accident. I parked on the street like a normal person … and did not expect to have trees fall on my car."

She was told by her insurance company that the damage is not covered by her policy.

Her car was her lifeline and has sentimental value to her, she said. Before she bought it, she was spending hundreds of dollars on trains to go to Cornwall, where her mother, who has cancer, and eight-year-old son live.

Now, in the event that something happens to either of them, she is helpless, she said, adding she doesn't have the means to buy another car.

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Her car is still parked on Draper. Some branches have been removed, and she was able to get in through the passenger side door and retrieve some of her things yesterday.

Customers at Cosmos who heard about her situation gave her a little extra to try and help, but she said she knows it won't help her buy a new car.

One-way vs. two-way car insurance

Two-way insurance likely would have covered the damage Brunet's car sustained, according to Pierre Babinsky, director of communications and public affairs at the Insurance Board of Canada.

He said in Quebec, those who own a vehicle must have a minimum of $50,000 civil liability coverage, which covers property damage you may cause to others. Anything else is optional, including being covered for damage to your own car.

He said that for home insurance, coverage for damage due to high winds, hurricanes and tornadoes are usually covered under the basic policy.

He said it shouldn't take too long to process any claims made for Tuesday's storm, since it was a relatively small-scale event.

Those affected should document any losses with pictures and video and keep the bills associated with the damage, but above all should call their provider or their broker who will be able to guide them through the process.