Ottawa woman seeks answers from insurer after stolen SUV used in smash-and-grab disappears for weeks

An Ottawa woman’s car was stolen and used in a smash and grab robbery and she says it’s been an ordeal to sort through. CTV’s Katelyn Wilson reports.

An Ottawa woman says what happened after her SUV was stolen has left her frustrated, confused and still searching for answers.

Gail Robertson says her Honda SUV was stolen from her driveway in late January, something she never expected.

“It’s a 2010, so to have it stolen was just a huge surprise,” Robertson said.

The next day, she learned her vehicle had been used in a smash-and-grab. The SUV was driven through the front window of an Orléans business before thieves made off with thousands of dollars worth of electronics.

“When they drove it through the window, when the cops got there it was still running,” Robertson said. “The thieves left it running.”

After police recovered the vehicle, Robertson says she dropped off paperwork in early February and saw the SUV for the first time sitting in a tow yard.

“There was no damage to the front of the car,” she said. “It just looked like a couple of the lights at the rear had been broken and a few scratches to the driver’s side.”

But Robertson says the story did not end there.

She says the vehicle disappeared again, and for weeks she could not get a clear answer about where it was.

“The auto place said that they did not have the car and the tow yard said that they did not have the car and at this point I didn’t know what to do,” she said.

“I call to talk to someone who is then supposed to pass it along to my claims person, but I hadn’t heard anything back from my claims person… it’s been nightmarish.”

As a personal support worker, she says she still needed reliable transportation to get to work and had to rely on a rental car while trying to get answers.

“The biggest impact right now is the rental because it’s over $50 a day, which is a minimum of a third of what I make,” she said.

Weeks later, Robertson says she finally received clarification in a letter from Intact Insurance.

In the letter, the company said it had reviewed her claim and apologized for what it described as a “significant lack of communication and follow up.” The letter also confirmed the vehicle had been located at a garage in Orléans and was being declared a total loss.

“Which I need an explanation for because it just did not appear to be total loss for me,” Robertson said.

Robertson says she is about a year away from retirement and thought this vehicle would be her last.

Now, she says she is facing the cost of replacing it while still trying to understand why it took so long to get answers.

“Why didn’t you follow up… why didn’t you call me back… why didn’t you do your job?” she said.

In a statement to CTV News, an Intact Insurance spokesperson said, “Our teams are committed to working closely with our customers throughout the claims process to get them back on track as quickly as possible. In regards to this situation, I can confirm that our team is in direct contact with the customer and is focused on reaching a timely resolution. In the meantime, we are covering the car rental fees for the customer.”

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