Filling a Claim against the Province/City for Damage

[Cardinal Fang]

As promised here is the address where you can file a claim if you have had damage done to your car by a PROVINCIAL highway/road. Please note that you must write a letter explaining the following:

1. Which road/highway it occurred on.
2. The date of the incident.
3. An explanation of the nature of the accident.
4. Any supporting documents as evidence. ie photos, insurance claim report that you believe to be relevant.

You may fax a copy of the claim to the Ministry but all faxes must be accompanied by the original information mailed to them directly. Send the information to:

Management Board Secretariat
Risk Management & Insurance
700 University Ave. 6th Floor
Toronto, Ontario.
M7A 2A4

Fax: 416-314-3444

Please remember that this is damage over an above what is considered normal damage while driving on a highway. So if you're thinking of filing a claim because of a stone chip you really need to get a life.

[MPS]

i filed last year for damage to my suspension and never got nothing from them even had a lawyer call them . :flaming
good luck with the claims its almost a waste of time hardly any one gets there car fixed by them

[MAZDA Kitten]

I think Clem was successful with filling out a claim but I think it was on a city road maybe he can chime in

On a side note; i know for a fact that my alignment is off from the massive construction they are doing for that new highway in Hamilton/Stoney Creek. 2" deep gaps in filling in asphalt and going 120km/h = no good. Would that qualify Cardi?

[Triplebogey]

I think Clem was successful with filling out a claim but I think it was on a city road maybe he can chime in

On a side note; i know for a fact that my alignment is off from the massive construction they are doing for that new highway in Hamilton/Stoney Creek. 2" deep gaps in filling in asphalt and going 120km/h = no good. Would that qualify Cardi?

Very much doubt it. You would have hundreds of claims due to construction zones and uneven pavement.

I think it designed for blatent negligence IE: a worker leaves debris or equipment on the road and it causes damage to your vehicle.

[MazdaTree]

great info cardi...
gets my vote for a sticky

[Byaaahhh]

The municipality act and the provincial act protect the cities and the provinces from paying 99.9999999% of potential claims.

The City of Hamilton contracts almost all road work out to a third party contractor ie. W.M. Groves (who by the way may provide the worst patch up road jobs in the world. You don't understand how badly they blow at patching the road). You have a better chance of taking the third party to small claims court to recoup some of your monies for damage done to the road.

Side note, anybody in Hamilton driving up Garth towards Rymal between Fennell and Mohawk, there is a big dip in the road that is not marked and kind of pops out at you in the middle of the night. Its not marked and its frickin vicious to your car. I don't know dug up the road and then filled it like this but they should be shot for gross incompetence.

[Black3]

I had hit a pothole on the 401 to 409 overpass 2 years back. I got a flat tire and chipped my rim.
I submitted my claim to the province and a short 10 months later rec'd a settlement.
They paid for a new tire, but depreciated the tire base on how long I had it on the vehicle. Secondly they gave me nominal sum for the chip in the rim.
In the end, I got a small amount of money, I believe it was like $300. Takes a bit of time.
I find the key is you need to remind them once a month of your ongoing claim or else they may shelve it.
The subcontract the claim to an adjusting firm (Crawford and Associates) who do the investigation.

[zoomzoom33]

I too have filled a claim about 9 mths ago for a flat tire and rim damage.
Up untill now, I still haven't gotten anything from them. I drove west along
hwy7 and just before bathurst, in the left lane there are numerous potholes.
At the time I was doing about 100km/h, and I didn't see it untill the last second. Tried to avoided it but too late. Only recently the city has fixed it.
( about a week ago ).

[Jeff-TheBiz]

New/Updated info

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19754.aspx

[SP33D 3]

yea i emailed them a couple days ago for broken suspension and i was told in a few weeks an insurance company will get in touch with me... so hopefully things work out

[zoomzoom33]

is it your MS3 with the broken suspension? Where did this happen.



yea i emailed them a couple days ago for broken suspension and i was told in a few weeks an insurance company will get in touch with me... so hopefully things work out

[jaimie08mazda3]

it wont work. ive tried. i had my frame bent because of a pothole on eramosa/milton townline and they ddidnt do shit. so now i gotta for out 1800 just for damages.

[_3G]

Brutal luck

[Ziploc]

What about Hamilton?

[Shamus]

We blew two tires on Speers in Oakville, just before Oakville Mazda. Filed a claim but got nothing due to the fact that the city inspects the roads within once a week and they said that it was fine the week before and they were within there rights not to do anything. Part of the Road act. Kissed $611 bye bye.

[b.rabbit]

We blew two tires on Speers in Oakville, just before Oakville Mazda. Filed a claim but got nothing due to the fact that the city inspects the roads within once a week and they said that it was fine the week before and they were within there rights not to do anything. Part of the Road act. Kissed $611 bye bye.

That stretch of road is in real bad shape..they gotta re-pave the whole strip mang!

[Kalel]

Good luck to anyone filing claims for road damage. A friend of mine works for the city and she said that they almost never pay out. One thing she did say was not to wait. Get photographs of the pothole (or whatever caused the damage) day of and report it right away.

[wrhfinancial]

I damaged my front end in York Region
And I went back the next day to take pictures
Funny enough they were fixing the potholes so I took
Pictures of the guys filling the holes minus their faces
I did not take no for an answer and did get a percentage
Of my damges which totalled over 500 dollars
Be persistant and don't take no for answer and
Document everything

Wayne

[AS_Styles]

thanks Cardinal, very important info.

[krasyal]

Good luck ... Can't be to optimistic

[airbiggz]

you can do this?????
i had no idea lmao, the road bumbs on steeles really make your suspention work

[pjmodi]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to the TM3 forums but I can say from my past experience, you have to really detail what happened and throw words like how this is a safety risk and the period the pot holes have been left in the shape they are in.

I had a claim put in 2008 for my Mazda 6 Sport where they covered my windshield crack and alignment. I got ~$900 because of the destroyed highway. It was the stretch on Hwy 401 from Milton to James snow parkway where it didn't matter which lane you drove in, it was just a pot hole one after another left right and center. It was like that for 3 months and a truck hand flung a small chunk of asphalt at my car after driving in a pot hole. Luckily enough, the only damage was the cracked windshield. I drove that stretch for 4 months straight everyday and noticed my alignment was off as well slightly so I put the claim for that as well.

It took almost 6-8 months but they accepted the claim and sent me a cheque. It took a lot of follow up however.

Items I included:

i) letter stating as much details as possible (i.e. I had the truck's make/model/yr almost down flat, but didn't get the license plate, also included the highway stretch in detail, date and time the incident happened, and expressed how cars were wildly maneuvering this stretch to avoid pot holes which could cause a serious accident and is putting other lives at risk for not fixing it sooner)

ii) 2 separate quotes for both the alignment and the cracked windshield (suggest getting it from your local dealerships as they charge/quote the most ) **they will pay you the lowest amount of the 2 invoices**

iii) Photo's photo's photo's - take pictures of the damage but also of the pot hole and/or what ever caused the damage to your vehicle.

Eventually they will also ask you to provide insurance and vehicle information but that comes later.

Keep pushing for updates, it's sometimes annoying but works out when you clearly show them how it's a huge safety issue.

I hope this helps.

Make sure to file your claim as soon as you can...very important.

[pjmodi]

you can do this?????
i had no idea lmao, the road bumbs on steeles really make your suspention work

I think if you claimed against steeles, especially between Hwy 27 and Albion/Hwy 50, your claim would be approved. That stretch has been damaged for a yr or more and is now being fixed. I think if anything claims that went in say 2 weeks before, will be accepted eventually. Now that they are fixing it, and it's taken 2 weeks to get a claim in, it might be suspicious.

[zoso]

I wonder if this works, for Speed bumps. i was driving through some neighborhoods, and there are speed bumps on the road. they are the same grayish color as the road, so it's very hard to see them especially at night. . I hit one or two of them pretty hard, thank fully know damage. there are no signs to warn of speed bumps either.

[Riftler]

I wonder if this works, for Speed bumps. i was driving through some neighborhoods, and there are speed bumps on the road. they are the same grayish color as the road, so it's very hard to see them especially at night. . I hit one or two of them pretty hard, thank fully know damage. there are no signs to warn of speed bumps either.

I think they design speed bumps for speed limits. So if you get damaged it means you were speeding? Im just guessing cuz it makes sense to me.

[madmox]

thats tru speee bumps ment to go slow over, not fly lol

[TheMAN]

if there were no warning signs or any markings for them, then I suppose a claim/complaint is warranted

[theo575]

Well I'm going to try this out. Tonight went out to get some study supplies, red bull lol, and on the way back home hit a pot hole. I was going around 50-55km in a 50 zone, and bang, as soon as I hit that ****er the tire went. After taking it off the rim is done, has a nice ding in it. I'm planning on taking lots of pictures (going back in 15 min to the pothole) and sending this in. Has anyone had any luck? Does my story sound convincing enough?

[theo575]

Here are the pictures I took.

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/1346/img0272g.jpg

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/5066/img0275s.jpg

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/8751/img0270cp.jpg

(Sorry this one is akward to look at)
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/831/img0284du.jpg

Also, there was a city of toronto truck there afterwards, I'm pretty sure those larger orange cones weren't there but I can't say 100%.

Whatdya guys think?

[rising1000]

http://www.toronto.ca/finance/pothole_claims.htm


pls not the city has to be found gross negligent not ordinary negligence.

[Kris"Speed3"CWP]

I had to file a claim back in 97 and I know there was a 24 hrs reporting number for the location of the potholes on the road or highway my case was highway 403 west merging with QEW 4 car lengths of potholes left and right. If when you report the incident they have had other complaints over 24hrs then they are considered to be at fault/negligent for not sending a road crew out. I lucked out and got 4 new TSW garbage non forged rims, 2 new tires, right front cv shaft, alignment etc.. then 2 weeks after that my right front wheel bearing was whining and the mechanic noticed a crack in the right front sub frame so I called adjuster and all new work was covered under original claim. You always have to file a claim with your insurance company and once you get settlement they pay back your insurance and it not counted as a claim as it is a collision with the road just as if you hit a curb.

P.S to insure your claim gets submitted have someone call in and complain about potholes then go back after 24-48hrs and see if it's still there and then call in and make a report and file a claim and your sure to get it covered.

[axelaspeed3]

i broke my lip kit because of a pot hole and snowbank but it was alot more work for me to file a claim than it is just to buy a new one