Cost of the Alberta Trip to Buy My New Toad

I’m meeting with the third party’s adjuster tomorrow morning to discuss my claim for non-Aviva covered expenses due to the accident. I already sent justifications/evidence for things like lost income and supplemental medical coverage, but I didn’t have much to justify my $1,500 for the trip to Alberta to buy my new toad.

So I took about an hour this morning to add up everything and get my receipts in order. My trip to Alberta cost me $1,600 in flights, hotels, taxis, buses, fuel, and food. My estimate was pretty good!

One piece of good news was that I was never charged for the car rental I ended up not using! So I only lost the two nights at the hotel in Calgary, but that was made up by staying at Chez Life on Our Ark in Stettler for two nights.

My breakdown for the trip had been:

$500 for fuel (actual: $596)

$300 for meals and incidentals (actual: $241, with this category including the bus and taxis)

$200 for the hotel (actual: $330 since I got a hotel in Sault Ste Marie)

$50 for a car (actual: $0)

So I have no problem justifying that claim. Now, I just have to get them to understand that buying a car in Quebec was not a viable option. The adjuster is a Quebecer so he does know a bit about how things work in Canada, which may help.

I will be so happy if I get that $2,700 that I am claiming. It’ll cover the toad conversion, meaning that I won’t have to save up anything this summer beyond my usual amount in preparation for departure and I just may be able to take a proper vacation in August. I shouldn’t be out this money and I really hope I don’t have to sue for it. 🙁

12 thoughts on “Cost of the Alberta Trip to Buy My New Toad

  1. As a former auto claims adjuster I would seriously question flying to Alberta to buy a replacement vehicle. I don’t know anything about buying a vehicle in Quebec but if you couldn’t buy it there, why not Ontario and then transfer it to Alberta when you get there. I would be very surprised if he just forks over the money. Be prepared with concrete facts and reasoning.

  2. Hope it works out for you. Your detailed reporting of all the expenses you have had from this not at fault accident is very informative. Especially all those things you have to pay for that you don’t always think of at the time. A fair amount of cascading expenses.

  3. Sandra, here is what I told their adjuster:

    “Expenses related to my having to go to Alberta to purchase a new vehicle. As I explained, I would not be taking a week or more and driving across the country for the second time in less than two months if there was a better option.

    I forgot to bring up insurance matters. Even if I tried to game the system [having explained to her verbally that you can’t have a vehicle registered in a province in which you are not a resident for more than a very short while] and attempted to temporarily register my new vehicle in Quebec, I would have to build a whole new insurance file, which is very tedious (would need to get my abstracts from all the provinces in which I’ve had a driver’s license and would need a report from all my past insurance companies). My policy with Intact for the car is still open. When I get my new truck, there will be a change of vehicle and that’s it; a five-minute phone call. Same thing with my registration on the car; it’s still open and can simply be transferred to the truck.

    As I said, Alberta has a vehicle inspection requirement (http://www.transportation.alberta.ca/2821.htm) so I can’t register a Quebec vehicle in Alberta by just making a phone call. The vehicle has to be in Alberta. There is also the fact that I would be paying a lot more for my vehicle in Quebec because there is provincial sales tax here that I would not have to pay in Alberta, registration if I could get it is much higher ($270 a year versus $80 a year in Alberta), insurance would be much higher.

    Then there is the fact that cars in Alberta are in better condition than in Quebec cause of the drier climate out there, so vehicles tend to have no rust.

    I’ve got a few more links for you to check out in support of my claim that I need to go back to Alberta to get a new vehicle unless I want wait a year until I get back home.

    http://www.servicealberta.gov.ab.ca/1743.cfm Look at the “intransit permit” section. That supports my claim that I can’t buy the vehicle in Quebec and then wait till next year to register it in Alberta. I’d have to buy it here and immediately bring it to Alberta to get the out of province inspection done and then bring it back. I haven’t seen my family in four years and we were kind of looking forward to my being here till November…

    On that same page, look at the “transferring a registration” section, which supports my claim that I can’t buy the vehicle in Quebec and register it by phone, “the vehicle must be physically in Alberta”.

    Because the provinces all make their own rules regarding vehicle registration and licensing, it’s really hard to find something that specifically states that you can’t have a vehicle registered in one province if your license is in another. In Canada, you are a resident of a province more than you are Canadian. Everything stems on the idea of provincial residency. Residency determines your eligibility for health coverage, a driver’s license, vehicle registration, insurance, and more. You can’t be a resident of two provinces. I know that in the US you can have vehicles plated in different states; I’ve met a number of RVers with their truck registered somewhere and their trailer registered somewhere else. So I really do understand how difficult this is to grasp.

    Just as a matter of comparison, these are Ontario’s requirements for an out of province purchase: http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/vehicle/rgoutcan.shtml It’s essentially the same thing as Alberta.

    And just to be completely transparent about everything, I could buy a vehicle here, have it registered and insured by my mother, and drive that for the summer. But there’s no guarantee I could sell it in the fall; registration, taxes, and insurance would be much more than in Alberta; and I wouldn’t have a vehicle for the winter when I am traveling back through the US to get home. I have $8,000 left from the car settlement after settling the loan and that’s enough to get a decent used vehicle and set it up for towing behind the motorhome. I am understandably nervous about spending that money on a temporary vehicle and find myself without one in the fall.

    I also need to make a comment about the out of province inspection in Alberta. I went through it last year when I moved from Yukon. It is essentially a bribe system as it is not regulated. If I decided to just go straight back to Alberta in the fall with my Quebec vehicle, I’d have to pay $200 to $300 for the inspection and then have to do whatever repairs the inspector says I need to have done otherwise he won’t certify my vehicle and I have to pay someone else for a second inspection. Here’s a link to a discussion about this program from people who have been through it: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/alberta-out-province-vehicle-inspection-302562/

    So, really, traveling back to Alberta right now is simply the easiest and least convoluted way for me to replace my car.”

    The adjuster in Ohio AND the adjuster here in Montreal that’s working as her agent have both told me that because of the above they are seriously considering my claim. I think that the issue is not going to be my flying back to AB but rather why didn’t I just go home since my vacation was over. Well, it wasn’t.

  4. I’m going to remind them that they would have had to pay this money, and maybe even more, if I wasn’t staying at my mother’s in the form of three weeks’ worth of hotels and restaurant meals.

  5. Well Rae, that was a fire hose of info but very well reasoned out! Hope it all resolves in your favor.

  6. Hi Rae,
    I’m hoping you get all what you’re asking for. You deserve it… if for nothing else, for all the inconvenience of it! 😐
    Good Luck.
    Vicki

  7. MIKE said:

    “Well Rae, that was a fire hose of info but very well reasoned out! Hope it all resolves in your favor.”

    Mike you made me laugh.

    x2 :-B

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