Crashed far from home: getting your car repaired back in Toronto

Most GTA drivers are better off bringing a damaged car home for the repair

Bring it home unless there is a clear reason not to. For light damage that leaves the car safe to drive, that means driving it back and having it repaired where you live. For a car that cannot move, you are comparing the cost and hassle of moving it several hundred kilometres against having it fixed by a shop you have never met, in a town you will have to return to when it is ready.

Most GTA drivers end up bringing the car home. A repair takes days or weeks, and supplements, approvals and the final inspection are much easier when you can stop by. A second trip to Sudbury or the Muskokas to collect the car, often by bus or train, is a cost in its own right. Repairing locally makes more sense when the car is clearly a total loss, when the damage is small enough to finish in a day, or when you are staying in the area long enough to wait.

Whatever you decide, Ontario lets you choose the repair shop. A crash up north does not mean the car has to be repaired up north.

Report it where it happened, to whoever polices that road

Reporting rules travel with you across Ontario, but the place you report changes. Injuries anywhere in the province mean 911 from the roadside. Without injuries, ask the local police service where they take reports. On Highway 400, Highway 69, Highway 11 or the 417, that is usually the OPP; in Ottawa and some other cities, the city’s own police service decides whether you report in person, online or at a reporting centre.

Do it before you leave the area if you can. Driving home first and filing days later means a report made far from the scene, with a vague location and no fresh photos. Ask for the report or incident number and add it to your claim folder.

If the crash happened just over the river in Gatineau or anywhere else in Quebec, different rules apply to that province. Your Ontario insurance company will still handle your claim, but tell them where you were so they can confirm which coverage applies.

A car that cannot drive should move twice, short then long, never three times

Call your insurance company before you book any long tow. Coverage for the tow is usually limited to what is reasonable, and a flatbed from North Bay to North York is a very different bill from a short local tow. The adjuster can tell you what they will approve and may suggest a vehicle transport company that moves cars on a multi-car truck, which is often a better choice than one tow truck making the whole trip.

The usual sequence is two moves. First, a short local tow from the roadside to a yard or service lot near where it happened, with the rate and storage cost agreed in writing. Second, once the claim number and the repair shop are confirmed, a single long move straight to that shop. Shipping it to your driveway first only adds a third move.

Check your roadside plan too. Some memberships include a longer tow than people expect, others only a short one; read the terms before you pay anyone. And empty the car before it leaves: you may not see it again for weeks.

• Ask the adjuster what long-distance towing or transport they will approve.
• Get the local yard’s address, daily rate and release requirements in writing.
• Have the destination shop confirmed before the long move is booked.
• Photograph the car before it is loaded, at each stop if possible.

Getting yourself home is a separate problem from getting the car home

The car and the people in it often travel separately. If you are not at fault, a rental may come with the claim; if you are, it depends on the OPCF 20 loss-of-use endorsement. Before you rent one way from Sudbury or Ottawa, ask the adjuster whether one-way drop-off charges are covered, because rental companies often charge extra for returning a car to a different city.

If a rental is not covered or not available, think about public transit. VIA Rail runs between Ottawa and Toronto, and Ontario Northland runs buses from Sudbury and North Bay into the city. From Muskoka, friends or family driving up may be the simplest answer. Keep the receipts: whether they are reimbursed depends on your policy, but you cannot claim anything you cannot show.

One claim, one claim number, wherever the car ends up

Your claim does not care where the repair happens. The same claim number, the same adjuster and the same coverage follow the car from the highway shoulder to the shop. When the car reaches us at Sheppard and Don Mills, we photograph it on arrival, write up the damage and forward it to the adjuster along with the pictures from the scene and from each stop along the way.

You can start before the car arrives. Send us photographs while you are still up north and our estimator can write a first estimate from them, so parts can be identified and a bay booked for the day the transport lands. We can also coordinate the long move with you once the adjuster has approved it, and talk you through it in English or Mandarin.

Should the adjuster decide the car is not worth repairing, the insurance company may choose to take it from the local yard to a salvage facility instead of bringing it south. Ask early, before anyone pays to move a car that is not going to be repaired.