Winnipegger has car stolen after offering test drive to interested buyer

WINNIPEG (CityNews) – Trying to sell your car in a pandemic can be tricky business, giving your vehicle keys to a prospective buyer, just to have them steal your vehicle is what happened to one Winnipegger, and now she says she’s on the hook through insurance.

“It’s very unfair.”

“They looked at it, they loved it, then they wanted to take it for a test drive which is normal, I won’t buy a vehicle if I can’t drive it,” explained Gisele Remillard.

Remillard was selling her 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee, a vehicle she put more than $6,000 into resurrecting, before her father passed and she inherited his vehicle.

She decided to sell the jeep, and in March, she says a man came to test drive it.

She photographed his drivers license, handed over the keys, and said he could take it around the block, but he didn’t return.

“The agreement that we had was he was just going to go around the block just in the neighbourhood and come right back, and he didn’t end up coming back,” she explained.

“I said ‘if you’re not back in 15 minutes I’m calling the police and reporting it stolen’, which I did. The next day, it was weird, he messaged me again saying don’t be mad I’m coming to pay you for it. Well, I knew he wasn’t going to show up.”

Remillard says she didn’t go along for the ride for a number of reasons.

First, she felt uncomfortable getting into a vehicle with a stranger, and second she felt it was unsafe due to COVID-19.

She used a trick she learned from a dealership, she photographed the license and thought that would be enough, but upon reporting this to an MPI adjuster, she says she’s been told it’s not theft, it’s called “voluntary parting”, they won’t pay her claim, and if she stops paying insurance, anything that happens with her vehicle can come back on her.

“If they hit a pedestrian, or do some property damage with it, I will be held liable.”

She added the police officer she spoke to said she made the right choice not getting in the vehicle with the man.

CityNews spoke to Winnipeg Police, they say the suspect in this situation is known to police, and that this incident is theft, and the suspect will be charged with theft over $5,000 if caught.

However, MPI says while they can’t comment on individual cases, unless more information comes forth – this is still not theft within their policy.

MPI says Remillard can reach out to her adjuster and escalate this case. As for how to avoid a situation like this in the future, MPI says it’s difficult in a pandemic, but suggest insisting on masks being used, taking someone with you to outnumber the person testing the vehicle, and cancelling the ride if the tester won’t abide by your rules.

Remillard says she’s seeking legal counsel, as she’s worried she may end up paying insurance on a car no longer in her possession, for years.

“You’re making it very easy for criminals to take vehicles now.”

Since reporting the story on Thursday, Remillard said she heard back from MPI saying they are honoring her claim.