Flour dumped in gas tank leaves Manitoba woman without car for months

An unusual case of vehicle vandalism and a missing gas tank left a Manitoba woman waiting months to get her car fixed and prompted her to leave one of her jobs.

It all started after Jill Schellenberg, who lives about 45 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg in Kleefeld, Man., left her workplace in Sage Creek on June 24.

Her 2012 Chevrolet Sonic stalled about a block away. She pushed it into the parking lot of a nearby fire station and later had it towed to a repair shop.

“They diagnosed it was a bad fuel tank and when they pulled it out they noticed that there was baking flour dumped in there,” Schellenberg said.

That was only the beginning of what Schellenberg said has been a bizarre and frustrating set of circumstances that have left her without a car for the past four months.

“I had to give up one of my jobs,” she said.

It prompted her to quit a casual position in the city because she said she had no way to get there for the evening shifts she was working.

After filing a report with the Winnipeg Police Service and opening a vandalism claim with Manitoba Public Insurance she said the $1,034 she was being offered by MPI for loss of use coverage wouldn’t have been enough to pay for a rental car.

“Car rentals are not cheap so I declined that and they advised to find the cheapest way possible for transportation and I was advised to take the bus,” Schellenberg said.

Which wouldn’t be a problem, except the bus doesn’t go Kleefeld.

Further complicating matters, Schellenberg said the fuel tank that was taken off her car went missing somewhere in the process after it was taken to the initial shop which she said MPI wanted to have inspected in order to advance her claim.

“It’s nowhere to be found,” she said.

MPI said in an emailed statement it can’t comment on any customer’s specific circumstances due to its privacy policies.

The public insurer said the amount of time it takes to get a vehicle fixed depends on the circumstances of each claim.

“The process for a vandalism claim includes MPI initially completing an estimate of the damage to the vehicle. Once an estimate is complete, the vehicle is taken to a shop of the customer’s choice,” MPI said. “MPI then proceeds to work with the shop to determine the extent of the damage and appropriate repairs. Overall, through the process for any claim, MPI continues to work with the repair facilities to resolve specific claim issues and discusses available options with the customer as needed.”

MPI said its loss of use coverage is generally for 30 days but it recently changed to 60 days due to higher than normal claims volumes and delays in repair times due to supply chain issues for parts.

That policy changed Aug. 15 after Schellenberg’s vehicle was vandalized.

She caught rides from family members to a different job in Winnipeg but finally got fed up waiting and wrote an email Sunday to MPI, Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen and media outlets.

It was only after that email on Monday morning she said MPI gave her two choices: have the vehicle repaired or have it written off and take a payout of just over $4,000 for the car.

She opted for the payout to avoid any further headaches.

“At this point I’m just glad there’s an end to the story,” Schellenberg said.

She spoke out in order to prevent someone else from going through what she did.

Schellenberg’s now on the hunt for a new vehicle and a new job but she said there’s still no word on where her gas tank ended up.

Winnipeg police confirmed a police report was filed regarding the vandalism that took place.

Officers have been investigating the matter but said so far no charges have been laid.