Montreal car sharing user shares cautionary tale after hefty parking fines
A Montreal woman is sharing a cautionary tale about car sharing after she got a Communauto bill worth hundreds of dollars.
Lisa Del Fabbro used to take Communauto to work every day and park at a bustling intersection in Montreal’s Garment District. The average trip usually costs less than $20 dollars but what came after was a lot more than that.
Parking in the area is only available for part of the day and that makes it off-limits for the car-sharing platform. But Del Fabbro said she only realized that when the first parking ticket arrived.
"I knew that I was parking around the same area for three months preceeding, so I knew that there was a good chance that there would be a lot of charges. So I think the anxiety of finding that out without actually knowing the extent of that was worse than getting hit with the invoice itself," she said.
In the end, she was served with a handful of parking tickets amounting to hundreds of dollars. Communauto rules don’t allow for drop-offs in restricted areas, even if parking is legal when you drop it off.
So if no one else picks it up by the cut-off time, the last driver is on the hook for the bill.
After usage costs, processing fees and, of course, the tickets, she says her January invoice from the company was more than $1,200.
"And the thing is, Communauto gets charged the tickets by the city. There's no way for me to fight it with the city or prove my case elsewhere unless I wanted to go to small claims court," she said.
Bernard Levy-Soussan, a lawyer and founder of Montreal-based Ticket911.ca, says that’s a limitation of the car sharing service.
"On a daily basis, we handle here thousands of tickets for drivers, and we do negotiate with the city or the government many kinds of tickets. Most certainly, she would have been able to make a deal with the prosecution on a file like that, to have some of the tickets moved," Levy-Soussan said.
Communauto says they process thousands of tickets every year and that they don't have the resources or ability to fight all of them.
The company said it is aware of the situation, which it called unfortunate, and told CTV News it has waived a portion of the administrative fees.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
King Charles' cancer treatment progressing well, says Buckingham Palace
King Charles III’s doctors are 'sufficiently pleased' with his cancer treatment and he is expected to return to public-facing duties, Buckingham Palace announced on Friday.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
AFN chief says Air Canada offered a 15% discount after her headdress was mishandled
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief complained to Air Canada about how staffers treated her and her ceremonial headdress on a flight this week, she says the airline responded by offering a 15 per cent discount on her next flight.
Regina police officer injured after being accidentally shot by fellow officer's gun
An investigation is underway after a Regina police officer was accidentally shot by a fellow officer’s gun during the search of a house early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
DEVELOPING Bird flu outbreaks: WHO weighs in on public health risk
The current overall public health risk posed by the H5N1 bird flu virus is low, the World Health Organization said on Friday, but urged countries to stay alert for cases of animal-to-human transmission.
Taylor Swift dons Montreal designer's dress in 'Fortnight' video
A pair of Montreal designers' work has now been viewed over 41 million times. Taylor Swift dons a Victorian throwback black gown in her latest music video, 'Fortnight', designed by UNTTLD due Simon Belanger and Jose Manuel Saint-Jacques.
From faulty kids' cribs to flammable kids' bathrobes, here are the recalls of the week
Health Canada issued recalls for various items this week, including kids’ bathrobes, cribs and henna cones.
Island near Mull of Kintyre for sale for US$3.1 million
An idyllic 453-acre private island is up for sale off the west coast of Scotland and it comes with sandy beaches, puffins galore, seven houses, a pub, a helipad and a flock of black-faced sheep.