'I’m out $2,000': Residents still awaiting compensation for vehicle damage due to tainted gas
CTV
Nearly three months after two of his vehicles were damaged by tainted gasoline, John Bartolotto is still awaiting compensation.
Nearly three months after two of his vehicles were damaged by tainted gasoline, John Bartolotto is still awaiting compensation.
“I'm out nearly $2,000 for both my vehicles,” the resident of St. Thomas, Ont. said. “I had loss of work and having to rent a vehicle. Everytime I reach out to the insurance company, they keep giving me the run around".
On Nov. 18, 2023, he was one of multiple people whose vehicles failed after purchasing gas from an ESSO station on Sunset Drive in the north end of St. Thomas.
His motorcycle didn’t make it more than a couple hundred metres down the road.
"There was about five or six vehicles that came in with no-start concerns,” says Jimmy Lester, service manager for Elgin Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram in St. Thomas.
“They would just crank and not start. We brought them in, did our diagnosis and found out it was faulty fuel."
The damage wasn’t covered under warranty. That left many people in the area with bills ranging from a few hundred to thousands of dollars.
