Ontario couple in insurance claim 'nightmare' weeks after recovery of stolen truck bought for $87K

Seven weeks after their Ram 1500 truck was stolen from a hotel parking lot near Toronto, Micheil and Christopher Bennett of Ilderton, Ont., are no closer to having a working vehicle while waiting for a replacement part. 

"I might have to take an Uber to work," Micheil joked in an attempt to bring some levity to what she's calling a a "nightmare" situation.

It all started on Jan. 26, when Bennett and Christopher were staying overnight at the Embassy Suites Hilton Hotel near Pearson International Airport in Toronto, where they were sightseeing and attending a trade show. 

They returned to the hotel parkade the next day to find that their truck — a 2023 crew cab, four-wheel-drive sport model with 30,000 kilometres on the odometer — was missing from the hotel's parking garage. 

Bennett said they tried to use the Ram smartphone app to locate the vehicle, but the truck's GPS system had been disabled. 

They reported the theft to police, and hotel staff showed them a security camera video of the truck being driven through the gates of the parking garage at 3 a.m. ET.

Police found the truck three days later, abandoned in a subdivision near Major Mackenzie Drive in York Region north of Toronto. 

While Micheil was happy the truck had been recovered, the thieves had disabled and damaged its central computer, making it impossible to drive. The truck's wheels and front end had also been damaged.

She called her insurance company, CAA, to start the claim and the truck was towed back to Oxford Dodge in London for repairs. 

The vehicle was looked over by an appraiser for CAA, and Micheil said she was told the repairs will be no less than $10,000 and could be as much as $20,000. The vehicle cost $87,000 when the couple purchased it new from the dealership three years ago. 

She expected to get the vehicle fixed in a few weeks, and was able to arrange a rental car covered as part of her claim. 

It was at this point that Bennett ran into a problem that has plagued many car manufacturers and customers since the COVID-19 pandemic: A shortage of replacement parts. 

She was told a replacement computer for the truck could take a few weeks to arrive. However, each time she calls, they give her a revised delivery time that's two weeks ahead. 

In an effort to source the part herself, Bennett called other dealers and was told there's a pressing shortage of that particular Ram vehicle computer across North America. One dealer in Brampton told her he has a waitlist more than 110 names deep. She's heard other explanations, including that the manufacturer, Stellantis, now uses a different computer in Ram trucks.