The new year started off with a bang for one Halifax-area woman when a snowplow badly damaged her car on New Year’s Day.

The private contractor working for the Halifax Regional Municipality apparently misjudged the width of the road he was salting and clipped two vehicles parked on Kate Haley’s street.

The winter parking ban was not in effect at the time.

“My neighbour Sean was inside and they had just gotten home and he heard a ‘pop,’ which was his mirror on his truck popped off, and he looked out and my car was up in the air on the snowplow,” says the 24-year-old hairstylist.

Her neighbour’s truck lost a side mirror, but Haley’s 2011 Volkswagen took the brunt of the damage, with a smashed window and a shopping list of dents and scrapes.

“Big crack on the panel, and then giant scraping all the way to the back,” she says.

Haley’s neighbours chased the truck down the street before it could leave the area.

“I asked him how his evening was going,” says Haley’s father, John Tupper. “He said ‘not bad, not bad, could have been better,19 years without an accident; should have made it to 20.’”

The city says the incident is regrettable, but out of its hands.

“These sorts of incidents are considered vehicle-on-vehicle collisions, so they’re covered under the Insurance Act,” says city spokesperson Jennifer Stairs.

Those changes, made in 2013, allow insurance companies to deal with each other directly. In this case, the private contractor’s insurance company will deal with Haley’s insurance company.

However, an adjuster still hasn’t been out to look at her car, leaving Haley, who celebrates a birthday this week, borrowing vehicles and seeking rides with friends and family.

She says her birthday wish is simple this year.

“Hopefully by getting a rental so I can actually get somewhere.”

As for mishaps involving municipal vehicles, the city says it always takes responsibility for those incidents. It sets aside about $100,000 each year to pay for broken fences, walls and other personal property that is damaged when plows and trucks are clearing roads and sidewalks.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Bruce Frisko