Auto123.com - Helping you drive happy

Ontario has highest auto insurance rates

Get the best interest rate
Alex Law
Ontario has the highest auto insurance rates in the country, a recent survey shows, and another ongoing study of rates makes it clear that vehicle owners need to shop as widely as possible for the best rate.

The Financial Services Commission of Ontario says that auto insurance policy holders in Ontario pay higher premiums and register higher claims costs than policy holders in the provinces (Manitoba and Saskatchewan) without government insurance agencies.

The average written premium costs by province (rates for Manitoba and Saskatchewan were not available) are:
  • ON $1,384
  • NB $1,102
  • BC $1,096
  • AB $1,076
  • NF $970
  • NS $897
  • NWT $836
  • PEI $816
  • PQ $698
In a similar study, the Consumers' Association of Canada looked into quotes for a range of insurance coverage in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario and came up with similar findings.

Bruce Cran, the president of the Ottawa-based group, says it used 3,776,997 rate quotes across 300 diverse rating groups representing the key variables that affect auto insurance rates, such as age, gender, location, claims, vehicle and driving record. Cran calls it the ''the largest independent study ever to have been conducted on auto insurance rates in Canada."

The average auto insurance quote the study got for Ontario was $2,383, compared with $1,714 in Alberta and $1,324 in British Columbia.

A lot of this is the result of the high rates in Toronto, of course, but Cran points out that drivers in "cities such as Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Windsor, Guelph, London, Kingston and Ottawa are also paying extraordinarily high rates."

In general, Cran says, consumers in Ontario "have been clearly harmed by outrageous price increases for auto insurance over the past three years."

On top of that, the "victims of crashes have also been impacted by the Ontario Government's actions of imposing a $30,000 deductible on benefits paid to them. Innocent victims of crashes have suffered at the hands of the insurance industry while this industry continues to put billions of dollars of profits in its pockets."

Cran tends to put a lot of the blame for Ontario's high rates on the mistaken impression consumers have of brokers. "Due to investigations by regulators of the insurance industry," he says, "a pattern has emerged among so-called independent brokers that is clearly not in the consumers interest. With almost a hundred auto insurance companies operating in Ontario, a typical broker may only sell policies from one or two insurance companies."

On top of that, Cran points out, "many of these brokerage firms have financial ties to insurance companies which limits real consumer choice."

As a result of this, Cran says, "an overwhelming and compelling message has emerged from the study for consumers in Ontario -- shop widely among many brokers and use the internet to find the lowest auto insurance quote."
Alex Law
Alex Law
Automotive expert