Ontario auto insurance rates to spike this March
Each January, there always seems to be an unpleasant shoe that drops from the year before.
Monday, we discussed the holiday spending hangover – where all the purchases we’d made in December were popping back up in the form of due credit card bills.
And now, Canadian motorists (in Ontario, at least) will have to open their wallets a little wider based on government approvals made in 2009.
News broke today that the cost of Ontario auto insurance is set to spike this March, an increase of as much 15 per cent with some providers.
According to The Star, the authorization granted to 22 insurers last November is set to kick in the month after next, with jacked-up premium rates boosting average costs all across the province.
In what’s another raise from the 5.59 per cent increase in 2008, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario said last year’s approved insurance rate increases will total an average boost of 8.77 per cent when they’re put into action this March.
Providers like Traders General Insurance Co. of Canada, Dominion of Canada General Insurance, Economical Mutual Insurance, Pilot Insurance and Unifund Assurance will levy some of the biggest rate hikes upon customers. Traders, for example, will increase its rates by close to 30 per cent over the next two years.
Now, aside from being just awful, awful news for motorists, two things jump out about this information:
The first, of course, is that drivers in the GTA (an affliction from which I suffer) are primed to be the most susceptible to higher rates.
What’s the second? That people are pissed, that’s what.
“I wish my salary would be increased by 10-15% … as the insurance comps (sic) get,” writes user cherican on Wheels.ca.
“Inflation is low, why are these comps getting 4x, 5x, and some even more than that (of) the inflation rate? This is ridiculous. Average Joe can’t keep up with these increases.”
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Ray | Jan 20, 2022 9:33:45 AM
As one of approximately 40 people laid off from a beamsville manufacturing facility in Dec.of '08 I was lucky to find a full time job right away. The kicker in this story is that my '09 income is 68% LOWER than my '08 income. How can these large companies justify a 9-30% increase. I bet if you averaged the blue collar annual salary you would find that it has dropped significantly from just 1 year ago. Another classic story of the rich getting richer at everyone else's expense. SHAME ON OUR GOVERNMENT FOR ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: redman | Jan 20, 2022 9:38:47 AM
i think we should all move to quebec they have goverment insurance paid for buy all of us plates and insurance 400dollars we we get it up the you know what and thats that the reason i was looking to leave ont is getting clear to me now
Posted by: Dan | Jan 20, 2022 9:41:43 AM
I don't understand this at all!! I'm sure that I read just a few months ago the Finance minister Dwight Duncan donut announced the government took measures to screw motorists out of many insurance benefits and payouts in order to prevent exactly this from happening...What the heck is going on????
Posted by: Bruce | Jan 20, 2022 9:45:45 AM
Our government don't worry about us getting it the you know what,I believe we should help Haiti but let's leave 30 or 40 million here to help the needy in our country first,starting with insurance rates.
Posted by: rj foulon | Jan 20, 2022 9:54:16 AM
Shame on our government!!!They are in bed with the insurance companies along with a lot of other companies.Who do you think the government gets the biggest donations from,and there is always a pay back.Just when the people start to see a bit of light coming from the end of the tunnel,the insuranc companies slap us in the face with a 10-30% insurance increase.There is no accountability in our government or any company at all any more.The government shoves tax increases down our throats,whether its the feds ,the provincial or local governments or some company(insurance company now )shoving it up our rearThe tax payers in this country really need to start sceaming at the top of there lungs about this sort of rape.People cannot afford to keep paying these 30 % increases.the next thing will be hydro,who do you think will pay for all the stuff comrade mcginty wants to do.Solar panels,wind mills close down exsiting power plants etc,you guessed it ,the tax payer.Well i could go on forever here,but i guess you know how i feel along with a whole bunch of other poeple.
Posted by: Ron Wilson | Jan 20, 2022 9:58:13 AM
Why does Mr Jason Buckland not do the research to find out why insurance rates are going up rather than making stupid uninformed comments comparing his raise to the reasons for an insurance cost increase. I hardly think the two are camparable.
Posted by: John C | Jan 20, 2022 10:13:37 AM
Every single mototist in the GTA should cancel their auto insurance. Then lets see whwat happens??
Posted by: Robin C | Jan 20, 2022 10:23:21 AM
The worst is even if you have a exellecent driving record you still pay high insurance.
I have had My Insurance over 25 years mypremium has never went down, no accidents, tickets, or claims.
So why is it going up. It is scary how much I have paid out for policies that no claim has ever been made. 25 years of it . The only thing I get is increases. Yet I'm told mine is cheap. Well I'm upwards of 900. 00 per year now. How do they justify that one????
Posted by: Greg M | Jan 20, 2022 10:53:01 AM
The problem with insurance is people don't realize it is there for a financial disaster. You may have never made a claim, and paid 900 to 2000 a year, but if you were to injure someone in an accident and have to pay out a million dollars in the resulting lawsuit could you, and as health care and lawyer costs sky rocket the insurance company has to pay for that. The reason you are seeing such a huge increase in insurance is because people are taking advantage of those claims. Believe it or not most auto insurance companies are loosing money on auto premium lately especially in the Toronto area. These companies are not running a charity, have many people they need to pay and like all business are looking to make a profit. If you don't like paying for insurance don't drive.
Posted by: martial l. | Jan 20, 2022 11:07:43 AM
we are doomed as always ,this willl never end as long as we have the mafia in our goverment.we should vote for mo one in the next election and let the governer general take care of our country.with all the corrupted people in our govt,they just look for their interest and not our.this insurance hike will only have people not get insurance on their auto.i would ratter get a 250.00 dollar fine than pay 3500.00 per year for nothing.they say life is a chance.maybe we should all take a chance on drivin without insurance.i think the drivers would be a little more safety minded.we have to do something over this hyke.come on ontarians lets start a province wide protest over this and let these theives know that we wont take this.
Posted by: Tom R | Jan 20, 2022 11:12:11 AM
if rates are going up because of claims and lawyers fee's , then why is it right after the government brought in no-fault insurance, I was rearended sent flying through an intersection and was laid up for years.. the insurance companies got out of paying me a single thing because they said I was unemployed at the time, when in fact I was only just laid off from my past job and was waiting till after the holidays to secure new employment.. I got nothing from the insurance company for my pain, suffering or time lost from being able to go back to work. the insurance companies are always looking for a way out of paying what they tell you if covered when you are paying for insurance.
Posted by: Robert provan | Jan 20, 2022 11:16:45 AM
The insurance company only pays out what you agree to have on your insurance. So if you don't, say, have a million dollar liability, your insurance company won't pay it out. Most auto insurance companies are losing money? Hahahaha. That's because they are investing it poorly, and the drivers suffer.
And talk about a silly comment....if you don't like paying the insurance, don't drive. Um...what about the people that drive for a living? Should they quit their jobs? Or need their vehicles because they are not close enough to easy, RELIABLE public transportation?
Why does our government allow this to happen? Because we, as a collective society, allow them to.
Same way we allow billion dollar scandal after billion dollar scandal to happen. We vote the same types of people in year after year, listening to their lies during election time.
Posted by: Lisa | Jan 20, 2022 12:18:16 PM
Well, I can see this article has everyone stirred up...and nothing has happened yet. This is a laugh. To anybody...if you want to do something about it...then either switch to a cheaper insurance company, WHEN your company DOES raise your rates OR... Greg is quite right...quit driving. If you read, in detail, and THINK about what Greg is saying...he has some valid points.
The REAL problem is, in this country you can't drive without insurance. However, the flip side to that is, are you ready to pay out millions to someone out of YOUR pocket if YOU cause an accident. Probably not. You'd probably prefer the higher insurance rates.
Posted by: Cathy | Jan 20, 2022 12:25:25 PM
With so many people out of work or working lower income jobs, I can see alot of us not renewing our policies and driving any way because we can't afford it. When my husband hit an uninsured driver, all that driver got was a $500.00 dollar fine. Cheaper than paying insurnace. I agree our government is just legalized Mafia and extortionists.
Posted by: David | Jan 20, 2022 12:52:34 PM
I hope the opposition parties take note and when campaigning in the next provicial election make this one of their priorities. It is nothing less than legalized theft. Insurance companies know we have to have them, the government wont say no, so bend over and pay up.
Go after the bad drivers, make them pay. The people with good driving records should be rewarded, not screwed!!
Posted by: Rick | Jan 20, 2022 1:14:00 PM
The real problem is that medical costs are going up, legal fees are going up and the number of claims are going up. This all results in a larger pool of money being required to pay claims down the road. Insurance companies do projections of what they expect to pay in claims no different than any other company projecting expenses.
What people are not realizing is that some companies may soon, if not already be using your credit score to determine rates as well on both home and Auto insurance. If you lost your job and fell behind on your credit cards, loans, etc to the point where it affected your credit score you are going to pay higher rates and it will not matter if you are a perfect driver or have a brand new home. Your rates will be going up for that reason as well. This is one of the things that insurance comapnies are now doing to attempt to keep rates stable. A good thing, I don't think so. I have good credit, but feel insurance companies have no business to look at my credit score or any related info to determine my rate. It does not mean lower rates for anyone, contrary to what they have said. What it does mean is that they are looking at a way to charge people higher rates without having to reduce rates.
Posted by: Don | Jan 20, 2022 1:15:05 PM
In Alberta the fine for carrying no insurance is $2500.00., more expensive than buying insurance .
Where I live it is not possilbe to not drive. Not driving is not always an option as a lot of smaller and remote communties have no public transit.
Posted by: Mark | Jan 20, 2022 1:17:25 PM
Bla Bla Bla. I've lived all over this country and I've never ceased to be amazed by the whining coming from the very people who support this nonsense in the 1st place. Educate yourselves and those around you and possibly your electoral system would function as it should. As long as the corporatist parties can manipulate the bovine populace into ignoring their own interests come election time, they will continue to do so. I now live in BC, I enjoyed MB insurance for the very reason that it was PUBLIC. Yet these corporatist shills keep telling you that public is BAD and private is GOOD. You get the Gov't you deserve....
Posted by: Madsen | Jan 20, 2022 1:22:05 PM
We need to vote in a government that is willing to bring in government run insurance like Quebec. This current government says the job is to difficult. How about a program that selects/ qualifies drivers based on their driving record and let the insurance companies compete with that.
Posted by: Judith B | Jan 20, 2022 1:29:31 PM
I very much agree with the comments made by Greg M. That said, I think a lot of the grief we are living with is due to this, the coming HST, and other tax burdens. Not to mention the high cost of housing, food and all other essential and life sustaining products and services. There are SO many out of work, or working for much less, that this is just another 'straw that is breaking the camels back'. I got a 'heads up' letter from my insurer (CAA) recently, advising me of the upcoming, and unavoidable increases, which apparently are due in part to the high pay out and increase of claims. The letter was almost apologetic about this upcoming increase. Myself, I won't be hurting too much...even if my increase is around 15-20%. I had a decrease in my insurance rate last year of about $20. So, the increase will only bring my rate back up to where it was (or a tad more) than before last year.
I feel sorry for the young (responsible) drivers, under 25, many of which are paying $300/$500 and upwards right now. They are the ones who will suffer a lot.
I am 3 years away from 'retirement'. I will only have my government pensions to live on. I will not be able to absorb all the taxes and increases with that income. I have two options: keep working OR to move to the U.S. I have close friends in Texas anyway. I will be able to afford a better quality of life there, even with my pension.
I'm afraid I will eventually have to choose option #2. I'm not well enough to keep slugging away at a job until I die, all because we as Canadians can no longer afford to keep feeding the monster called THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT AND THEIR COFFERS!!!!