hicanada

I will been moving to Toronto later this year.
As a matter of curiosity I was researching car insurance prices. I have been absolutely floored by the quotations I've received for a 2018 German saloon model I was planning on purchasing.
In the UK I have over 10 years no claims bonus.
The quote for Canada is around $6,000 per anmum but for the same car I will be paying around £700 in the UK.

Do we have any clever suggestions on how to reduce the car insurance bill?

Regarding the driving license my understanding is that it is relatively straightforward. I can use my UK driving license for 60 days during which I would exchange for a full Ontario driving license. There is an exchange agreement in place between Ontario and UK, therefore the only thing I need to do is to apply and get an eyesight test. Is this also correct?
Thank you

dbd33

The first thing to grasp is that, unlike the UK, in Canada, the vehicle driven is not a significant factor in the premium (excepting exotics). If you want the V8 version, instead of the 6, you may as well have it. You can minimise the premium by not moving to Brampton and by beinging your "no collision" discount with you, That said $6000/year is only $500/month, that's pretty cheap.

Snowy560

We all get this shock when we move to Canada. We live in BC and when I bought my 1st car we were in ICBC when I discovered that in BC there's only one insurer. My husband who'd been in Canada longer had forgotten to tell me! But it will seem normal eventually!

Hemlock

Liability only
Increase deductible
Get the bus
Move somewhere else

GiantSantaCruzer

This isn't completely true. It is correct to say that third party liability insurance (up to, I think, $1000,000) thru ICBC is mandatory but there are a few other insurers for other (optional) insurance types (ie collision and/or increased liability cover). But it's still nowhere near as competitive (and therefore cheap) as the UK....

hicanada

Thank you dbd33

​​​ can you please explain to me how I can bring my "no collision" discount with me from the UK? I have over 10 years of no claims discount but I don't know how this would apply in Canada. When I was applying for quotations the application generally ask when the driving and licence was issued in Ontario and whether I have any no collision discount from Canada (do not give me the option for UK no claims discount to be entered on the application).

hicanada

What I'm thinking is that given the fact that the price of petrol is cheaper than the UK, over the course of a year the total cost of car insurance and petrol probably equalizes in both the countries. What are your experiences?

Also is there any additional road tax to pay in Canada or any other additional charges associated with owning a vehicle?
Thank you

sharkus

Ah the joys of cars in Canada. It is possible an insurance company may give you a better rate if you have a letter from your current insurance company showing your no claims details, then again maybe not.
I do know that, for Ontario at least, you should have your date of obtaining the license set to the date you got your UK licence. I know my certainly does show that. Wether that does help with insurance I'm not overly sure though.

Things could well have changed since 2003, but back then I was paying $3000 (£1300 at the exchange rate back then) for a 1992 VW Passat. This was a bit expensive seeing as my car in the UK was a 1994 Subaru Impreza WRX, imported from Japan, and it was also modified (yeah, I know, I know ) so the combination of those things increased insurance, but it was about £800, so I was a little annoyed the older car cost more. In addition to this, the following year the renewal was quoted as $5000! Hmm, I had a years driving history, and a full licence, no accidents. A different broker (back then it seemed you could only go through brokers, the online stuff we were used to in the UK simply did not seem to exist, and I think it is better these days) did get a better renewal for me, cannot remember what it was though (21 years ago so be gentle )

As for Road Tax, in Ontario not really. You did used to need to pay to renew the licence plates on the car, and you would get a sticker (similar to tax disk in the UK I think). That was changed last year, you DID have to renew them, you did not get a sticker, but it did not cost anything. Quite a few people did not renew, and it was seen as an offence so some got tickets from the police. I am fairly certain it is being changed so you do not need to renew at all.

There isn't an MOT here either. There did used to be some emissions test with frequency based on the age of the car, but that seems to have been phased out. I have to say I would actually like to see an MOT here, as some of the vehicles I've seen on the road are nowhere near what I'd consider roadworthy!

dbd33

You need a letter from each of your insurers in the UK stating that you had a policy for a specific period and were not involved in any accidents. The nuance is that "no claims" just means that you didn't claim, you may have written off several cars but paid for them yourself. You may also have had windshield claims but those don't matter for this purpose. A broker, or an insurance that regularly accepts UK discounts (TD, for example), will be able to tell you the necessary wording.

How much discount the insurer will give differs, some cap at three years. The important thing though is the premium, not how they calculate it. You may want to bundle your property and auto coverages, that's usually good for a few percent on each.

albertaresident

Check the provincial website for this.
I know here in Alberta you have to swap your DL within 90 days of arriving. You then get a Class 5 (Car & Van) licence without needing to do a theory or driving (roadside) test. The UK licence gets sent back to DVLA who then cancel the UK licence.
If you ever go back to the UK, you can drive on the Canadian licence for up to 12 months, then you'll have to apply for a UK licence after the 12 months. However, you will apply as ex-UK licence holder and will be exchanging it. You will then get your UK driving licence back, with your old licence number but the date of issue will be different.

dbd33

There's sales tax on used cars and there's duty on imported used cars. There's a plate sticker, like road tax, in Ontario. It's $0 at the moment but that could change at any moment. There are toll roads, set your phone mapping application to avoid them.

I don't think anything is saved on petrol because everything is farther away.

Something you can do, if you have a vehicle you don't use much, is to get an agreed mileage policy. I have one that allows 5,000 miles/year. It's less than $1000/year whereas the other cars are about $300/month each.

albertaresident

No MOT, No road tax, no orange reflector for indicator requirement, no handbrake when car parked requirement. The UK rules and roads seem better in comparison
I feel 90% of Canadian vehicles would fail a MOT test, but then again the weather is more extreme in Canada

scilly

This is true for the present day, but it was not always possible to get optional coverage from private brokers.

It depends on when you arrived in BC!

Back in the day, you could only get insurance through ICBC as that was the way that it was set up.

ICBC was established back in the early 1970s, and for about the first 4 or 5 years it held a monopoly on all automobile insurance, but then there was an amendment to the legislation to allow private insurers to compete for optional or supplemental insurance, such as extended liability, collision, etc

Since then one has to get the basic insurance (Autoplan) for ICBC, but you can obtain the supplementary insurance either from ICBC or a private broker.

You can buy the basic ICBC Autoplan plus the optional coverage through any private insurer. We use BCAA, and also have our household insurance with them .................. as someone posted, this makes for discounts.

One other big difference from the UK is that you get discounts by staying with the same insurance company for years ........... there is not the same option of checking different insurance companies every year to find cheaper rates.

HGerchikov

As already mentioned there are some companies that will take your UK driving history into account, but you might as well accept that you are going to pay more. Do not get any tickets because they will also make a huge difference and make your current quote seem quite cheap. It takes time after 20 years we now pay $1595 total for two drivers and two vehicles. They have third party coverage only.

Hemlock

This isn't completely true. Liability can only be purchased through ICBC, legal minimum is $200,000. No private insurers offer liability in BC. $200,000 is nowhere near enough, unless you like living on the edge, $5m is the max, which if you have a home and other assets is where to be in my view. Comp and Collision can be purchased through ICBC or private companies, how it compares depends on a number of things, vehicle use, driver experience, vehicle type etc.