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Calgary Car Insurance

Calgary Car Insurance

Old Nov 20th 2018, 10:59 pm
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Default Calgary Car Insurance

I'm moving from Manitoba to Calgary and am trying to get insurance quotes, in Manitoba we have government insurance so no choice, it's fairly expensive but there's nothing you can do about, $1250 a year.

I'm hitting a brick wall with every insurance company/broker i've tried. I've been in Canada 2.5 years and none of them will accept my licence history or insurance prior to Canada so i'm being treated like i've only been driving 2 years. I've been driving 16 years, including 11 years Class 1 trucks, I have my MB abstract, no claims letter and my no claims letter before leaving UK which states 12 years claim free. I have forwarded these documents to brokers and have got the same response, it's not acceptable as the NCB doesn't state the exact claim free dates, I told him how No claims transfers each year but he said it's not good enough.

My quotes are coming in at roughly $3000 regardless of what I drive and this is ridiculous, where are people getting insured?
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Old Nov 21st 2018, 1:48 am
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Default Re: Calgary Car Insurance

Try this website

https://www.thinkinsure.ca/insurance...e-alberta.html

You just might find Manitoba was a deal
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Old Nov 21st 2018, 1:53 am
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Default Re: Calgary Car Insurance

Thanks but comparison and online quote sites are no good because they specifically only have boxes asking for North American licence and insurance history, you need to speak to someone to get the foreign experience dealt with, so I need people who live in Alberta who managed to get insurance under 3k to speak up, i've searched previous posts and there's just a bunch of people saying "I paid 100 a month with my broker" but they never say who it is...
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Old Nov 21st 2018, 2:50 am
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Default Re: Calgary Car Insurance

Have you obtained your Drivers Extract from the UK (as well as Manitoba)? Letters from your former Insurers in the UK confirming that you had no insurance claims during the period covered (not, 'no claims discount years') - as detailed in this pdf: http://www.icbc.com/autoplan/moving-...laims%20record would also help.
I'd suggest that you contact a broker and ask which Insurance companies will accept your proof of drivers experience from the UK and/or your proof of insurance with no claims... they should be able to get that info and get a quote for you.

I know of several people who have gone to TD Insurance and they have accepted previous drivers experience: https://www.tdinsurance.com/products...verage/alberta and also from https://www1.johnson.ca/

There's a few suggestions (and offers of giving details of brokers used) in this thread: Calgary Auto Insurance

Last edited by Siouxie; Nov 21st 2018 at 3:06 am.
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Old Nov 21st 2018, 1:12 pm
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Default Re: Calgary Car Insurance

I have used Brokerlink from day one and I didn't have any issues with them.
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Old Nov 21st 2018, 9:03 pm
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Default Re: Calgary Car Insurance

Brokerlink said the only underwriter who consider it is Intact but they refused stating the letter for my insurance history in UK didn't provide exact dates of coverage and no claims. This is something I will just never be able to get such as the ICBC format, I switched company every year in the UK so asking for a proof of claim free year from 7+ companies where I can only remember the last one will be impossible, I suspect many won't even hold records after 5 years either. It'd also take months to get and I need insurance now. The other problem is I can imagine companies refusing to do that, because if you had a claim recently and you asked a former insurer to provide a letter of no claims you could potentially use that in a new policy as proof of no claims, so they're unlikely to do it. All I have is a letter from my last insurer stating 12 years accident free and therefore 12 years No claims bonus. As mentioned I have sent copies of MB abstract and claim free experience and my UK abstract and licence and last insurers no claims letter.

TD Insurance wouldn't accept it at all they didn't even want to see documents. I haven't tried Johnson, i'll give them a go, Belair said they'd consider it and all documents were sent but they never bothered responding so I assume it wasn't, even with the experience they still quotes 2k though.

Thanks for the link Siouxie, I didn't find that probably because I searched car not auto, there's a couple of places in there i'll try.

Last edited by Kiowan; Nov 21st 2018 at 9:05 pm.
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Old Nov 21st 2018, 9:45 pm
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Default Re: Calgary Car Insurance

Originally Posted by Kiowan
Brokerlink said the only underwriter who consider it is Intact but they refused stating the letter for my insurance history in UK didn't provide exact dates of coverage and no claims. This is something I will just never be able to get such as the ICBC format, I switched company every year in the UK so asking for a proof of claim free year from 7+ companies where I can only remember the last one will be impossible, I suspect many won't even hold records after 5 years either. It'd also take months to get and I need insurance now. The other problem is I can imagine companies refusing to do that, because if you had a claim recently and you asked a former insurer to provide a letter of no claims you could potentially use that in a new policy as proof of no claims, so they're unlikely to do it. All I have is a letter from my last insurer stating 12 years accident free and therefore 12 years No claims bonus. As mentioned I have sent copies of MB abstract and claim free experience and my UK abstract and licence and last insurers no claims letter.

TD Insurance wouldn't accept it at all they didn't even want to see documents. I haven't tried Johnson, i'll give them a go, Belair said they'd consider it and all documents were sent but they never bothered responding so I assume it wasn't, even with the experience they still quotes 2k though.

Thanks for the link Siouxie, I didn't find that probably because I searched car not auto, there's a couple of places in there i'll try.
You're most welcome!
I'm very surprised that TD wouldn't consider it as several people I know - including a friend of my son who was here on an IEC before gaining PR - all got their UK driving experience accredited for insurance by TD with only their UK drivers extract and/or a photocopy of the back of their UK drivers license (before they exchanged) - no letters from prior insurers provided.

Using a Broker is normally the best bet if you are struggling to get hold of documentary evidence.

Good luck

Last edited by Siouxie; Nov 21st 2018 at 9:48 pm.
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Old Nov 22nd 2018, 2:52 am
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Default Re: Calgary Car Insurance

We used a broker in Cochrane (Riverside Insurance Services) and gave them as much as we could get hold of from previous UK insurers, in terms of proof of no claims & driver's abstract, and they got us insured, with a no claims discount, by Peace Hills. This was 5 years ago but Peace Hills have always honoured our UK driving history.
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Old Nov 22nd 2018, 1:14 pm
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Default Re: Calgary Car Insurance

Originally Posted by Kiowan
Brokerlink said the only underwriter who consider it is Intact but they refused stating the letter for my insurance history in UK didn't provide exact dates of coverage and no claims. This is something I will just never be able to get such as the ICBC format, I switched company every year in the UK so asking for a proof of claim free year from 7+ companies where I can only remember the last one will be impossible, I suspect many won't even hold records after 5 years either. It'd also take months to get and I need insurance now. The other problem is I can imagine companies refusing to do that, because if you had a claim recently and you asked a former insurer to provide a letter of no claims you could potentially use that in a new policy as proof of no claims, so they're unlikely to do it. All I have is a letter from my last insurer stating 12 years accident free and therefore 12 years No claims bonus. As mentioned I have sent copies of MB abstract and claim free experience and my UK abstract and licence and last insurers no claims letter.

TD Insurance wouldn't accept it at all they didn't even want to see documents. I haven't tried Johnson, i'll give them a go, Belair said they'd consider it and all documents were sent but they never bothered responding so I assume it wasn't, even with the experience they still quotes 2k though.

Thanks for the link Siouxie, I didn't find that probably because I searched car not auto, there's a couple of places in there i'll try.
You should be able to contact the Motor Insurers' Database to discover who you were insured with and you can then contact each of them directly.
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Old Nov 22nd 2018, 5:57 pm
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Default Re: Calgary Car Insurance

Try Western Financial Group, they recognized my UK NCB and got me the best deal I could find
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Old Nov 24th 2018, 5:33 pm
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Default Re: Calgary Car Insurance

I had a bit of the same problem. I hadnt owned a car for 2 previous years in Calgary so apparently this was a big problem even thought I had no accidents or claims. I used a broker Bow Valley Insurance they got me insurance from Intact, its around $135 a month.
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Old Nov 24th 2018, 7:20 pm
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Default Re: Calgary Car Insurance

Originally Posted by Kiowan
I'm moving from Manitoba to Calgary and am trying to get insurance quotes, in Manitoba we have government insurance so no choice, it's fairly expensive but there's nothing you can do about, $1250 a year.

I'm hitting a brick wall with every insurance company/broker i've tried. I've been in Canada 2.5 years and none of them will accept my licence history or insurance prior to Canada so i'm being treated like i've only been driving 2 years. I've been driving 16 years, including 11 years Class 1 trucks, I have my MB abstract, no claims letter and my no claims letter before leaving UK which states 12 years claim free. I have forwarded these documents to brokers and have got the same response, it's not acceptable as the NCB doesn't state the exact claim free dates, I told him how No claims transfers each year but he said it's not good enough.

My quotes are coming in at roughly $3000 regardless of what I drive and this is ridiculous, where are people getting insured?
Try a company called The Personal. They accepted my UK driving history and their quote was very reasonable.

They may ask you for a lot of documentation to prove it though.
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Old Nov 29th 2018, 11:56 pm
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Default Re: Calgary Car Insurance

To update, i've found a few companies who will accept it but tbh some of those who accept it are quoting figures as high as those who won't. Desjardins (Statefarm) will accept but still quoted 2.5k, Johnson will take it for 1750 a year, Allstate also took it and quoted the same. I tried a different Brokerlink who said Intact did accept it but were still quoting 2.5k, i've seen read some really terrible things about Intact when it comes to actually claiming anyway. So far Allstate were the cheapest and most covincing, Bow Valley wouldn't accept it, I went to see them.

I'll give Western Financial and The Personal a call but so far it seems almost every broker uses the same panel of underwriters and the only underwriter quoting is Intact at the same price each time, not like brokers in the UK where it varies from each one even with the same underwriter. So at the moment it looks like 1750 is the deal, this is for fully comp in Calgary too, rural rates outside Calgary and Edmonton are a lot lower.
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Old Nov 30th 2018, 1:26 pm
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Default Re: Calgary Car Insurance

Originally Posted by Kiowan
To update, i've found a few companies who will accept it but tbh some of those who accept it are quoting figures as high as those who won't. Desjardins (Statefarm) will accept but still quoted 2.5k, Johnson will take it for 1750 a year, Allstate also took it and quoted the same. I tried a different Brokerlink who said Intact did accept it but were still quoting 2.5k, i've seen read some really terrible things about Intact when it comes to actually claiming anyway. So far Allstate were the cheapest and most covincing, Bow Valley wouldn't accept it, I went to see them.

I'll give Western Financial and The Personal a call but so far it seems almost every broker uses the same panel of underwriters and the only underwriter quoting is Intact at the same price each time, not like brokers in the UK where it varies from each one even with the same underwriter. So at the moment it looks like 1750 is the deal, this is for fully comp in Calgary too, rural rates outside Calgary and Edmonton are a lot lower.
As I have said on here before, once a broker contacts an insurer, the insurer cannot provide a different quote to another broker.

When we first arrived, we were able to insure our vehicle for $1,000, which was similar to what our neighbours were paying for their vehicles with years of no claims.

I can assure you that rural rates are not cheaper. When we lived in the south of Calgary, two cars and a house cost us around $2,200 a year. 3 cars, a truck and a house now cost us over $8,000 a year. The house is smaller than the one we had in Calgary and we haven't had any claims in the intervening period.
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