for those about to get it, or change over companies, i had an interesting meeting with a representative of ING today. it went something like this:
if you are going to f++king rob me at least put a mask on.

perhaps unsurprisingly following this, my yearly premium dropped by $500. all of a sudden discounts flowed like wine, previously unbeknownst to me, i was entitled to them all along but there had been an oversight and i had not been getting them. funny that. equally amusing how my wifes star rating jumped from 5 to 8 equalling yet another discount, but only when i pointed out where i was willing to insert said policy if pushed.

i hate insurers, a more greedy, back stabbing group of individuals i have yet to meet. overheard in the office one of them say "this is great, we are making money hand over fist for doing precisely shag all" then again i could have just made that up.

the moral being, go into your branch and go through your policy with a fine tooth comb. do not be lazy as i was admittedly, and assume these people (and i use that term loosely) are working in your best interest.

Auto insurance is highly regulated in Alberta- you wont find any real coverage difference between company A and company B.

Your best bet is to get an insurance broker....

I just renewed mine this month (2 vehicles).

Quote to renew with ING - $4,600. Broker showed zero interest in finding me a reduction, even on when I said I'd go elsewhere.

Quote from Canadian Direct Insurance - $2,200. Accepted.

sorry for not being clearer, this was a broker, been with ING since we got here, so still going to them, hence the problem.
its not the coverage difference, or options offered, but the difference in price when pressed. i don't know why i thought this would be any different over here, must be all the happy smiley canadians asking me, "so how you doin eh!" i thought they were actually interested you see.

Insurance brokers are paid a percentage of the premium, it's not in their interest to find you the lowest premium but the highest premium you will pay. Everyone should use multiple brokers as well as approaching companies directly. There is, however, one snag. Insurance companies run a credit check and adjust the premium according the credit rating of the applicant, inquiries against your credit history affect the history, it's like Schrodinger's credit bureau, so there's the potential that getting many quotes increases the amount of the quotes.

If you think insurance people are dishonest and shafting their clients perhaps you should see a lawyer.

You should try living in a province where the basic insurance (most exspensive part) is sold only by 1 company. You either pay their high rates or dont drive, no choice of shopping around.

I noticed this "grid calculator" for Alberta.

http://www.airb.alberta.ca/gridrate/AirbGrid1.aspx

Of the places I've tried getting quotes from online Canadian Direct seem the most competitive. Has anyone had experience with them on whether they recognise UK no claims history and what documentation they require as proof?

They (Canadian Direct Insurance) asked me for proof of UK no-claims in order to get a better rate. As I haven't lived in the UK for many years - though only in Canada for less than two - I didn't have any such thing, so I simply sent them a copy of my UK licence - paper and photocard.

To the unfamiliar, this appears as though I have had my licence since my 16th birthday. I would be interested to see if anyone else's UK licence shows the same thing.

Incidentally, I don't actually have my UK licence as that was surrendered on obtaining an Alberta one, so I just sent them a copy of a copy. Got me a bloody good discount of over $1,000.

Canadian Direct are pretty good and at least have some flexibility to discuss issues. When I moved to them from ING they were 33% cheaper.

I did feel sad that I got an extra discount for hitting 50 though.

We also have our house insurance with them. We got a roughly 50% discount because out house was within 8 km of a fire hall. Cochrane EMS then very kindly moved the fire hall so that we were just outside of the 8 km, so they notified us of the loss of the discount. When I phoned them to complain, they agreed without any real argument that the extra few hundred meters was not significant and immediately gave us back the discount.

Canadian Direct recognized my UK driving history as equivalent to North American so they gave me a good discount from the start.

My licence has dates on the paper part and the photocard. The paper part shows the date of the provisional licence and the back of the card the date of the full licence. Both dates look okay - I would have been 17 and 19 .

How interesting! We've just received our renewal for some astronomical amount of $6300 for 2 cars with INTACT (was ING) - what a rip off . I've just been online getting quotes for both cars from Canadian Direct Insurance, and it's less than half price - it's almost unbelievable. So, what I want to know, is ... those of you that are with Canadian Direct - are you happy with everything?

With motor insurance, look at the small print, some have the '10 year North American experience' clause in them to get discounts. Sign this without the experience and coverage may be void.

Just to update this ..... I phoned the agent, and asked them to check the ridiculous quote with regards to the no claims letters we provided last year, and guess what .... they'd cocked it up! They hadn't taken into account the letters we'd provided last year, and they hadn't given us a claim free year in Alberta so now we've jumped to an '8' apparently, and the quote is now $2655. Unbelievable! From $6300 to $2655

I used them, but never had to file a claim. 13 years of driving and never dealt with insurance claim wise yet.

But they did have a 10 year North America (excluding Mexico) driving experience requirement in my policy in the fine print, but I had it so no worries there.

They dont take on risky drivers, how they keep the premiums lower.