Atlantic Xpat

Sorry, It's difficult to trype...type this through the tears of laughter. Bitter, ironic tears. $62/month insurance cost in Newfoundland is a nonsense. So I'd tend to discount this blog completely.

dbd33

I think there's an assumption of logic in insurance premiums implied by some of these posts and that assumption is not justified.

Firstly, all rates in Canada are high because people in Canada are litigious and drive badly. Rates in US states that are similar to Provinces; ON and OH, AB and CO, for example, are dramatically lower than in the Provinces (hence my keeping a car on CO plates in ON for years) .

That said, comparing provincial prices isn't simple. Some Provinces, BC, MB, have government run monopoly systems (for the expensive coverages) and some, such as AB and ON, have government controlled rates. Rates in these Provinces are subject to political whim. All Provinces have constant governmental dabbling into the allowable rate parameters; in some locations gender is allowed, in others credit rating, insurance companies are constantly searching for proxies for the banned rating criteria. Very many people in Canada drive without insurance (I did for just short of a decade, the IBC says it's about a third of the vehicles in ON) so the Provincial arrangements for dealing with claims against uninsured drivers are a significant factor in determining the premiums for insured drivers. And then there's government regulation of claim settlements; an unpredictable consideration on which the insurance companies, and the ambulance chasers, have to bet.

All this to say that if you move from one province to another your premium for the exact same risk may go up or down without that reflecting overall rates for the Province; it may be for some nonsense reason such as the configuration of driver genitalia being allowed to determine premium in one place and not the other and you happening to have, or not have, the right bits. Each the rate for an individual risk has to be compared between locations for each insurance company as they're not consistent.

dbd33

Sonnet is the online subsidiary of Economical Insurance. I pay my hundreds of dollars a month to Economical. I guess those averages might be the average premiums paid to Sonnet; if Sonnet is big in the bicycle insurance market.

Hurlabrick

I just went and checked what we actually ended up paying for car insurance in ON for the first year. First quote was CAD 3000pa, but ended up at CAD2200 pa through Carr and Co brokers in Ottawa. Since reduced a bit second year as Canadian NCD starts to accrue.

Just paid CAD 2600pa for insurance on the motorbike (was GBP 250 pa in the UK).

Hey ho!

albion_exile

Been here a long time... but when I first came over cheapest auto insurance was via a professional society. (e.g. CIPS, IEEE, etc). The difference in rates paid for the society membership. No idea if this is still the case, but check if there's something you can join with group insurance discounts.

Nik G

We live in BC, are forced to buy the base insurance from the government monopoly, we can buy the comprehensive part from elsewhere. My total is about $180 (for a tiny car, $110 to ICBC, $70 to private insurance) after they eventually accepted by history from the UK and US. As a note, for BC they required the letter of proof to be in their format, which was challenging to get from a UK insurance provider.

My parents live in Nova Scotia and pay $40 a month for big SUV.

The Sonnet report seems accurate for the base insurance from ICBC.

ArthurBrit

I live in Manitoba which is credited as being one of the cheaper provinces for car insurance.

It's not cheap, I personally have never made a claim or had any traffic infraction to my name and I still end up paying what I feel is an unfair rate(s). To the point where my $4000 car has a higher insurance rate than the car I paid $45,000 for. I actually pay for that $4000 car every 3 years in insurance!

Others (usually local Canadians) will argue that I'm being ridiculous as rates around the country are much worse and Manitoba is a safe haven from extremely high rates! (This may be true to a point).

My colleagues weren't that impressed when I live texted my brother in the UK "what did his fully comprehensive car insurance in the UK cost?", he texted me back seconds later "180", knowing what was going on in their heads I prompted my brother "is that a month?", Their jaws dropped when his reply was "year". Even using the "double it for dollars" it's half the price of the absolute cheapest insurance plan I've heard of in Manitoba

Saying this there is no comparing the UK to Canada for car insurance (or any insurance that I've paid for). The UK is simply cheaper but doesn't necessarily compare apples to apples. One of the reasons that car insurance is more expensive is that it pays all medical bills in Canada (relating to the accident), whereas in the UK I believe the NHS foots most of the bill, there are circumstances in the UK that the insurance company pays for private care but it's still not all medial care like in Canada.

dbd33

What medical bills?

ArthurBrit

https://www.mpi.mb.ca/documents/2017-annualreport.pdf

A little dated but in this report they [MPI] highlight they paid 35 million to medical practitioners on behalf of customers.

I don't know why it's not letting me copy and paste from that report.

dbd33

35 million doesn't seem very much, they paid 883,813,000 in claims. I'd guess that it's physio, aromatherapy and the like, not core treatments as those will be covered by the Provincial healthcare plan. UK insurers have similar expenses peripheral to treatment. Cosmetic surgery, for example, is sometimes conducted privately.

I really don't think the high prices in Canada are mysterious; people here drive badly, they crash a lot.

Caro90

We are in Ontario and in the process of sorting out our car insurance. The premium does seem to be much higher than in the UK. We have a broker helping us out at the moment. I have been contacting our previous car insurers from the UK asking for letters to confirm we have had no claims. Bit of a pain but hopefully worthwhile in the end. Message me if you want the broker's details. She's been very helpful so far.

Hurlabrick

Good luck with that, I think you are in for a shock!

Caro90

What do you mean?

lukesmith2

To show you how much postcode matters in Ontario we moved out of Toronto to Milton and our insurance for two people/two cars went down from $485 to $280.

Any province with government insurance will take your UK driving history into account but be prepared to get screwed.

3 years in Canada we moved to Calgary and insurance is private here and we pay $300 a month for one car and now I get a company vehicle thank goodness. All the news reports websites are all a waste of time apprently Calgary is one of the lower cities to be insured in but evidently not and I did lots of shopping around.

Go to Kanetix to compare or lowestrates.ca, Dejardins are not on price comparison websites and they are good. Bellair direct is usually the cheapest insurer in Ontario.

Scotty1972