Mike Bond

We are relocating to Canada this year, just as soon as we sell the country pile. My wife has been reading some real horror stories about insurance costs in Canada, the figure of $1800 was mentioned and that set the alarm bells off :curse:. We will be living in or near Saskatoon, my wife is flapping like a big bag of flappy things about haw much the car & house insurance is going to cost (we live in France at the moment and insurance is NOT expencive) Can anybody cast some light on the murky place called "Insurance"?

SAW 04

Sorry no good news Im afraid, car insurance is expensive in Canada. Make sure you have proof of no claims and hunt around. Most expats have had good luck using Johnsons http://www.johnson.ca/

SAW 04

Snave

Also if you insure your house and car with the same insurance company you get a better deal.
If it makes you feel any better my motorcycle costs $1200 a year, but I can only use it for six months...

FlirtyKnickers

Thats cheap....we got a quote for $3000 each....

Shop around....

Diggler

Does anyone know why car insurance is so expensive in Canada compred to the UK - where a car is stolen or crashed into by an uninsured driver every 0.01 seconds !!?? Just wondering.

iaink

They can, and they have. Frequently. I expect there is even a wiki about it, although I haven't checked.

Some people would kill to pay only $1800, Ive seen much higher premiums mentioned in the past by those just off the boat, although in recent years insurers here have been more open to well documented good driving records elsewhere. As ever with insurance what you are insuring and where will also impact premiums, as will liability levels etc ($2M liability is becoming more and more "the norm" by the way)

Ive been here 11 years accident free, and I still pay 800 on the old Subaru and 1000 on the new civic, and that's combining discounts for multi cars, home insurance and 5% off for having snow tires. Insurance is simply not cheap here...too many lawyers and potentially expensive medical bills see to that.

FlirtyKnickers

Could be to do with insurance claims and high cost of medical bills, you need to have at least 1million in coverage...sometimes 2

iaink

Lawyers, Loss of Earning cases, Medical expenses, and probably a bit of gouging too, but basically its the liability issues that cost megabucks to resolve

Winter conditions that result in accident that might be almost unavoidable probably dont help too.

ann m

Iain's right. I suspect there are hundreds of 'it wasn't really my fault, I just kinda slid into him" accidents every day of the winter here .... that soon adds up. And when you have your own "it really wasn't my fault, I didn't see the ice" crunch, you'll be grateful for the insurance - even if it is $1000 year ....

Diggler

I take all your points, but its no different in the UK regarding 7 figure liability cover. And as for the winter accidents, fair enough, but the UK has about 20 million cars or something. Obviously they come into contact on more than the odd occasion.

Is it not just that the insurers are ripping decent citizens off. Easy target etc. A bit like the Rogers mobile scandal ?

iaink

What's odd is that similar conditions exist in the US, which is even more litigious, and has even more punitive medical expenses, but AFAIK the insurance costs are far less than Canada....

iaink

I suspect that the UK doesnt have the same level of court activity regarding loss of earnings / liability etc etc, and I expect that the smaller market here compared to the UK and US (35million people only) also pushes operating costs etc up.

Having said that I wouldnt fall down dead in amazement if there was some sort of price gouge/fixing going on either, but "it is what it is"...If you want to drive (and frankly in most places here it seems to be a necessity), than you have to pay it

Diggler

Thats what i was thinking...

livermanl

Under MPI i pay $1500 a year (roughly) for a 2000 pontiac sunfire which book value states is $2900 this is also with 25% discount for 5 merits...it can be expensive but i've already had 1 car written off and a hit and run so i've got most of it back already...

GavinR

You are twice as likely to die in an automobile accident in Canada than the UK.