Car Insurance for the first time in Ontario
 

Hi,
Car Insurance in Ontario recommends 2 steps.
1. Get history of no claims in UK
2. Driver's history from DVLA.
3. Get a quote from Johnson Insurance

Based on the initial estimate, we have been quoted $2300, for a 4 year old Toyota Scion
We will be living in St Catherine's when we get the car.
is this a reasonable insurance quote?

I know how to contact Aviva to get the no claims details, not sure what is required from DVLA.
If you have gone through these steps, can you please help?

Re: Car Insurance for the first time in Ontario
 

Possibly not outrageous.

We went to an insurance broker when we bought our first Canadian car in November 2017 (Carr & Co in Ottawa). The best they could do was get us a nominal 1 year no claims (based on my 25 years proven UK no claims!!!!). The annual premium was $2,000 for a second hand Nissan Murano, originally in Ottawa area, but then relocated to London, ON. Most recent renewal in November 2019 was $1500 (due to accumulating Canadian no claims).

My broker tried the companies I said normally recognised UK no claims, well they did, but the premium was still more than to insurance company that would only give me 1 year NCD - go figure!

Re: Car Insurance for the first time in Ontario
 

That seems a very reasonable price to me. We have four cars and two drivers, one vehicle takes the premium load for my history of driving with enthusiasm and is expensive to insure, the others are about $2000/yr each. Note that, unless the car is RHD or an exotic, the year, make and model really aren't important (very much unlike the UK).

Re: Car Insurance for the first time in Ontario
 

Goodness, I dread to think what my insurance is going to be. I'm looking at a 2018 5 series with only 15 years of driving experience and 12 years no claims...:(

Re: Car Insurance for the first time in Ontario
 

The model of car, the driving experience, and the no claims will not be as important as the postal code. I hope you're not in Brampton.

Re: Car Insurance for the first time in Ontario
 

Yeah, it really doesn't seem to matter what UK claims experience you have, you are treated virtually as a new driver, so likely your premium would be in the $2 - 3k ballpark. As dbd33 says, it also does not vary much (at all?) by type of car either. I know some people have had their UK NCD's 'recognised', but the premium they end up paying does not seem very much different! Car, house and motorbike insurances are all waaayyyy more expensive in Canada than they UK (but then other things are cheaper). Something to be aware of and budget for.

Re: Car Insurance for the first time in Ontario
 

There is some variation by type of vehicle but a 5 series, for example, will go into the "family sedan" bucket with Camrys and mid-sized Hyundais, and everything else that looks like a Bangel BMW. In the UK the premium would vary according to whether or not it was an M5 but here, no, same price as an Old-folks-mobile of similar value. Companies don't rate foreign driving experience so 15 or 30 years is all the same and, as you say, no claims discounts apply with companies that start off with higher premiums so they're a bit of a wash.

I'd budget $500/month and take anything less as a bonus.

Re: Car Insurance for the first time in Ontario
 

Johnson quote $2300 requires Driver History from DVLA.
There is no information online for our UK driving history since we swapped our licenses to Canadian Driving licenses.
Tried calling DVLA, but they are not accepting any non-emergency calls due to COVID-19.
Looks like we are going to be stung with a high insurance quote.
BellAir Direct quoted $4300. MyInsuranceBroker online is quoting $269 a month = $3228.

Re: Car Insurance for the first time in Ontario
 

See if you can get a monthly deal and once you are able to get your drivers extract you can change to a cheaper one.
I'd suggest you send in the form if you can't access online
https://www.gov.uk/government/public...driving-record

Re: Car Insurance for the first time in Ontario
 

In addition to Souxie's link, I have another I used recently for my employer;

https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence

It provides you will all the information you need, with a PDF and a link your prospective insurance company can check for themselves.

I hope it helps.

Re: Car Insurance for the first time in Ontario
 

I tried the link, but get the following message.....because we have already swapped our UK license for a Canadian Driving licence
You do not hold a current GB driving licence, a licence has been issued by another licensing authority

Re: Car Insurance for the first time in Ontario
 

Ouch. Well, in that case you will have to do a subject access request with the DVLA for your records.

Re: Car Insurance for the first time in Ontario
 

Aviva Canada accepted our Aviva UK NCD and we managed to get full comprehensive car insurance on a brand new Nissan Kicks for $115 a month. Discounted 15% as we took out Home insurance as well with Aviva Canada. Total monthly car and house insurance works out to $225 per month.

Re: Car Insurance for the first time in Ontario
 

Thought I would revive this old post given how useful it has been.

Before we moved across a few weeks back we used a broker to set up our tenants insurance as our lease started before we arrived.

I had already saved info from the DVLA site re driving experience and collected detailed history of no claims on insurance. Asked the broker to look at the car insurance and she came back with a price around $4,100 but said to get a quote from someone who did direct quotes as she knew what she had given me was expensive and wanted me to get a good deal even if it was not with her.

Tried the company she said and their quote was very similar. Called Johnson Insurance and the person I spoke to gave me a quote for if they would accept what I said I would send and a quote for if they would not. The best case was around $2,000 and the worst around $4,400 but later that day they came back and said that they would accept the info I had sent and with Winter tires I ended up at just over $1,900 for the year!

Hopefully I will not need to test how they are as an insurance company ie no crashes but on price and recognizing UK driving experience they are winners by a mile (or should that be kilometer)

Re: Car Insurance for the first time in Ontario
 

:goodpost:Result! :thumbsup:
Well done for reading all the info, researching and gathering what was needed (many don't)! Johnsons win again! Great result!
(you usually get a better deal if you have more than 1 insurance with the company - so you might want to switch your tenant insurance to Johnson too :D
https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Categ...Canada#Ontario
https://britishexpats.com/forum/cana.../
:D