Car insurance for new CAD residents
 

Hello
My husband and I will be buying a car as soon as we arrive in Canada. We both have UK driver's licenses. I've read stories that insurance in Canada can be up to 6k per annum for one car!?
What have others done to avoid such high rates? Any recommendations for an insurer that will take into account our no claims history in the UK?
Many thanks!

Re: Car insurance for new CAD residents
 

$6,000 isn't an unusual annual premium, most people pay monthly so as to make the cash flow manageable. Car insurance costs and procedures vary a bit by location; which Province or Territory are you moving to?

Re: Car insurance for new CAD residents
 

Hello - we are moving to Bradford, Ontario. Driving a Volvo XC90. Having asked family in the area, their annual rate is less than 2k and we pay significantly less in London, England so 6k seemed expensive!

Re: Car insurance for new CAD residents
 

It does depend where you move to... we moved to NS (in 2013) and went with Johnson who accepted our UK insurance history. We paid around $800 for 2 people for the first year (and less after that).
(I should point out that we went without collision cover)

Re: Car insurance for new CAD residents
 

Yes, need to know province.

I am doing the same thing myself to Ottawa, ON in November.

Canadian insurers do not normally recognise 'statements of no of years of no claims' coz you can insure these. Instead those companies that do recognise UK experience seem to need a letter signed by each insurer from the UK to state the period of cover and explicitly state that during this period you have not made any claims, nor have you had any claims against you (NOT the same as a standard UK statement of NCD).

I called and spoke to my insurer and virtually dictated the letter I needed, they gave it to me in the end.

That said, not every insurer will recognise that anyway. I am personally going to go to Carr & Co - an insurance broker in Ottawa who have handled stuff like this before. But even if the do recognise my claims history, I am still expecting to pay $2k minimum.

Other 'UK friendly' insurers that have been mentioned are Johnsons, TD Canada and Intact Insurance

Re: Car insurance for new CAD residents
 

Johnsons and TD accept claims history letters from the UK, if they're worded per the wiki here.

Re: Car insurance for new CAD residents
 

If you are moving to Ontario then you will probably find your Ontario drivers licence taped to the outside of the 1st Tim Hortons coffee you buy.
As other have suggested do your research as to what type of previous proof of insurance you had in the UK and have the letter worded correctly and use one of the insurers named and suggested as it aint cheap.

Re: Car insurance for new CAD residents
 

We just moved to Toronto and bought a new car last week. It was cheaper to insure home as well as car than car alone. I'm not talking less than the combined cost if you were going to insure both anyway. Cheaper for both ($150 pcm versus $180) than car insurance alone! Went with TD-something after recommendation on here.

Re: Car insurance for new CAD residents
 

Yes, this. In the UK they record no claims centrally to prevent fraud, so every insurer can refer to that database. No Canadian insurer has access, so you have to get a letter from every insurer you've had going back 8 years saying you had no claims. Which is an absolute PITA. I remember one insurance company I dealt with and they kept nit-picking the letter, I think they had to redo it 4 times before it was acceptable. And I'd had 4 different insurers. :(

Saved a lot of money though.

Re: Car insurance for new CAD residents
 

Find an insurance broker that will do the leg work for you. Our car dealer found us teh broker, the broker got our UK driving history included.

Re: Car insurance for new CAD residents
 

Every province is different, in Manitoba they took my renewal notice stating my number of years NCB and gave me the full discount, she really just glanced at it, there was no way i'd be able to get a letter off every insurer for the last 13 years as I would always switch company every year, the older ones wouldn't even be obliged to keep records anywhere near that far back so likely wouldn't write you a letter.

Ontario is supposed to have the highest car insurance which makes sense as the driving is the worst in Canada, more like the Americans, very aggressive but paired with huge incompetence.

Re: Car insurance for new CAD residents
 

While I accept your description of driving in Ontario it is nothing at all like driving in America. We can see that in the insurance rates, it cost less per year to insure my cars on US plates using a US address than it did to insure the same cars for a month in Ontario. Driving in America, even in NYC, even in LA, is a dream of competence and orderly conduct compared with driving in Ontario. And they don't have those stupid and dangerous daytime running lights.

Oh, and Ontario doesn't have the highest rates, ten thousand dollar premiums are routine in the Yukon and NWT, they're not in Ontario. I'd say that the highest premiums commonly seen are those for workers in Fort McMoney but that's because they tend to drive vehicles plated for their home Provinces; insurance companies like out-of-State plates as much as they like right hand drive vehicles.

Re: Car insurance for new CAD residents
 

I am in Nova Scotia and in a similar boat. The broker I am using asked me to get my last 5 years insurance history. Having bucked it all out, I had to apply to the MIB in the UK. You pay a tenner and they send you your last 7 years insurance history under the FOI act, so it can take up to 40 days. However, the insurer here said that brought my quotation down from $5,500 to $2,600.

Re: Car insurance for new CAD residents
 

Although they're not legally required in the US they're pretty common nowadays.

Re: Car insurance for new CAD residents
 

ICBC in British Columbia requires letters from UK insurance companies following this format:

http://www.icbc.com/autoplan/moving-insurance/Pages/Insurance-discount-for-new-residents.aspx

Went through this in my name 5 yrs ago when we moved here and going through it now in my husbands name. Massive pain but should save us at least a grand a year. Although I expect some nit picking as I could not get all 3 insurance companies to follow this exact format, no matter how straightforwardly it’s spelled out. 8 years history prior to emigration is required.

If you do establish this is needed where you’re moving to, I would def do this before you leave the UK.

Good luck