Hi, I've just arrived in Canada and have been looking into getting a car. However, the car insurance seems to be astronomically expensive! My partner and I are only here for a year on a work permit so it also seems a lot of hassle to buy a car and then sell in on so soon. I was wondering whether there is any way you can hire a car for a year, and if anyone has done this? We would want insurance to be included in the cost. I looked at companies that do short term hire but they're asking for $9000 for the year. I was hoping to find somewhere that would specialise in long-term hire and that's cost wouldn't be too much higher than getting car insurance if we bought a car (I know this is pretty unlikely but one can hope!)

Thanks!

Depends where in Canada you are. If you're in Ontario, I'd shop around the main hire companies maybe? Your insurance for that year will likely run into the thousands anyway. Having said that, it would likely still be cheaper to buy and insure a car, or even search for vehicle lease takeovers with the right amount of time left on them, that way you can either resell a used car, or give back a lease at the end and just be out the depreciation/monthly payment and insurance. Driving here isn't cheap I'm afraid.

Where are you and do you need a car every day or just for special trips, weekends etc. The zipcar programme might work if say you were in Ottawa or elsewhere its offered.

Car insurance is very expensive, it is rather unpleasant watching it suck a huge chunk of money out your bank account each month.

Car insurance typically isn't included in regular car hire in the US and Canada - when you have insurance on your own vehicle here it also covers rental vehicles, which is not the case in Europe. This means (weirdly) that it's often cheaper for europeans to hire a car in North America from a european website since they usually include insurance at a lower price than what is offered to uninsured drivers here.

Zipcar is different, in that it does include insurance, so that may be an option for when you need a car, but otherwise buying a car and getting insurance is usually the most affordable option. Most insurance companies in Canada offer TOPs as well, which allow you to operate the vehicle for a short time period insured, but for regular use these are more expensive than just insuring for the year. Also select a vehicle based on the insurance cost - perhaps someone on here will know more about this - I've been told old Toyotas and Hondas are very cheap to insure as the parts are cheap and widely available.

All rental companies have to include insurance, they have the minimum required, then charge for additional coverage by the day. NA credit cards mostly have Collision coverage if you pay on the card, but this does not increase the liability coverage.

In BC, your car insurance does not transfer to a rental unless you have an insurance repair being done or qualify for and have purchased Roadstar or Roadstar Plus, which has better coverage.

Rates in BC are calculated on the likelihood of a vehicle being stolen, cost of repairs & replacement, typical driver, location it is kept. A Honda Civic in BC costs more than a Toyota Corolla for example. A Mustang GT costs the almost the same as a Honda Civic.