dbd33

My car insurance is $5400 in rural Ontario. I think that's really quite expensive.

rubberduckofdeath

Flippin' 'eck... I'm going to get a shock in Canada. I'm paying £600 for FC cover on a group 20 car in the UK. It's going to be a wee bit (read: a lot) more expensive for less cover over there I'm thinking!

dbd33

Yes. But the good news is that the type of car doesn't matter anything like as much as it does in the UK. Once you get used to a dull car being five or six grand $500 more for an interesting one looks a bargain.

rubberduckofdeath

Ha! Fair enough

spaceace

that is true.....I've gone from a 2.0L Subaru Forester, to a 4.3L truck to a 220BHP Saab and no change in policy price.

Pretty Flowers

My insurance (fully comp, downtown Toronto address) for a Nissan Altima is just over $5k per year

Should be cheaper next year (I hope)

If it helps in 2007 I had a suspended licence and conviction for careless driving.

Car insurance for the first year after that was a heart rending $12,000

YoshiPal2010

Blimey! If my insurance went up to $12,000 per year, I would just have to pack-up and go back to the UK. It is about time that the Canadian government had a look at how much the insurance companies are charging motorists, especially as those same companies are operating in other markets with much lower premiums!

Pretty Flowers

I think its more of a testament to the standard of driving if anything, and the impact of the winter on accidents.

However, given the regular hosing that consumers get in Canada, I wouldn't be at all surprised that insurance companies make excessive profits.

iaink

Unfortunately that doesn't stand up to comparison with the premiums in the snow bound parts of the USA. where Insurance is cheaper than in Canada. They have the same climate issues, and litigation and medical expenses could easily eclipse those in Canada...

Pretty Flowers

So standard Canadian uncompetitive practices then. Hurrah!

iaink

I seem to recall the government is involved at some level. So yes, probably.

That and some terrible gouging of people with no other choice but to give up and take the bus

dbd33

I suppose I should point out that the insurance companies in Canada generally make a loss on cars. That's why they're keen to bundle your car policy something profitable; house, boat, life, even farm.

I think the main reasons for the losses here vs the US are:

- more litigious climate

- more collisions, people here just can't drive and the traffic laws encourage a style that results in collisions. Surely no one can defend the Canadian practise of encouraging anyone to drive in any lane they like at any speed they like.

- government intervention. Obviously this is the major reason for high insurance costs in BC. After BC Alberta is the most regulated province then some down east. Governments intoduce rules whimisically, the cost of dealing with them is high, the market is small so each time a law comes along and the insurance companies have to find a means to circumvent it some more companies withdraw from the market. iirc it was the rule banning discrimination by sex of driver that caused Aviva and State Farm to withdraw from the market in Newfoundland.

- high cost of cars/lack of safety regulations. You can drive most anything on Canadian roads and, given the relative cost of a new truck, are more likely to do so in Canada.

- high cost of repairs, Canada is a long way from anywhere, everything is imported, it's expensive to fix cars.

iaink

Canada isnt more litigous than the US, surely?

California is a lot farther from Detroit than Toronto?

US driving and car safety rules and practices are more or less just as poor as Canada.


So that leaves government?

dbd33

I would say so, though it's not easily proven.


I don't think that's remotely true. The US has a culture of interest in cars and driving, the concept of lane discipline exists, the proportion of new immigrants from ox cart economies is smaller. Canada's a dreadful place to drive.

Government action is never good for anyone, the existence of the border with the US is both the result of government action and the way in which Toronto is made farther from Detroit than California.

iaink

There are far more restrictive automotive laws specific to the state of California than there are to the Canadian market. Its cheaper and easier for Auto makers to meet Canadian legislation requirements than Californian.

It may not be entirely representative of the US as a whole, but Ive driven in LA, its just as bad as Toronto, probably worse. And TO is hardly representative of all of Canada either.