Chloe_Elliot

Hello,
My partner and I successfully landed in Canada last month (YAY!) and are now struggling to find a reasonable car insurance policy in Calgary. We are being quoted between $3000-$4000. It seems that the majority of insurance brokers will not accept the proof of no claims from the UK and so we are essentially starting as new drivers. Brokers have told us that they have had to become more strict in what they accept in the past 2 years so we are trying to get insurance companies in the UK to write letters to confirm the no claim history but this has been a struggle to get. Has anyone had any success using any sort of partial driver history or anything else for better car insurance rates?

dbd33

$3,000 seems like a bargain. I don't think I have ever paid that little to insure a car for a year.

Hurlabrick

After a struggle, my 30 years UK no-claims (with proof of the last 10 years) eventually got a 'they will give us 1 year Canadian no-claims'! This was in Nov 2017 and my first annual premium was $2000 (for Ottawa ON). With no claims since, my annual premium is now $1500 (for London ON). So $3000 is not particularly far adrift.

Former Lancastrian

At least you get a choice of shopping around for lower rates. Try this in BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec.

Siouxie

https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Categ...Canada#Alberta
For the precise wording you can go to the BC Insurance page in the wiki......

dbd33

That's not really true in AB. It has the most tightly regulated rates after the provinces with monopoly insurance systems. Companies can offer different premiums by messing with the minor coverages but they all charge very much the same for the mandatory ones.

scrubbedexpat133

Ring Johnson. They will accept the UK no claims with a correctly worded letter from your previous insurance. I went from getting the comical quotes to $900 a year. It went from that to $1200 when we moved to Windsor.

Chloe_Elliot

Yes, Johnson was a lifesaver! Apparently the company is UK owned and so they are more willing to accept UK driving history. After getting multiple quotes of $4000+, Johnson signed us up at $1500! Definitely recommend to anyone else in this position!

RS_OS

Johnsons are definitely worth a ring for anyone else having the same issues! They took in to account both mine and my husbands driving experience and UK no claims bonus and we are only paying $1800 for our policy , others quoted us $3000+.

glendem4

First quote $4n300 from Belair Direct. Johnson quoted me $2300 fora new Nissan Kicks. Final quote was $1400 with Aviva Canada. In the 🇬🇧 we were insured with Aviva For 5years. Aviva Canada accepted our 15 year no claims. We live in southern Ontario.

glendem4

First quote $4300 from Belair Direct. Johnson quoted me $2300 fora new Nissan Kicks. Final quote was $1400 with Aviva Canada. In the 🇬🇧 we were insured with Aviva For 5years. Aviva Canada accepted our 15 year no claims. We live in southern Ontario.

whytrigg

The Economical also accepts UK history and no claims, doesn't change the fact the insurance is astronomical here in Calgary. I pay about $1800 for my truck and car combined with full coverage and $250 excess.

I attribute this to the terrible driving here, nicest folks on the planet Canadians, until they get behind a wheel. This attitude of "must not let anyone in or out at all costs" only drives my insurance up every year as they crash into each other, and god forbid you leave more than 1/2 a car length between you are the car in front, it becomes the hottest piece of real estate on the road as the morons behind fall over themselves to get into it.

Also watch out for the insurance companies trying to scam you in light of Covid, the ones that are putting your annual KM's down to 0 in the short term, are going to true them up on the latter part of the year meaning your premiums will probably go higher than they were before covid. My insurance company (The Economical) do this, and don't make any mention of it when putting you down in the short term.

abner

Oh, c'mon, Canadian driving is tame compared to most of the planet, e.g. Russia, Eastern Europe, Italy, the Middle East, most Asian capitals aside from Singapore, much of the US East Coast, etc., etc. (YMMV and all that.) And I haven't even been to Africa or South America.

Personally, I think exorbitant Canadian insurance rates are highly attributable to overconfident new Canadian residents from fairer climes learning, in each new winter season, what "black ice" and "whiteouts" are all about, particularly in combination

dbd33

The problem with that as an idea is that US States having a similar climate to the populated parts of Canada, OH, NE, for example, have much lower insurance rates. People in Canada just drive badly and collide a lot. Possibly this is because there are very different styles of driving, maybe it's safer in other countries as there's a common understanding of what the other driver may do but some local habits don't help. For example, using any lane at any speed is a Canada only affection as is cutting the corners so as to arrive in the wrong lane and moving into the lane of oncoming traffic half a mile before turning left. People here are unskilled at overtaking so head on collisions are routine. It's also extremely common here for people to ignore stop signs on rural roads. There are a lot of unsafe vehicles on the road here, the Dodge Ram for example, has such wonky steering as to be difficult to keep in a straight line even on a dead flat surface and yet people attempt to use them on gravel roads.

It's a good job the roads don't have bends, hills, high hedges or other features of interest.

Hurlabrick

The roads around here are generally pretty straight. I have to laugh that even the slightest curve in the road is carefully signposted, and as for those that are marked with chevrons - you can't be serious! And yet, there are often tyre marks at the start of a bend where someone has either driven straight off the road or had to hammer the brakes to 'make' the bend!