marcwales

Hi all. I started a thread a while ago about moving to Ontario. I had some excellent information, particurlarly regarding car insurance. The figures I had were eye watering!!
Could some of you please tell me how much you pay, what type of car, your age, etc. Just the sort of info i could make comparisons with. For example, how much roughly would a 40yr old married guy pay for a 6yr old Ford Escape, living in an average nice area? Or an average sedan?
Thanks for any info received.

dbd33

The type of vehicle is not a consideration to the same degree that it is in the UK. Important factors in the premium calculation are age, years of driving in Canada, years of driving total, location, credit rating, conviction and claims history, type of coverage ("collision" or not).

By way of example, my five year old Beetle with two named drivers in Guelph with a collision deductible almost equal to the value of the car ($5000 vs. $7000) is about $750 of which about $250 is due to having a driver with little Canadian driving experience on the policy. The premium would not change markedly if the Beetle was a Mustang SVO.

marcwales

OK, so does that mean that most people generally pay less than $1000/year insurance?

R I C H

No - dbd's talking about $750 per month.

marcwales

This is what I feared!! Thats $9000 year!!!! Can't be right surely?? At $1.5 / £1, thats £6000!! For a Beetle. I could insure a Ferrari for that. I'm struggling with these figures as it shows insurance is a major part of outgoings. I could afford another mortgage on that!! With all other costs roughly the same as UK, this 10 x UK insurance is a massive hurdle. There must be a cheaper way surely? Especially as when I've been there I often see 2 car families. With insurance that expensive I'd of thought people could simply not afford it. I know I couldn't living here if insurance went up to that level. As mentioned before all other costs of living are very similar to here, so I have a reasonable comparison. Insurance just seems a massive outlay, god help anyone who makes a claim or two!!
Please keep the info coming..

Auld Yin

You should take what dbd33 says with a large pinch of salt. There are reasons why he pays so much, which he elects to not state. I suspects he revels in the shock factor.There's no doubt auto insurance is considerably more expensive than in the UK. I insure 2 vehicles for under $2,000.

marcwales

what does that mean?? Dare I ask this, is that $2000 a year? I am trying to get a good idea of cost of living. Seems like I can get reasonably accurate info on everything else, except car insurance. I'm just looking for a reasonable average cost. Insurance for one car for $9000/year is crazy surely!!
Like i said previously, thats like running a second house. Also, how do retired people afford that? When you retire you pay your mortgage off, so although you're earning less you should be paying out less. But you need car insurance no matter what, and theres no way of reducing it. How do lower income people afford such an outlay?
Is there anyone else out there would can give some figures to this?
Thanks all...

Auld Yin

Yes, $2,000 per year. The insurance rates you're quoted could very wildly. You will have to search for your best deal.

JB0591

Volve XC70, 2003

Initially we paid $220 per month for first 6 months with Statefarm....(it was a 6 month contract)

Switched to TD after 6 months and now pay around $120 per month.

JB

JulieandDave

This may help you with figures, we are not easy to insure as hubby wrote off a hire car when we got here and has 2 demerit points on his license.

We live in Toronto, and were getting quotes for 7,000 dollars a year.

After a bit of shopping around: The first year we insured a car we paid 4,800 dollars (for the year). This year it's gone down to 3,900 dollars again for the year.

Funny how 3,900 seems like a bargain this year

marcwales

Brilliant, much better quotes. I havent tried insuring an XC90 here, but I'm guessing it would be about £600, which puts it roughly where you are. So, do you all think that I should be reasonably accurate if I factor in $200/month for car insurance for an average sedan / small SUV, worth about $6000? I know this is a generalisation, but is it more likely to be $2000 a year, or $10000/year??
Thanks for replies...

JulieandDave

We got a quote with johnsons.ca (they take your uk no claims into account), for our 2005 hyundai sante fe- value $10,000, without the accident it would of been $2,300 for the year.

So the accident adds a lot to your premium, funnily enough the points didn't seem to make much difference.

SAW 04

2010 VW GTI and a 2011 Audi A4 Avant. Under 40 (just) paying $3500 year for both through Johnsons.

shelley748

1998 Dodge Ram Pickup double cab $998 per year
2002 Chevy Venture Van AWD $900 per year
2010 Sante Fe $900 per year

Fully covered including collision-9 years Canadian recognised driving, age 52 and 53 company Intact (via a broker), 60KM'S each way to work 5 days a week -area Kingston Ontario.

PS as someone who used to work in Insurance- you might want to check to see if your insurance company recognises any company you work for as you can get discount from them. Mine don't but I know some out there do.

Toronto is notoriously more expensive-higher risk all around of collision and theft.

Novocastrian

I pay $300 a month for two new (1 and 2 year old) cars and the house. I think the house is about $50 of that. This is with a long record of driving in Canada, two adults plus two twenty somethings on the policy who are identified (not very accurately) as occasional drivers.

The premium, as has been said, doesn't depend strongly on the vehicle type, value or age, except that some models are particularly attractive to thieves. Having said, I hardly ever bother to lock the cars at night while they are parked in the driveway. This may speak to my prosaic attitude towards choice of vehicles.

In addition, I was surprised (and pleased) that my premiums didn't spike much (if at all) after the OH did her best (not quite good enough) to write off her 2 month old Yaris in the summer of 2010. This is with Allstate.

When we came back to the GTA may moons ago, I used a broker who found a company who would recognize 8 years of claim free driving in Germany. I can't remember what I paid, but after several years here I found a cheaper deal on my own.