[QUOTE]Originally posted by jonthelad
It amazes me that on my commute to and from work, there is a certain stretch of road where, no matter what my speed, I will always have some idiot tailgating me, usually in a Ford F150 (sorry all those good Ford F150 drivers out there).


Hello there,

This happened to me yesterday, driving back from Montreal. I had a nitwit in his F150 that was the most huge and ugly thing i ever seen in a car, tailgaiting me on the slow lane, and cutting me off on the fast lane, only for him to get in front of me again.

I think donkeys that drive these things, are only making up for the size of their KNOB, it makes them feel big somehow, when everything else has failed :rolleyes: The commercials for them shows it all, a couple of morons asking if that thing has got a HEMI, and the other one saying " you are about to find out".

There is no need for huge trucks like that, they serve no purpose IMHO. This idiot carried on like this from the Montreal border with Ontario, until we got to Cobourg.

Would anyone living in Canada care to comment on what the competition is like between Insurance companies over there? At least here in the UK it seems as though companies are trying to be a little competetive in order to get customers. How about Canada? Are the different insurance companies trying to be competetive or are they all in it together keeping premiums high?

Hello there,

They are all in it together like one big FRATERNITY, screwing people left right and center. Last year alone, they made almost $800 million Dollars CND amongst them. They are like one big family over here, this link below though, can help in your search for any insurance. We found it useful for certain insurances when we were checking out quotes and the correlations across different companies:

http://www.insurancehotline.com/

So is it a different mentality over there that means there isn't anyone prepared to buck the trend? No new Insurance company willing to take on the big boys and undercut them to get the business? I get the impression that in general there seems to be less of a competetive nature within Canada when it comes to companies going after the customer. Am I wrong to have that impression?

Hello there,

There is competition there, but not on a large scale as we know it in blighty, that is why most businesses are able to get away with it. You know how you can pick up the metro in london, and its all full of ads, that is not the case, that is why most jobs are hidden ( 80% ), they don't spend on advitising because they think its expensive. :rolleyes:

Auto insurance
 

Agree with everything that has been said here about Canadian Insurance companies. Its a total rip-off, they use the graduated licencing system to hike the rates in Ontario and bleat on about how they are barely breaking even in Ontario. Load of shite - I also read the report about them making record profits last year.

There is just nothing we can do about it though - and as for competition? Insurance companies couldnt give a toss if you go to someone else - I have actually been refused a quote even from some brokers. They had been advised by the the companies they deal with that they are not taking any more customers!

My old insurance company - ING - changed to BELAIRE Direct and promptly doubled my home insurance upon renewal and added another $2000 to my auto insurance! They wanted $6700 per year. Obviously I persevered and found another quote $3048 per year - (better, but still disgusting for a boring middle-aged family guy driving a boring middle aged guy type car!) and took great joy in calling and telling BELAIRE Direct to stick their policy up ther arse.

Re: Auto insurance
 

I just can't get my head around this at all. You'd think that there would be some enterprising companies out there just willing to cut the premiums to get the business. Clearly that's not the case and it just leaves me totally bemused. And I'm not even living there yet!

Re: Auto insurance
 

You will not find that word in the Canadian version of the dictionary. :)

In all seriousness, nobody understands the Canadian insurance racket. I really don't. I can only conclude that it has something to do with the way the industry is regulated so that barriers to entry are simply too high.

It's all very disturbing stuff to read and as I contemplate our move later this year I find myself seriously wondering about running a car. The premiums as many have noted are just so extreme that it just seems ridiculous to hand over the cash. Yet it's difficult to think of not being mobile so no doubt I'll be joining the rest as a captive customer. :(

I get nitwits cutting me off without signalling, people not stopping at the stop signs, people playing cat and mouse near the 4way stops, i can go on

I just assumed this was the reason it now takes 2 years to get a full license in Ontario. Telepathy seems to be one of the requirements to drive here and I'm guessing it takes a full 2 years to learn to be telepathic so that you can know that the guy infront of you is about to do.

I was certain that one was supposed to indicate -after- turning the corner so that they guy behind them can hae a chance to test his/her telepathy skills.

As to Canadians being enterprenuers. (issues with spelling, sue me :P ) agreed. Canadian enterpreneur is something akin to 'government improvements', an oxymoron. Not wishing to cut down Canadians at all because I do love many of them, but the Canadian mentality seems to be more one of a peaceful, go-with-the-flow nature and the 'big guys' just don't seem to understand or be in touch really with the normal, everyday bloke and neither do they care. This can be seen by the number of companies (hydro for example) that publish numbers and such in the directory supposedly so people can get ahold of them. When you actually -call- the number though you realize your just talking to a machine and there is no real way to speak with anyone at all.

There are a lot of monopolies in Canada and especially Ontario and often what isn't a monopoly in theory is often one in practise. The insurance companies set the prices and are far more interested in getting along with the other insurance companies than they are in providing a good service that works well for the people. For one to start that -did- do that, that would create waves and from my observation most Canadians don't like to make waves at all.

As a new arrival the insurance rates will be extreme. It was nearly $5,000 for me when I first arrived many years ago, and I'm hearing that people today are being quoted up to $8,000. Within 2 years I had paid more than the value of my first car in insurance.

It may well be, after your rent or mortgage, your second highest expense. The problem is that you really cannot practically get by without a car in many places. So it's just something that will have to be budgeted for as part of the transition.

My 2 cents on it: the rates are absolutely criminal and provincial governments should take over the running of automobile insurance. Some already have. Where something is mandated by law, it becomes very difficult for the free market to operate efficiently because economic principles are perverted. This is exactly what has happened with automobile insurance.

Are you including liability and collision insurance or just liability insurance when you bought your insurance?

Well, the rates are extortionate... All I can say, it really does help to get a Driving School Certificate (can't remember the proper name for it). In Alberta, it's about 20 hours of classroom studies, written exam and 10 hours practical driving. It seems to cut down slightly on the insurance rate. Although, if you are about 18-19 and happened to be male, forget it, it will start from $6,000 even with driving school certificate (judging by my neighbours' son's experience).

Liability and collision.

Even so, those amounts are so high that they are unconscionable. I would have to pay a lot less, but even so, I have opted to only buy liability insurance for about the last 20 years now.