Okay, so i accept that any form of insurance here in Canada is expensive, but I was so p####d off to get my auto renewal and realise that it had gone up another $500 per year to $3100 (Security National).

As it happened, that same day I received a communication through Air Miles that they were offering (through Johnsons Insurance) Auto and Home insurance so i thought I would give it a go.

To my surprise they quoted me $1960! Thats some difference - obviously I went through everything with a fine-toothed comb (apples to apples and all that!) - all was fine so I grabbed it while I had the chance. Apparently they are able to offer lower rates as its a "group" insurance if you are an airmiles collector.

Thought I would pass these contact details - I realise there are a lot of factors and variables in quoting insurance, and there are some qualifying conditions (been insured more than a year, no major traffic violations, no-claims history etc etc), but its worth a quote at least!

My rep: Goldie Lynch Tel: 905 764 4973 or Toll free: 1-800 358 9750 www.johnsons.ca

Strangely, their home insurance quotation for me was higher than the one I have - it was just the Auto that was a bargain!

Sorry - update on the website - www.johnson.ca (NOT johnson"s".ca)

Good post.Doesnt apply to me yet, but boy if we had more like this it
would save us all alot of time and hopefully some money.I will look at airmiles for insurance once I get there this December.
Thanks

I too use Goldie at Johnson Insurance and have been more than happy with what I've been paying.

My partner was surprised by his insurance quote for the car - he even works in insurance and with his staff discount it looked expensive to me.

So, apparently who would have thought it but his database tells him High Park area of Toronto is one of the most expensive areas to insure cars across Canada. :curse:

He also told me an insurer can't reject someone wanting auto insurance, even if that person has had countless accidents and is considered a bad risk - they can however push the premium up so much that the quote would be unattractive - there is still a government threshold of what limit the premium can be set at. The government forces insurers to insure bad risk drivers which pushes the premiums up for everyone - well that's his take on it. Apparently in the UK an insurer could reject without giving a reason???

Does this government intervention reduce the amount of uninsured drivers? I know it was a big problem for the UK.

The insurance on our two vehicles (Honda Pilot and CRV) comes up for renewal very soon and last week we got a letter from our Broker to say that our current insurer had come in so expensive he had got another quote, same conditons etc, and it came in at $1,000 cheaper!!! That covers three drivers, two over 60 and one under 20 - not bad at around $1400 for the two eh! Considering this will only be the start of our second year over here we didnt think that was bad.

That's very interesting to hear because in the early 1990's when it came time for renewal, my auto insurance company refused to insure us. We also found there is no way to appeal this, we were told we were too high a risk and they would no longer insure us.

No other companies would talk to us either.

You are correct in that someone must sell you insurance so we did find what I think you are referring to, something called "facility insurance" which cost over four times what we were previously paying and had to stay on that for at least three years claim free before we once again qualified for regular insurance.

Oh and the reason for being dropped four claims in five years total value of the claims $3500 two of which were vandalism claims while I was out of town on a course and one was my fault the other was Mrs_P's fault, so in reality only two at fault claims.