25% of Ontario Drivers Don't Know What Changes Were Made to Their Car Insurance

September 06, 2017, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

Insurance brokers and the Government of Ontario have failed Ontario drivers by not educating them about what changes were made to accident benefits and accident benefit limits beginning in 2010 and moving forward. Sadly, I see injured people every day who are left struggling to make ends meet because they don’t have adequate coverage to recover from their car accident injuries. They assumed that when their broker renewed their car insurance the broker had their needs in mind, not those of the insurance companies.

Brokers need to educate their customers that not only is the new coverage inadequate for many injuries, that insurance companies will often fight them for benefits, but also that purchasing additional optional coverage is only $60-$70 / year.  Brokers should be having this conversation with their clients.

The government should be reconsidering the changes which have left so many people struggling after accidents that have left them broken. The government should put pressure on the insurance companies operating in Ontario to determine why the rates are so high for car insurance in Ontario when it is one of the safest provinces to drive in. Drivers pay 55% more here than the national average. The average Ontario premium is $1458 while in the rest of Canada it is $931. Insurance companies seem to hire more experts here than in other provinces in order to turn claims down. Why is this? Ontario drivers pay more, have fewer accidents, and now are forced to purchase additional coverages in case they are injured in an accident.

Of those drivers who were aware of changes to benefit limits 57% of them did not purchase the benefits because they were too expensive or they could not afford them on top of the extraordinarily high rates that they already pay. If our rates were in line with the rest of the country this wouldn’t be an issue and drivers would be protected in an accident.

With Ontario driver car insurance rates rising yet again by 2% in the fist half of 2017 we are left wondering how a car insurance system is so broken. A review of the system shows that the majority of claims which are for minor injuries like strains and sprains often take more than a year to settle with 1/3 of the value of the claims going to pay competing expert opinions, lawyer fees and insurer costs, instead of treating victims. The province has committed to holding consultations on the problems.

Accident victims should not have to resort to hiring a lawyer to have minor claims paid out. They customer has paid the premiums and should be entitled to the care they need.

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.

It is important that you review your accident benefit file with one of our experienced personal injury / car accident lawyers to ensure that you obtain access to all your benefits which include, but are limited to, things like physiotherapy, income replacement benefits, vocational retraining and home modifications.