Insurance Rates - What do We Know?

January 24, 2019, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

In Ontario we are all required by law to have car insurance if we drive a car. Our market is a private one, meaning the province has set out the requirements for coverages and it is up to the private companies to sell us their product. We know that in Ontario we pay among the highest rates in Canada to insure our motor vehicles. We also know that other provinces that have public insurance schemes pay less for insurance than we do. Some have better coverage than we have.

Provincial government in Ontario after provincial government has promised to ‘get our rates under control’, to lower premiums, and to make things fair. In the estimation of many personal injury lawyers what this has really resulted in is poor coverage for accident victims, and elimination of benefits, in exchange for very small decreases in premiums.

You an read my report on the state of the auto insurance industry in Ontario here. What we know is that car accident victims are ‘hurt ‘tice’ by their lack of knowledge about high deductibles on personal injury claims, and their high premiums and inability to purchase enough additional coverages. We can also consider that auto insurance is one of the few products that we are required to purchase which can then wholly decline to provide coverage in the event of a claim.

In BC where the insurance is run by the province they are projected to be losing $890 Million this year. They have filed for a 6.3% rate increase to basic insurance across the board to help address the ‘fire’ at the public insurer. ICBC also lost $1.3 Billion in 2017-2018. While there is plenty of blame being passed around in BC, one thing is clear – neither system is working well for consumers who are required to purchase the product.

In an attempt to make the system less expensive the ICBC has implemented higher fines and premiums for bad drivers, an independent dispute resolution system, and had capped the minor injury payout to $5,500 (compared to $3,500 in Ontario).

Canada needs to examine the auto insurance schemes that consumers are required to take part in, and to somehow make the system fair and equitable for consumers while allowing companies to make a fair profit for their services. Until the system is fixed nation wide, and there aren’t disparities of 40% in policy costs for identical policies from province to province, and injured people aren’t being left to fend for themselves financially, there will be unrest by consumers.

If you've been injured in a car accident call my office today. The inital consultation is free and you'll have information that you need to know.

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.