The New Lazar Report Confirms that Auto Insurer Income is up 60% in last four years while accident benefits continue to drop for injured drivers

May 29, 2018, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

The Lazar Report confirmed what those of us dealing with auto insurance daily already knew. Accident benefits have steadily decreased over the years, insurance companies have been making record profits, and consumers have no choice but to pay the record high premiums in Ontario for coverage that is in many cases far from adequate in the event of personal injury in an accident.

It’s no wonder that there is unhappiness throughout Canada whenever anyone brings up the subject of car insurance. In Ontario governments since the 1990s have been steadily giving car insurers the right to reduce benefits to the injured, to claw back benefits, to increase insurance rates, to be by and large exempt from punishment for unreasonable behaviour towards their insured clients.

We pay more than any other province in the country for insurance and 50% more than the average rate in Canada. We have accident rates that aren’t higher than other provinces. Yet we continue to pay. The insurance companies continue to profit and to push for further reductions in benefits to car accident victims. Insurance companies like to point to fraud and high medical assessment and lawyer fees to justify the rates for insurance. The omit to include the fact that they themselves are the driving force for many of these costs.

By unreasonably denying benefits to inured drivers, they force people to hire lawyers for even the smallest claims in order to get their treatments paid. By unreasonably denying benefits applied for the car insurance companies also force a battle of experts costing tens of thousands of dollars in some cases to determine whether they should pay for the smallest benefits. It appears that in many cases insurers are more focussed on scaring injured drivers into submission than they are on fairly adjusting claims. They have deep pockets and they know it.

It is a sad fact that I see every day that many people who are genuinely injured in car accidents cannot get the benefits that they paid for up front when they bought insurance. These car accident victims often fall into financial distress as they pay for treatment out of their own pockets, or worse forgo treatment because they cannot afford it. Many are left in despair, bitter with the ‘good deal’ they thought they got on their car insurance premium from their company. Catastrophically impaired victims are outliving their car insurance benefits and are left with their families making the choice to bankrupt themselves caring for their loved ones or placing them into state run institutions for long term care.

The choices left to victims of car accidents are ever decreasing. They can accept what may be paltry benefits, accept their claims being denied, or hire a lawyer to fight the insurer. All of this comes at cost – either emotional, financial or both.

In this upcoming election I urge you to ask the candidates where they stand on the issue of car insurance and accident benefits. Ask them why benefits are consistently reduced while insurance company profits continue to rise. Ask why this is allowed to happen.

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.