Auto Insurance In Ontario

Nobybody like to pay for auto insurance but everyboby wants to have protection from liability arising from an auto accident. In this blog I will try to describe some of the major factors that affect ur car insurance in Ontario. I`m choosing Ontario as i`ve lived good part of my life in Ontario and every province in Canada have different rules and regulations. Some of the factors described below does not affect auto insurance in some provinces

I`m explaning auto insurance from my personal experiences and using little research I did talking to licenced insurance agents and online public resources. I would like to share my knowledge and findings with every resident of Ontario so that we can understand insurance better and use it our advantage instead of considering it as nessessary evil sucking up our money for nothing

Auto Insurance premium in Ontario depends upon following major variables

1. Where you live: Other variables being constant, Insurance premium in congested city is higher than in rural area because of less traffic, likelihood of vehicle theft and vandalism is less in rural areas or in countryside or areas in north
2. Car itself (Sedan, coupe, SUV, pickup, van): Rates are based on accident benefit rating, collision and comprehensive rating of car. Every car has it own ratings based on previous experience of insurance companies. If it’s brand new model where stats are not available, rates are based on repairability and availability of parts

3. Price of car : Expensive car means more cost of repairs to company and more they charge as premium

4. Safety features of car: Better safety features like alarm systems, safety ratings means lower premium

5. Trim level of car (CE, LE, SXT, EXT, VE, S, SD etc) : Different trim levels comes with options like heated seats, leather interiors, sun roof, fog lights etc. More options u have in ur car more the cost of repairs to insurance companies and more the premium they charge

6. Age : Younger drivers generally pay more premium than older drivers due to lack of experience, statistics show they tend to have more traffic violations, accidents, they are more involved in racing, speeding etc etc. That’s more risk for insurance companies so they charge more premium

7. Sex : Other variables staying, statistics show female drivers drive less, involved in less accidents and hence they pay less premium

8. Marital status ( married, single, common law) : Other variables staying same stats show married couples drive more responsibly, so less risk to insurance companies and less they charge

9. Class of licence : Having an unrestricted G class licence means better driving skills meaning less risk and less premium charged

10. Number of years of experience : More experience u have, better ur driving skills are and less premium u have to pay

11. KMs driven to work : Driving to work means car is on road more and regularly so again higher risk and higher premium

12. Annual KMs driven : More u drive annually more u pay

13. Use of car (personal or business) : Cars used for business purposes are rated higher than personal use cars

14. Number of accidents and tickets : Of course better driving record leads to better insurance rates

15. Coverage you need (Liability, Specified Perils, Collision and Comprehensive):

    Liability coverage protects u if someone is killed or injured in an accident, or their property is damaged

    Specified Perils pay for losses caused by fire, theft or attempted theft. Lightning, windstorm, hail, rising water, earthquake, explosion, riot or civil disturbance, falling or forced landing of aircraft or parts of aircraft, stranding, sinking, burning

    Comprehensive covers losses listed under specified perils, falling or flying objects, missiles, vandalism, collision with live animal, windshield damage

    Collision or Upset cover losses when car is involved in collision with other object or tips over, collision with dead animal, when ur car is damaged due to pot holes in road, collision with any object in or on the ground

16. Deductible you want : Higher deductible translates to lower premium because higher deductible means in case of loss insurance company has to pay out less so they charge less premium

Above list is not exhaustive by any means. There is lot more to each of these. All I`m trying to do is draw ur attention towards understanding auto insurance because being a consumer myself I feel that I should know about product I`m buying. Understanding things gives me satisfaction that I`m not throwing my hard earned money on something which I don`t need. Better I understand it more utility i can get from it

I`ll appreciate some honest comments, Thanks