Toronto High Car Insurance Rates

Cheap and affordable car insurance quotes can be found online and one must not go without insurance or pay for high car insurance rates when they do not need to. Here is a true story that should resonate with you. 

As they sat at the stoplight two Ontario drivers were struck from behind weeks and kilometers apart.

Both cars resulted in minor damage to the rear; both vehicles were the same, same insurance plan and both drivers were one year apart in age.

Yet the assessing cost, treating and compensation were worlds apart.  One of the accidents took place in London, Ontario with the driver’s claim costing $1,674. The second accident was in Toronto and costing $51,000

How does Toronto’s car insurance rates stack up against other regions in Ontario?

According to Chittley (2017), Toronto does not in fact have the highest average car insurance premiums, but Brampton does, and is followed closely by Vaughan and Mississauga. This is due in part to the number of years of driving experience and claims size/frequency in these areas among other risk factors (Chittley, 2017). The top ten most expensive Ontario cites according to Chittley (2017) are (average prices):

1. Brampton $2,392
2. Vaughan $2,018
3. Mississauga $1,930
4. Toronto $1,886
5. Markham $1,886
6. Richmond Hill $1,783
7. Hamilton $1,683
8. Pickering $1,593
9. Ajax $1,556
10. Bradford $1,484
11. Stouffville $1,484

Toronto Cheap Insurance Quotes. 

A major insurance company supplied the Toronto Star with multiple samples of accidents and claims to bring to attention the large differences in costs between Toronto and GTA area vs. the rest of the province.

Two points were mentioned: a high concentration of medical and legal services and an inadequate system of controls and incentives.

Many industry insiders mention certain clinics, lawyers and paralegals are manipulating Ontario’s complex system of multiple checks and balances, to maximize the insurance claim which increases the cost of insurance for drivers.

“The abusers take advantage of the extremely tight timelines that adjusters have to respond to requests (for treatment and assessments) by bogging us down in as much paper as possible,” says Nora Hohman with Canada General Insurance Co.

In effect Nora continues; “we can end up paying for things we never should have, or would have covered.”

The result, is the spiraling costs for relatively minor injuries in the Toronto GTA costs they must pass to all drivers.

It is mentioned that Toronto drivers face increases in auto insurance premiums of about $400 per car in coming months, on top of the average $1,680 they paid the year before. Outside of Toronto, the mean premium was $524 less last year.

Government officials are aware that Ontario’s injury benefits system has created an entirely new industry that support accident claims.

Sources say provincial cabinet ministers are about to debate changes aimed at controlling the rise in costs and avoid consumer backlash.