For parents who have new and learning drivers in the house or maybe even getting their own car to go off to school, it’s good to know how much you can expect to pay for their auto insurance. The short answer is that for a family living in North York, it could cost you as little as $500 to add an 18-year-old child as an occasional driver to your vehicle, or as much as $3,000 or more if you get them their own used vehicle. If you have teenage children and you’re trying to plan your finances for the next 5 or 10 years, you probably think a lot about how much you’ll have to pay if they choose to g ..read more

It came upon us quickly, and lingered on long enough to change our lives indefinitely. Now a new (old?) normal is on the horizon, and that can mean changes that affect your insurance policies. Whether for your car, your home or your cottage, it’s important to make sure these policies are up to date while ensuring your premiums remain as low as possible. It seems a long time ago in a world far, far away that normalcy reigned supreme. Much has happened since the start of the Pandemic that has changed our lives forever, but with vaccines rolling out at a faster pace, the end of this nightmare is ..read more

There are lots of myths out there about what kind of car or truck will cost you more or less to insure. Most Ontarians would assume that a sports car will come with higher premiums, especially a red one. Not necessarily true. We also think that the bigger and more expensive the car, the more we’ll pay for insurance. The fact is that there are some general rules you can follow, but the biggest factor is how likely you are to be injured in an accident, not the value of the car. With insurance premiums always seeming to go up, many Ontarians are looking for ways to keep their premiums as low as p ..read more

Within the current boundaries of the City of Toronto, there are 102 postal code groups (first 3 letters) that identify an area or neighbourhood, and can affect the premium you pay for auto insurance. Of all the postal codes, those in Scarborough are the most expensive, with 16 of the 17 Scarborough postal codes paying more than any other part of the city. Meanwhile 8 of 12 postal code groups in Etobicoke pay the lowest rates in the city. A lot is made about how different cities pay more or less for car insurance, but the fact is that auto insurance prices are not really affected by city you li ..read more

There are four different ways to shop for home, car or other personal insurance in Ontario. You can shop directly with an insurance company, or with an agent that only works with one company, and that will get you exactly one quote. Or you can shop with a licensed insurance broker or online insurance comparison site, and that will likely get you dozens of quotes. When you’re shopping for insurance, it’s not really like buying a refrigerator or a car. Because based on your location, your driving experience, the type of car you drive and a bunch of other factors, there are 50 or so companies tha ..read more

For as long as there has been car insurance, men have paid higher premiums than women. This is not unfair discrimination. It’s based on hard facts. They also make more claims and more expensive claims. The discrepancy is largest among young drivers, under 25. To keep premiums as low as possible, young male drivers should take driver training, and avoid even minor tickets. Telematics is also an excellent way to prove you’re a safe driver, while saving as much as 25%. Why do men – especially young men – pay more for auto insurance? Well, the simple answer is that statistically speaking, they’re ..read more

For parents who have new and learning drivers in the house or maybe even getting their own car to go off to school, it’s good to know how much you can expect to pay for their auto insurance. The short answer is that for a family living in North York, it could cost you as little as $500 to add an 18-year-old child as an occasional driver to your vehicle, or as much as $3,000 or more if you get them their own used vehicle. If you have teenage children and you’re trying to plan your finances for the next 5 or 10 years, you probably think a lot about how much you’ll have to pay if they choose to g ..read more

If you are considering buying a vehicle on Auto Trader’s list of Canada’s cheapest vehicles, you should know that the lowest-cost vehicles don’t necessarily get you the lowest insurance premiums. Here’s what it would cost 4 Ontario drivers to insure the cars on the list. With the pandemic leading to tough economic times for lots of Ontarians, if you’re in the market for a new vehicle, you may be considering some lower-cost options. Last year, Auto Trader published a very helpful list of the Top 11 Cheapest Cars in Canada in 2020. In order to help you better understand the total cost of vehicle ..read more

Everybody understands that when they have an at-fault accident or a speeding ticket, their auto insurance premiums are going to go up. The reality is your premiums can go up for lots of other reasons too, including moving, changing cars, or just because claims have gone up in your area. Most of us understand that auto insurance is priced based on how likely the insurance company thinks we are to make a claim. In that sense, we understand that if we have a past record of getting into accidents, that makes it more likely that we’ll get into more accidents in the future. That just feels right to ..read more

When usage-based insurance (UBI or telematics) first came to Ontario in 2013, the law allowed insurers to give discounts based on good driving behaviour, but did not allow surcharges based on bad driving behaviour. As of November 2020, the law has changed, and insurers can now surcharge you if your telematics app records risky driving behaviour like speeding. Usage-based auto insurance has been in Ontario now for close to eight years. It is a real-time, data-based approach that measures an individual driver’s behaviour behind the wheel, and then adjusts premiums accordingly. The common complai ..read more