In 2023, many consumers are experiencing rising costs across various sectors, including insurance premiums. We want to help you understand the reasons behind these increases and how to mitigate their impact with strategies to manage your risk factors, while ensuring that your current policies are charged at appropriate rates. To help you navigate these challenges, The Ostic Group offers a unique advantage. Our strong partnerships with top insurance providers enable us to provide a wider range of insurance products and competitive rates — and our friendly and professional brokers can assist you ..read more

2021 continued to be a tough year for automakers and dealerships across Canada. In total, just 1.64 million vehicles were sold this year, compared to the abysmal 11 year low of 1.66 million sold in 2020 — a decrease of 1.42% When looking at all types of vehicles, it’s no surprise that the Ford F-Series was still the top-selling vehicle in Canada with 116,401 units sold (down 10% YoY). The F-Series line has been the best-selling vehicle in Canada since 2009, and the top-selling truck for 57 years. The vehicles on the overall top-10 list that had an increase in sales were the Toyota RAV4 (+7 ..read more

What seems like a straightforward question like “What Tickets Affect My Auto Insurance Premiums” can be somewhat complicated to answer. Varying types and degrees of severity of tickets and the diverse, but regulated, auto insurance company rules can change the answer. In this blog we answer this commonly asked question by offering general details in order to cover the broadest number of experiences. NOTE: Your personal experience may be different based on the specific details of your driving history, claims, suspensions, and tickets. Does a minor conviction mean a minor impact on my auto insur ..read more

Stunt driving can have serious consequences. Not only does stunt driving endanger you, other vehicles, and bystanders, but now it carries greater penalties than ever before. The Highway Traffic Act (HTA) was recently updated with tighter sanctions on stunt driving in Ontario.  On November 28, stunt driving post-conviction licence suspensions were increased significantly. Now your license can be taken away for up to 3 years on your first offence.  These stricter measures accompany those introduced this past July and September, which saw immediate license suspensions, drivers being cha ..read more

If you have a new G1 driver in your home and have some insurance questions before they begin driving, keep reading! Does a G1 Driver need insurance in Ontario? Ontario’s G1 drivers have very clear and restrictive rules and regulations on how and when they can operate a motor vehicle. Technically speaking, a G1 driver in Ontario is not considered to be fully licensed and cannot drive on the roads on their own. This means that a G1 driver cannot be added onto a policy for rating purposes or as a principal driver. However, it is strongly recommended that you contact your broker to add them to yo ..read more

If you haven’t yet had the experience of going through a red light camera in Ontario, or perhaps you recently saw a flash when going through a marked red light camera intersection, you may have questions about what will happen next and how a red light ticket might impact your insurance rates. There are hundreds of red light cameras in Ontario and, while the vast majority are in the GTA, they are also in cities and towns everywhere including Guelph — we even have one near our Ostic Insurance offices. Red light cameras are placed at locations that have the highest volume and highest accident rat ..read more

Our team gets asked a lot of different questions about auto insurance, and often what people thought was true, was actually a myth. At Ostic, we want our customers to understand their auto insurance, so we’ve put together our top frequently asked questions and answers for you — and we’ve added in some clarifications to the most popular myths. MYTH If you drive a red car, your insurance premium will be higher. False. The colour of your car has nothing to do with your insurance. Your premiums are calculated based on a number of factors including: type of vehicle, horsepower, postal code, age of ..read more

Have you been binge-watching home improvement shows over the past few months? Or maybe you sit and scroll for hours on design sites like Pinterest or Houzz and make dream boards of your perfect new kitchen or bathroom. Whether you just moved in, or have been staring at a room you have wanted to redo for years, you may be ready to refresh your space. We’ve all been spending more time inside our houses over the past couple of years (isn’t that the truth!) and this has resulted in families taking on all kinds of very cool projects, both big and small. One aspect of the planning that might easily ..read more

Do Parking Tickets Affect Insurance in Ontario? Nobody likes to walk back to their vehicle to find a parking ticket stuck to the windshield. However, it is an inconvenience that many of us have had to face. If you have received one of these pesky tickets and have had to pay the price for your mistake, you may be wondering, do parking tickets affect insurance? Fortunately, they are treated differently than speeding infractions.  Do Parking Tickets Affect Insurance Rates? The short answer is no, typically parking tickets do not affect your auto insurance. Moving violations, like speeding or ..read more

Catching a sunburn on the open water is a painful pleasure, which many of us are looking forward to after a winter of being cooped up indoors. It’s no surprise that with the uncertainty of alternative travel, this season is expected to bring forth a new wave of pleasurecraft owners. While it’s fantastic that so many Ontario residents will be able to reconnect with friends and family on the water, the influx of first-time boat owners leads to many people wondering, “Is their new vessel properly insured?” Here are some questions that many boat owners will be asking: Is it mandatory to have insu ..read more