Auto insurance rates in Ontario expected to drop about one per cent this fall
Posted July 15, 2010 1:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – Auto insurance rates will be dropping for some Ontario drivers beginning this fall.
The provincial regulator announced Thursday that rates in the province will decrease an average of one per cent starting this September.
The change will affect motorists who are taking out new policies or renewing their current ones. Costs will depend on where consumers live, the type of car they drive and other risk factors.
The price decreases will range anywhere from 0.01 per cent to more than seven per cent, depending on the insurance company. Customers with some companies will see no change at all.
Government changes regarding auto insurance are stabilizing the market and driving down rates, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance.
“This is early evidence that some of that stabilization is coming into effect,” said Andrew Chornenky.
Those changes, which came into effect near the end of 2009, now allow consumers to choose specific coverage they want, and opt-out of things they don’t.
Drivers can choose whether they want to beef up their basic coverage for options like medical rehabilitation, home care, housekeeping or funeral costs after a crash.
The minimum required rehabilitation coverage used to be $100,000. The government reduced that to $50,000, and allowed consumers to purchase $100,000 or $1-million options if they wish.
The provincial government has been under fire in recent months over auto insurance rates.
Last year the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, which approves all auto insurance rate changes, allowed two insurance companies to increase their rates by nearly 10 per cent.
Last September, the average Ontario driver was paying $1,362.11 a year on insurance, up 3.6 per cent from the same time period in 2008, according to numbers released by the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
