The best car insurance companies for young drivers in Ontario (2024) 

Interested in learning who the best car insurance company is for younger drivers in Ontario?

Saving money where possible is crucial in today’s economic landscape, where a week of groceries for a person in their young twenties and living alone costs twice or three times as much as it used to. Car insurance, though a mandatory purchase, can be costly for young drivers, so it helps to save money where possible!

Here’s our list of the best car insurance companies for young drivers in 2024.

Before we get into the individual findings and examples, we’ve compiled our key findings below for those who want to cut to the chase.

Keep in mind that the “best” car insurance company is more than just price. While we highlight some companies based on the lower price profile they offer, there’s so much more that goes into an insurer than their premiums. Check out our list of best Ontario auto insurers of 2024 for pointers on what makes a good insurance company and Google and J.D. Power reviews.

Based purely on price, here is how our top insurance companies stack up against each other:

Creating a list and comparing based on rates without separating between men and women and high-risk markets might not give as clear an indication of how insurance companies price each demographic differently. Most insurance companies price their rates for men higher because men 25 and under are statistically worse drivers.  

High-risk is also a separate category because these drivers have a certain history that makes them statistically likelier to make claims again in the future (usually because they’ve been in multiple at-fault accidents, had speeding tickets, distracted driving convictions, etc.) and so they’ll pay more for their insurance than the regular market. 

Every driver we created on our list of quotes is fictional, so no real people were used to generate these price points. As we’ve mentioned previously, insurance companies have many different qualities to judge beyond simply price, but because we’re comparing between (fictitious) driver profiles that only differ slightly we figured the best way to rank them was on price, since that’s really the only thing that’s changing when comparing companies. 

To determine precisely how insurers compare against one another regarding pricing, we crafted 12 different fictious driving profiles (6 male and 6 female) and pulled quotes for all of them. These drivers are not real; however, their rates do reflect what someone of similar characteristics may expect to pay for their auto insurance.  

We used the same coverages, policy limits, discounts and deductibles for our quotes, used the following guidelines: 

To create this list, we ran quotes for the following (fictional!) profiles for young male drivers: 

For the individuals above, here are our auto insurance quotes: 

To create this list, we ran quotes for the following (fictional!) profiles for young female drivers: 

For the individuals above, here are our auto insurance quotes: 

Yes, as drivers age and gain more experience behind the wheel, their insurance will typically become more affordable. At the times these quotes were run, they’re accurate, but given a few years – or even just a few months- they can vary. Most insurers adjust their rates quarterly, and every insurance company must justify their rate changes by providing evidence with how much they’ve paid out in claims. The rates we’ve used in this article are based on the rates that the companies file per quarter with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, or FSRA. 

Rates can fluctuate if a particular market segment, such as young drivers, has lower claim costs for a certain quarter. In response to this, companies may lower their costs, but keep in mind that the opposite of this is also true.  

Given the ever-changing nature of the market and all the possible ups and downs, it’s unlikely that one auto insurance company will always remain the cheapest option for a specific demographic, and even if one company is cheaper for that demographic for an extended period, oftentimes other companies will reduce their rates to remain competitive.  

Decent drivers, even young drivers, can prove that they’re safety-oriented by opting into their insurance company’s telematics programs. Most insurance companies offer incentives for enrolling in telematics, where good driving can increase those potential savings even more. Telematics are plug-in programs or phone apps that you can install, which then track certain driving behaviours and reward the driver by lowering their insurance premiums. 

This goes without saying, but practicing safe driving behaviours, avoiding tickets and convictions, and generally being an all-around good driver can save you huge. As a young driver, your rates are already high enough, and being high-risk could double or even triple those already expensive rates. A single speeding ticket at a young age could be detrimental for your auto insurance rates. Play it safe – drive responsibly!  

While all the quotes that we pulled in our tables above were standalone policies, we often recommend young drivers, particularly those under the age of 20, gain experience whilst being listed as an occasional driver on their parent’s insurance policy. 

Even a driver with a speeding conviction whose best option is $3k+/year could benefit from being listed on their parent’s policy, which might only increase the cost of their parent’s insurance by $500-$1,000/year – a much more affordable alternative to being insured standalone. This is also highly recommended for those in the GTA.  

Driver’s education courses are imperative to any new driver as it helps to teach critical skills. Taking a course again later in life can also help to refresh these skills. But beyond the skills that these courses teach, many of them qualify drivers for insurance discounts. Talk with a broker about which driver’s education courses may qualify you for a discount.  

Helping drivers in Ontario find the insurance company that’s most suited to their individual needs is our game here at Mitch Insurance. Depending on where you live, who you are, your age and driving record, your “ideal” insurance company could be any one of 6+ companies. 

Working with a licensed brokerage like Mitch is a surefire way to find great coverage. We work with over 70 insurance companies in Canada, meaning we’re sure to find one that’s right for you and offers great prices, unparalleled service, and excellent support. Give us a call and get a free, no-obligation quote today.