If you’re an Ontario driver over the age of 65, there’s a good chance that CAA Insurance is the best insurer for you. That’s what we discovered recently when we ran quotes for seven different fictional driver profiles, all aged 65 and up. CAA had the best rate for all but two of the profiles, and had the lowest average premium by 4% over the next closest competitor, Aviva Canada.
The problem, if you’re shopping for a new insurance company right now, is that you might be like Edward, the one fictional driver who didn’t get his best rate from CAA. Instead it came from Aviva, and it was 30% lower than the price he got from CAA. The point is that although it can fairly be said that CAA is the best insurance company for many older drivers, that may not necessarily be true for you and your unique needs.
For your convenience, we’ve ranked some of Ontario’s top insurance companies based on the rates they offer older drivers. That being said, you should never choose an insurer solely on price, and if you want a more general overview of how different companies perform (Google ratings, customer satisfaction, etc.), please see our latest 2024 instalment of the best car insurance companies in Ontario.
Key findings:
- On average, CAA Insurance offers the lowest auto insurance rates for older drivers (65+) in Ontario.
- Three different companies (CAA, Aviva, Jevco) had the best rate for at least one of the seven older driver profiles.
- For the single regular market profile that CAA didn’t win, their rate was 30% higher than the best one (Aviva).
The rankings
Below are the rankings for both regular market and high-risk insurers in terms of their rates for older drivers.
Best regular market
- CAA
- Aviva
- Portage La Prairie
- SGI Canada
- Wawanesa
- Commonwell
- Gore Mutual
- Economical
- Intact
- Zenith
- Pembridge
- Travelers
Best high-risk market
- Jevco
- Coachman
- Pafco
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Because the results are based on average premiums, we couldn’t rank all the companies together on the same list. High-risk insurance companies will always have higher average premiums, because they only insure high-risk drivers. Of all the driver profiles we created for this piece, the three high-risk insurers only offered rates for one of them, Raymond. Jevco by far had the best price for Raymond, 31% lower than that offered by Coachman.
How we rank the best insurers for 65+ drivers
We entered personal and driving information for our seven fictional drivers into our online auto insurance quoter, which is connected with all the insurance companies that we work with. To get an accurate sense of how insurers treat older drivers in general, we varied other factors like gender, postal code, driving record, etc.
(All the quotes are based on the same coverages, policy limits, deductibles and discounts.)
Meet our fictional older drivers
- Edward, Male, 71, Married, Richmond Hill (L4E), at-fault claim in 2017
- Drives a 2020 INFINITY QX60 ESSENTIAL 4DR AWD
- Selwyn, Male, 65, Divorced, Niagara Falls (L2H), speeding ticket in 2021
- Drives a 2014 HYUNDAI SONATA LIMITED HYBRID 4DR
- Anastasia, Female, 82, Married, Cobourg (K9A), clean record
- Drives a 2018 HONDA FIT SPORT 5DR
- Yang, Male, 91, Widower, Toronto (M5T), speeding tickets in 2019, 2020 and 2022
- Drives a 2018 LINCOLN CONTINENTAL SELECT 4DR AWD
- Anna-Mae, Female, 76, Widowed, Keswick (L4P), ticket for unsafe turn in 2020
- Drives a 2011 CADILLAC CTS-V 4DR
- Jessie, Female, 87, Single, Rosslyn (P7K), clean record
- Drives a 2015 HYUNDAI TUCSON GLS 4DR 4WD
- Raymond, Male, 68, Divorced, Prescott (K0E), speeding ticket in 2022, at-fault accident and conviction for following too close in 2021
- Drives a 2021 CHEVY MALIBU RS 4DR
| Edward (71 yrs. old) | Selwyn (65 yrs. old) | Anastasia (82 yrs. old) | Yang (91 yrs. old) | Anna-Mae (76 yrs. old) | Jessie (87 yrs. old) | Avg | Raymond (68 yrs. old) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAA | $4,041 | $1,242 | $892 | $2,964 | $1,255 | $1,011 | $1,901 | |
| Aviva | $3,116 | $1,398 | $1,168 | $2,923 | $1,993 | $1,315 | $1,986 | |
| Portage La Prairie | $3,822 | $1,553 | $1,114 | $4,048 | $1,522 | $1,153 | $2,202 | |
| SGI Canada | $3,388 | $1,754 | $1,150 | $4,332 | $2,063 | $1,330 | $2,336 | |
| Wawanesa | $3,580 | $1,677 | $1,233 | $4,262 | $2,132 | $1,213 | $2,350 | |
| Commonwell | $4,663 | $1,390 | $992 | $5,675 | $1,346 | $1,193 | $2,543 | |
| Gore Mutual | $3,469 | $1,814 | $1,099 | $5,916 | $2,050 | $1,299 | $2,608 | |
| Economical | $3,874 | $1,895 | $1,252 | $4,977 | $2,616 | $1,616 | $2,705 | |
| Intact | $3,356 | $2,044 | $1,476 | $6,060 | $2,355 | $1,755 | $2,841 | |
| Zenith | $4,115 | $1,791 | $1,685 | $6,164 | $1,789 | $1,704 | $2,875 | |
| Pembridge | $3,486 | $2,496 | $1,571 | $6,988 | $3,174 | $2,101 | $3,303 | |
| Travelers | $5,100 | $3,960 | $2,040 | $14,196 | $4,260 | $2,760 | $5,386 | |
| Jevco | $3,301 | |||||||
| Coachman | $4,340 | |||||||
| Pafco | $4,565 |
CAA had the best rate for most of the drivers. The two exceptions were Raymond, who wouldn’t get a quote from CAA because he’s a high-risk driver (recent at-fault accident and conviction for following too close), and Edward. Edward doesn’t seem to have anything that would distinguish him from the other drivers, but Aviva offered him a great rate. Much better than CAA. It’s not clear why, but it’s the reality of the auto insurance market. Different companies are always trying to capture particular types of drivers, and only they know the exact formulas.
How does your age affect your premiums?
There’s much made about how insurance companies use age as a rating factor with younger drivers. If you’re a 20 to 25-year-old male, those five years can make a huge difference in how much you pay for auto insurance. If you keep your record clean, your rate could be just about cut in half in those five years. The same is not true when you’re an older driver.
To illustrate how your age affects your premiums as you reach retirement age and beyond, we ran quotes for Jessie (all rating factors the same other than age) at five-year age intervals from 55 to 99 (our quoting software doesn’t accept age 100). What we found is that most companies offer you the best rate you’ll ever get between 65 and 70, then increase rates (as much as 20%) between 75 and 85.
| Jessie (99) | Jessie (85) | Jessie (80) | Jessie (75) | Jessie (70) | Jessie (65) | Jessie (60) | Jessie (55) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAA | $1,011 | $1,011 | $1,011 | $871 | $827 | $816 | $818 | $829 |
| SGI Canada | $1,330 | $1,330 | $1,330 | $1,367 | $1,299 | $1,336 | $1,313 | $1,387 |
| Pembridge | $2,101 | $2,101 | $2,101 | $1,820 | $1,760 | $1,721 | $1,785 | $1,922 |
| Intact | $1,673 | $1,729 | $1,635 | $1,587 | $1,542 | $1,531 | $1,542 | $1,629 |
| Aviva | $1,315 | $1,315 | $1,273 | $1,224 | $1,204 | $1,208 | $1,231 | $1,270 |
| Gore Mutual | $1,299 | $1,299 | $1,295 | $1,290 | $1,288 | $1,293 | $1,319 | $1,344 |
| Wawanesa | $1,221 | $1,204 | $1,186 | $1,157 | $1,136 | $1,119 | $1,198 | $1,288 |
| Travelers | $3,648 | $2,640 | $2,400 | $2,196 | $2,076 | $1,980 | $2,040 | $2,088 |
| Zenith | $1,846 | $1,678 | $1,574 | $1,466 | $1,315 | $1,264 | $1,267 | $1,276 |
| Commonwell | $1,093 | $1,093 | $1,093 | $1,093 | $1,093 | $1,093 | $1,093 | $1,093 |
| Portage La Prairie | $1,153 | $1,153 | $1,153 | $1,153 | $1,153 | $1,153 | $1,153 | $1,153 |
| Economical | $1,616 | $1,616 | $1,593 | $1,499 | $1,409 | $1,365 | $1,390 | $1,458 |
How reliable are these rankings?
Insurance is a very cyclical business. In a given year or quarter, companies that lose money (or don’t make much profit) on their current customers are likely to increase their rates. On the other hand, insurers that make a good profit and want to win new customers might lower their rates. This means that rankings like those above could change every quarter, and the ones we’ve shown reflect this particular point in time.
That’s not to say that the rankings are likely to be flipped upside-down anytime soon. Companies do specialize in certain market segments (males, females, new drivers, experienced drivers, certain regions, etc.), and will do their best to remain competitive over time. The insurers at the top of today’s ranking are unlikely to drop to the bottom next month or even next year.
Want your best rate today? Ask a broker
Like we said, there’s always an insurer that’s trying to capture a tiny niche of the market, and that could include you. Just because CAA or Aviva offers the best rates on average for drivers over 65, doesn’t mean they have the lowest price for you.
There’s only one way to know for sure that you’re getting the best rate out there. Call a broker. Mitch works with lots of insurers, and when you call, we’ll get you quotes from all the companies that are looking for new customers like you. If you’re reading this in 2023, 2025 or even 2032, that will still be true.
We care about more than just the best rate, and your Mitch broker will talk with you about your needs and make sure you have the right combination of coverage, service and price for you and your family.
