Auto insurance Recent Posts

It can be tempting to try and lower your insurance costs on that trusty old car by getting rid of optional coverage like collision and comprehensive. But these coverages are actually quite affordable (in many cases less than $250 a year even if you have a couple tickets). And if you do get in an accident, it’ll save you a ton of hassles and provide you with a free rental car while your own car is getting repaired. For illustration, we ran auto insurance quotes on carpages.ca’s 15 most reliable cars of all time.

Canada’s top-selling luxury vehicles are not all created equal when it comes to how much they’ll cost you in premiums. When running insurance quotes for drivers in Toronto’s most affluent neighbourhoods, we found that the Acura RDX and the Mercedes-Benz GLC43 are the best insurance value among the top luxury models, beating some other models on the list by 25-40%.

If you live in one of Toronto’s most exclusive neighbourhoods, and are in the market for a luxury vehicle, insurance costs may not be top of mind. But for the record, your choice of vehicle can make a big difference in your insurance costs, especially if your driving record isn’t perfect.

Using Mitch’s auto insurance quoter, we ran quotes for three fictional people, living in Toronto’s most affluent neighbourhoods. Here’s what we found out.

When arriving at a final premium, insurance companies consider a number of factors. The year, make and model of the vehicle is one of those factors. Insurers refer to past claims data from vehicles that they have insured that are similar to the one being quoted. If a vehicle has a big upward effect on the prices you’re being quoted, that usually means the vehicle (or others like it) have a history of being involved in:

If a vehicle has much higher premiums than others in its class, you might want to avoid it not only because of the cost difference. It’s also more likely to cause you heartache by being stolen, or worse, by getting in a serious accident. Although two cars may seem the same and may have similar features, the data doesn’t lie, and the car with much higher premiums may be a hazard to your health, and that of your family.

The higher your net worth, the more important insurance becomes. Not only because you have more to lose, but more importantly perhaps, because others may see you as a prime target for lawsuits. That’s why Mitch often recommends higher liability limits for individuals with a net worth over $2 million, including a $5 million umbrella liability policy that can fill gaps you might otherwise have in the liability coverage that comes with your home and auto policies.

For individuals with a net worth over $2 million, Mitch Insurance offers special insurance packages to bundle your home, vehicles, vacation properties and other assets all under one roof, with preferred rates and unrivalled service. Let one of our elite brokers review your insurance needs and recommend an insurer that will best meet them. Call today!

Much has been made about new technologies that are making cars safer, but at the same time that manufacturers are adding lane departure sensors and emergency brake assist to their vehicles, many are also including built-in GPS and a variety of infotainment options that can take your attention away from driving. Add that to crying kids and drive-thru breakfast, and it all equals more accidents and more deaths on our roads.

Small SUVs took a beating in a tougher side crash test carried out by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The 2021 Mazda CX-5 was the only one out of 20 vehicles tested that was deemed safe enough to earn a “good” rating. Interestingly, insurance rates for the vehicles in question don’t reflect the findings of the new test.

The safety of small SUVs, including best-sellers like the Ford Escape and the Hyundai Tucson, is being called into question after sub-par results in tougher side impact crash tests. With side impacts accounting for 23% of passenger vehicle deaths in the U.S., the IIHS, an American non-profit, designed a new side impact test that more accurately simulates real-life crash conditions.

The results of the more realistic test suggest that most small SUVs are not as safe as they could be, with only the Mazda CX-5 retaining its “good” rating from previous tests. The Honda HR-V and Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross received a “poor” rating, and the rest were deemed either “marginal” or “acceptable”.

Results of side impact crash test

“Good”: Mazda CX-5

“Acceptable”: Audi Q3, Buick Encore, Chevy Trax, Honda CR-V, Nissan Rogue, Subaru Forester, Toyota Rav-4, Toyota Venza, Volvo XC-40

“Marginal”: Chevy Equinox, Ford Escape, GMC Terrain, Hyundai Tucson, Jeep Compass, Jeep Renegade, Kia Sportage, Lincoln Corsair

“Poor”: Honda HR-V, Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross

What’s different about this test?

The new test exerts 82% more impact energy on the vehicle by increasing the speed of the barrier being hurled at it from 31 mph to 37 mph, and increasing the weight of the barrier to 4,180 pounds from 3,300, which puts it more in line with a mid-sized SUV.

The barrier also has a honeycomb striking surface that acts more like a real SUV or pickup truck hitting another vehicle.

So while all 20 small SUV models got good scores on the old test for structural integrity, this new higher energy test saw only half of them retain an acceptable grade in that regard.

What exactly is the problem?

The new, high speed, high impact tests revealed that when the front of a pickup truck or larger SUV strikes the side of the vehicle, it wraps around the so-called B-pillar. The B-pillar is the beam rising from the frame between the front and back doors.

So even when the B-pillar withstood the impact, depressions formed in the front and rear doors, compromising the seating area, or occupant space, and crushing in on the area of the crash test dummies’ pelvis and chest in most models.

In the HR-V, which performed worst in this new test, the B-pillar actually began to break away from the frame, allowing the entire side of the vehicle to crumple inward past the centre of the driver’s seat.

How will this impact the design of small SUVs going forward?

What this means is that in future models of small SUVs, manufacturers are going to have to strengthen the horizontal door beams along the length of the vehicle to reduce that intrusion into the seating area. They will also have to adjust the air bags to provide more coverage and protection to the chest and pelvis.

A study done in 2011 that reviewed 10 years’ worth of crash data revealed that a driver of a vehicle with a “good” rating was 70% less likely to die in a side impact crash. The new, more stringent standard should improve on this number. “Good” news for CX-5 drivers. Maybe a wake-up call for the rest of us.

Do insurance rates reflect the new test results?

In a word, no. See the quotes below.

We used our online auto insurance quoter to run quotes for each of the 20 vehicles in question, using 2 fictional drivers:

We chose one rural and one urban postal code because we wanted to account for less traffic and thus possibly higher speeds in Cornwall vs. Toronto.

All quotes assume full coverage, a winter tire discount, and a $1,000 deductible. All of the SUVs used for the quotes are 2021 models, except the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, which is a 2020 because the 2021 was not sold in Canada.

We found no correlation between the new safety ratings and the premiums being quoted by insurers. The only SUV with a “good” rating got the 6^th best quotes, but the two vehicles with “poor” ratings got the 3^rd and 8^th best quotes. There wasn’t a huge difference between the ranking of the Toronto quotes and those from Cornwall.

Of course, side-impact collisions only account for a small portion of overall claims, so clearly other factors have a greater influence on premiums. This should make you feel better if you drive one of the SUVs being tested. If the safety concerns were leading to significantly higher injury rates in the real world, you would see that reflected in the cost of claims, and consequently, in premiums.

What’s next?

Hopefully the tougher side impact tests can help manufacturers find ways to improve safety in future models. In the meantime, whatever vehicle you drive, if you need insurance, we’ve got you covered. Whether you have insurance and want to look for better rates, or you’re considering your next ride, give Mitch a call at 1-800-731-2228 today. We can’t be beat on price, and we’ll give you the best advice so you know you have the right coverage.

It’s been a year since photo radar began to be enforced in Community Safety Zones throughout Toronto, and the number of tickets being issued each month continues to rise. What was once a political hot potato is fast becoming a fixture around our schools. And while the consequences of being caught speeding by these devices don’t directly affect your insurance rate and driving record, it can have a big impact on your pocketbook.

We all know the feeling of suddenly realising you have just sped past a parked police cruiser doing 20 km/h over the speed limit. A big shot of adrenalin runs through your veins as you look in the rear-view mirror to see if those lights are going to start flashing. Nowadays that sense of dread can linger for days, spiking every time you open your mailbox.

But just what are the consequences of finding a speeding ticket in there, along with a photo of the back of your car? Well, to the driver, surprisingly little. It is the owner of the vehicle that bears the responsibility in the eyes of the law. So, the important thing is…be careful who you’re lending your car to!

Under current regulations, Automated Speed Enforcement cameras (ASE cameras) are much like red light cameras in that they don’t affect your insurance premiums. The cameras are designed to take a photo of the licence plate of a speeding car, not the driver of the vehicle, so it is impossible for authorities to know who exactly is behind the steering wheel at the time of the infraction.

The resulting ticket is issued and sent to the registered owner of the vehicle, who is in turn responsible for it to be paid. Because the driver is unknown:

What’s more, the city does not grant access to the information gathered from these traffic tickets to insurance companies.
So, it doesn’t matter for your insurance policy if your son or daughter takes the car out for a spin and racks up a few photo radar fines. It won’t increase your rate, though it might take a toll on the Bank of Mom and Dad.

ASE devices (the fancy name for photo radar cameras) are set up in Community Safety Zones. These are areas where there are many children and elderly people crossing the streets, such as near a school or long-term care home. Because of this, the fines are more hefty proportional to the speed you are going.

Anything over 50 km/h and you will be summoned to appear in court where your penalty will be decided by a judge. So, make sure you’re not lending your car to any speed demons in the family! Telling the judge that it wasn’t you driving the vehicle is not going to get you off the hook.

There are 50 ASE devices installed around Toronto. They are located on local, collector and arterial roads in Community Safety Zones. The city has kept them away from the main highways and streets in order to reinforce the message that photo radar cameras are about safety for our children, not just a slick way of raising taxes.

Still, photo radar locations are changed periodically, so if you have been planning your route in such a way as to avoid them, you may want to keep yourself informed. As of June 2021, the cameras will be set up in new spots under a so-called third round of locations.

Not only are photo radar areas well-indicated by signs notifying motorists of their presence, the city also provides a list of photo radar locations which includes a link to a map to make it all the more transparent.

The point of rotating the cameras, according to city spokesperson Hakeem Muhammad, is to deter drivers from speeding, increase speed compliance, alter driver behaviour, and to raise public awareness about the need to slow down.

It looks like it. Toronto Mayor John Tory has said, “Speed cameras are a proven traffic calming measure that we will continue to rotate across the city because we are committed to making our roads safer.”

For the most part, the public has come a long way on this issue since the days of Bob Rae’s NDP government, who were the first to introduce Ontarians to photo radar. After the government pulled in over $2 million in fines, opposition parties began to label photo radar “a cash cow”, until Mike Harris scrapped the program in 1995.

Since the reintroduction of photo radar in January 2020, the public has largely gotten behind Tory. Most of that comes down to the fact that they are exclusively located in Community Safety Zones. It’s hard to argue that motorists shouldn’t slow down to a safe speed in a school zone.

But are they as effective as the mayor suggests? Well, several other jurisdictions in Canada and the U.S. have implemented photo radar programs with great success:

Additionally, a study done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that vehicles exceeding the speed limit by 10 km/h dropped 70-88% within eight months in the jurisdictions they looked at.

There don’t seem to be many arguments against placing photo radar cameras in school zones specifically, though there have been some concerns raised:

In the end, it looks like we will be dealing with photo radar indefinitely. So, the best way to avoid a ticket, other than changing your route, is to simply slow down when you’re near a school. And be prudent about who gets behind the wheel of your car!

If you have any questions about how speeding tickets, especially those issued by a police officer, may affect your insurance rates call Mitch Insurance now at 1-800-731-2228.

See the latest version of this post: The best car insurance companies in Ontario for 2024

What auto insurance company is the best in Ontario for young drivers? Turns out the answer is different depending on whether you’re a man or a woman. For female drivers 25 and under, Aviva has the best average premiums. For males, it’s Intact. But it gets even more complicated than that. We ran quotes for 12 young drivers in our quoting system, and seven different insurance companies had the best rate for at least one of them.

Finding the best auto insurance company for young drivers is no easy task. The first thing you need to know is that insurance companies see young men very differently than young women. So we created 12 different fictional driver profiles, six men and six women, all 25 or younger, and ran quotes for them. As suspected, the story was a little different for men than it was for women.

For males aged 25 or under, we found that Intact Insurance has the best rates, on average, in the province. For females in the same age bracket, Aviva Canada offers the lowest average auto insurance premiums. But that just scratches the surface of what we learned.

Key Findings:

Before we go on to share the details of our study, it’s important to note that there’s much more to determining the best insurance companies than just price. We focus on price here because it’s the one factor that definitely varies by age. Read more about 2024’s best Ontario car insurance companies, to learn about other factors like service and claims experience, and share Google and JD Power ratings.

Here is how our top auto insurers stack up against each other when it comes to prices for young drivers.

¹Note that these high-risk rankings for young drivers are based on one quote for a male and one quote for a female.

In order to be a useful ranking, we had to generate separate lists for men and women, and for high-risk vs. regular market insurers.

High-risk insurers are ranked separately because the nature of the customers they take on (drivers with a history of non-payment of premiums, at-fault claims, tickets etc.) means that their premiums are naturally higher than those of regular market insurers.

Rankings for male and female drivers are separate because young men are statistically much worse drivers than young women, and are viewed very differently by insurance companies. This difference fades with age, and all but disappears by age 25.

There are a number of ways to evaluate insurance companies. You can base it on how easy it is to get a quote and buy a policy, reviews of their customer service, or the experience of policyholders who have had to make a claim. Because in this case we are talking about how insurance companies cater to a particular market, the only way to reliably rank them is on price, as that is the only factor that is significantly different for young drivers.

So to determine how insurance companies perform in terms of pricing, we created 12 fictional driver profiles, six men and six women, and ran quotes for each of them. Although the drivers are made up, the prices we generated accurately reflect what someone with similar circumstances (age, gender, location, driving record) would pay in the real world.

Just to make sure we compared apples to apples, all of the quotes were based on the same coverages, policy limits, deductibles and discounts, as follows:

We ran quotes for the following young male drivers:

And here are the quotes. Note that Zachary was not included when we calculated average premiums, because his record makes him a high-risk driver, and so his best quotes are from high-risk insurers.

Rates provided by Mitch’s car insurance quoter, with access to 40+ insurance companies in Ontario. Note: If Zachary lived in Toronto, his best insurer would be Pafco, and he’d be paying over $10,000 a year.

Intact is the clear winner with young male drivers in the regular market. They have the lowest average, offer the best quote for two drivers, and they are no worse than fourth on any profile. But if you’re Riley (G2 driver), Intact will cost you 28% more than Aviva.

We ran quotes for the following young female drivers:

² Non-binary or gender X drivers are rated as males, then as females, and are given the lower of the two rates. For young drivers, this effectively means they are rated as females.

And here are the quotes. Dalilah was not included when we calculated average premiums because the best quotes are from high-risk insurers.

Rates provided by Mitch’s car insurance quoter, with access to 40+ insurance companies in Ontario.

For young women drivers, Aviva is the overwhelming winner, with the lowest average quote, and offering the best price for three out of six profiles. But if you happen to be Grey or Akilah, you don’t care that Aviva loves young female drivers, because their quote for you is 20-25% higher than the lowest rate offered by another insurer. The moral of the story is that insurance pricing is very specific to the individual, and the only way to know you’re getting the best rate is to get quotes from as many companies as you can.

Rankings based on rates are accurate at the time the quotes are run. History shows that some companies remain competitive over years in certain market segments, but exact rates often vary every few months and certainly over a year or more.

The rankings in this piece are based on rates that insurance companies file every quarter with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA). Not every company changes their rates every quarter, but many do, and they have to justify their new rates with evidence of how much money they’ve spent in paying claims. When a company has a quarter with lower claims costs for a particular market segment, say young drivers, they may reduce their rates for that segment. If their claims go up, well, obviously they will have to collect more premium to cover those costs, and rates will increase.

So the auto insurance market is constantly fluctuating, with some companies lowering rates to attract more of a particular type of customer, and others increasing rates for that same group, just to stay profitable. It’s not likely that one insurer will be the cheapest in a given segment for very long. If they are, and they can make a profit, eventually others will lower their rates to try to mimic their success.

All of the quotes included in this piece are for standalone policies, meaning that the person in question is the primary driver on the vehicle. By far the most affordable way for young drivers, especially those under 20, to gain experience is to be listed as an occasional driver on their parents’ policy.

Take Keegan, for instance. He’s 20, lives in Cornwall, and had a conviction for following too close in 2018. On his own, his best rate would be $2,195 with Intact Insurance. But assuming he’s still living with his parents, he could be listed as an occasional driver on the same car for only $917 more than his parents are already paying with CAA (only $339 if he was a girl). This can make an even bigger difference in the GTA, where rates are much higher for young drivers.

Even if you’re a conscientious, safety-oriented individual, you are paying for the sins of every young driver that came before you, because you haven’t had a chance yet to build a 10 or 20-year record of clean driving. This can seem incredibly unfair, especially for young men, who even with a clean record, can sometimes pay three or four times the provincial average for insurance.

The only way for young drivers to mitigate this effect is to opt for a telematics device that measures how you drive and can save you big bucks if you drive safely. To illustrate, we ran quotes for a G1 driver, Erik, whose best rate would ordinarily be $5,051 with Aviva, but if he opted to go with telematics, he would automatically get a 10% discount for signing up with Intact’s “my Drive” program. So his base rate would be $4,672, and could go as low as $3,884 by the end of the policy term if he drove like a saint³.

Important note: If you opt for a telematics program, you’ll have to install a device in your vehicle, or download an app to your phone, that measures things like how much you drive, what time of day you drive, and how quickly you start and stop.

If you’re 50 and you’ve been driving for 30 years, having one speeding ticket or even an at-fault on your record won’t necessarily affect your premium that much. If you’re under 25, tickets and at-faults will cost you dearly.

In the quote examples above, Wren’s best rate, with Aviva, is $7,432. If she didn’t have a speeding ticket on her record, Aviva would still be her best choice, but the premium would be $5,467. That’s an extra 36% she’s paying, for one speeding ticket.

³ Most users save 10%. You’ll only get the maximum 25% discount by severely limiting your kilometres, avoiding rush hour driving, and making sure all your starts and stops are gradual.

We want all Ontario drivers to end up with the insurance company that is best suited to their individual needs. Depending on who you are, how old you are, where you live and how clean your record is, your best insurance company could be any one of seven or more. There’s really only one way to always hit the bullseye. Shop with a licensed insurance brokerage like Mitch Insurance. With 40+ insurance company partners, we’ve got the best insurer for you, regardless of your circumstances. We’re waiting for your call.

In Canada, the reality of moving to a new province means cancelling your current insurance policy and purchasing a new one in whatever province you now call home. Each province has their own laws governing car insurance, so it is necessary to get a new policy when you move…and this can come with some unexpected headaches and fees.

With the changes that have come recently to the workplace, and the increasing reality of working remotely, there is plenty of news around these days of Torontonians and other big city dwellers packing up their cars and leaving the city, with many even deciding to head to the coasts on a new life adventure or just to return to their hometowns.

Moving to a new province can be an exciting opportunity, but it’s important to remember all those little details that can easily be overlooked until it’s too late, such as what the implications are for your car insurance policy.

“I ain’t gonna pay it!”

So a friend of mine recently exclaimed shortly after learning that he would have to pay a cancellation fee on his existing Ontario car insurance policy before purchasing a separate policy from the same company in his new home province of Nova Scotia.

First of all, let’s be clear that any cancellation fee you pay when you move to another province in Canada is charged by your insurance company, not your broker. It applies to any policy that is canceled before the end of the policy’s term.

When you purchase an insurance policy you are essentially buying one year of coverage and then financing it over a full year. So when you cancel halfway through that term it is unlikely that your payments are balanced with the number of days you have actually used. This has to be reconciled. The insurance company also has a right to add on a small cancellation fee to account for administrative costs related to your policy.

This is understandably frustrating when, like my friend, you wish to use the same company in your new province. But there is a very good reason for this:

In Ontario, auto insurance is regulated such that all insurance companies sell the same product. That product is called the ‘Ontario Automobile Policy- OAP1’. So the insurance companies that operate in Ontario are licenced to sell only a policy that is specific to Ontario and is not valid or offered to people outside of Ontario.

So even though you would like to keep the same company, you are not able to keep the same policy, for the simple reason that the Ontario Automobile Policy is only licenced to be sold in Ontario to Ontario residents.

It would be like wanting to keep your OHIP in a different province. Both are insurance policies that are specific to Ontario, the only difference being that auto insurance is sold by private companies in most provinces and not the government.

Reminder: B.C., Saskatchewan and Manitoba have a public insurance scheme in which the government is the exclusive seller of car insurance, but the same rules apply.

If you paid your yearly premium upfront and in full, then yes, you will get a refund if you cancel your policy halfway through the term. But you will still be paying some sort of cancellation fee in order to compensate the insurance company for costs they have incurred.

If, on the other hand, you do as most people do and pay that premium through monthly installments, then the calculations get a little more complex depending on how many installments have been paid, how early you canceled your policy, and how many days into a month the cancellation occurs. This can sometimes result in you owing more money.

You will only get what is called a “pro-rata” cancellation, which refunds you the full amount of your unused portion of your premium, if the company itself decides, for whatever reason, to cancel the policy.

But when it is you who is canceling the policy early, a short-rate cancellation table is the standard way in Ontario of calculating the outstanding amount. A short-rate calculation means you are not entitled to a refund proportionate to the coverage period left in that term, as the company will retain a certain amount of the refund as a penalty.

The reason: As you might imagine, the average cost of insurance and administration is higher for policies priced over a shorter amount of time. The main reason for this is that most administration costs are upfront for the insurance company, but they spread that cost over the full year term.

So when you cancel a policy early the company has a right to impose a penalty to make up for the portion of those administration costs that have not yet been paid. As an example of how they calculate this amount, here is a slimmed down version of a short-rate table insurance companies might use:

As you can see, the earlier you cancel the policy the larger the proportion of the premium the insurance company will retain. Even though 10 days in you have only used about 3% of your policy, they will retain 10% of the yearly premium. This disparity lessens as the policy’s term comes closer to its end date.

Keep in mind, every company uses its own unique short-rate table. Some companies start as high as 25% from day one. While others might add on other charges. Before you move, check with your insurance company as to what these charges and fees will mean to your wallet, as they vary from company to company.

If you are taking up residence in another province, you have a certain grace period in which to change your insurance and registration. This grace period is determined province to province. In Ontario it is 30 days, but can be as high as 90 days in others. Check with your local registry agent and insurance broker to find out how long you have.

If, on the other hand, you are merely spending the summer months on the coast in order to take advantage of your ability to work remotely, and are not intending to reside their permanently, this should cause no problems for your current Ontario insurance policy. You will still be covered, and there’s no need to change your policy.

Just keep in mind that if that temporary working vacation involves you using your car more on a daily basis because you’ve decided to work even more “remotely” than usual, you should notify your insurance company, as your premiums are partly calculated on how much you use your car and what you use it for.

Yes. Wherever you move within Canada and the United States you will not have to pay the rates of a new driver. But there are a couple of things you should do before you move:

These are both easier to get while you are still living in Ontario. So think ahead, and don’t let your new adventure be ruined by these unexpected details!

Moving to Ontario? Let us help get you settled…

If you’re coming this way to Ontario, let us give you a hand getting settled in our beautiful province by helping you bridge that gap and get the car insurance that’s right for you precisely when you need it…

Does buying a used car save you a significant portion of your monthly transportation budget? The truth is that, generally speaking, it is not necessarily cheaper to insure a used car than a new one. Much of it depends on the make and model of the particular car, the insurer you choose, and things like your driving record, your age and gender, and the amount you use your car.

Slipping into a brand new car is an unforgettable experience for almost all of us. Still, the choice between buying a new or used vehicle can be a tough one for many. To inform the discussion, we compare insurance rates for new vs. used vehicles.

To give you an idea of what premiums you might expect to pay for new and used vehicles, we’ve run sample quotes for the same driver with a brand new car, and then with several older used cars.

*Rates provided by Mitch’s car insurance quoter, with access to 40+ insurance companies in Ontario.

Although the quotes and percentages above don’t necessarily reflect what you would see with a different driving record, different address and different vehicle, they do illustrate a general reality of auto insurance in Ontario: While premiums for optional physical damage coverage (collision and comprehensive) do come down with older cars, premiums for mandatory coverages (accident benefits, liability etc.) generally go up.

Those who own older cars do typically pay a little less for car insurance, but this isn’t necessarily because older cars are cheaper to insure. The biggest reason they are paying less is that the vast majority of cars lose value over time, faster in the first few years, and some drivers choose to remove optional coverages on much older cars.

The way insurance works is also different with a new car. Most insurers offer a waiver of depreciation for a car that’s less than 3 (or sometimes 5) years old. Meaning if the vehicle is totaled, you get a brand new car. On the other hand, if a ten-year-old car met the same fate, you would only receive enough to buy a comparable used car, which is likely less than 10% of the original value.

This disparity in potential payouts will be reflected in somewhat lower premiums for physical damage coverage, but as you can see from the table above, the cost of your basic (mandatory) insurance will go up, largely offsetting any savings. If at this point you remove all physical damage coverage, you will save some money, maybe 15-20%, but not nearly what you might expect given the diminished value of the vehicle.

The moral of the story is that your premium is affected mostly by the likelihood of you getting injured in an accident, not so much by the likelihood of having to repair or replace your car.

Based on industry statistics, collision coverage makes up roughly 20% of your premium and comprehensive coverage comprises just under 12%, so you may think that removing these two optional coverages is going to save you over 30% on your insurance bill.

But hold on a second. Your older car probably isn’t worth as much as the average car in Ontario, on which these figures are based. This means you won’t be saving 30% when you remove comprehensive and collision from your policy, as these coverages make up a smaller and smaller percentage of the cost.

The reality is more like this:

Accident benefits and third party liability are mandatory coverages in Ontario and make up the lion’s share of full coverage insurance rates. Since these coverages apply more to the people in the vehicle than the vehicle itself, these costs are not related to depreciation, and actually tend to go up with an older car. Premiums for these coverages hinge on the probability of injuries, and older cars are less likely to have the most recent safety advancements.

Traditionally, insurance providers would sometimes reduce their rates as popular models got older since they would have more options for replacement parts. Whereas new vehicles need to be repaired using the same manufacturer’s (OEM) parts, older vehicles can be repaired with less expensive “aftermarket” parts, or parts not made by the car manufacturer itself.

Also, these days, the newer the car, the more likely it is to be equipped with enhanced safety features like backup cameras, lane departure warning and emergency brake assist, to name a few. Even though these features reduce the probability of a collision, resulting in a general reduction in the number of claims, the cost of each claim is driven up by the fact that many bumpers, windshields and even mirrors now have sensors and cameras that make them much more expensive to repair or replace.

For example, if you had a minor accident in, say, a 2005 Toyota Matrix, you could simply replace the bumper, and 500 bucks later, you’re all good. On the other hand, if you’re driving a more recent model, with all those sensors and cameras built into the mirrors and bumpers and calibrated to a computer that’s basically running your car, even a minor accident in which you merely dent the bumper can end up costing thousands of dollars.

So, as you can see, a lot depends on the specifics of the particular used vehicle you are driving, the availability of replacement parts for that vehicle, and just how “enhanced” it is.

If you are looking to minimize the effect of depreciation in the first 2-5 years of the life of your vehicle, and you want to be sure that you get a brand new replacement vehicle should your car be damaged beyond repair, you will need either GAP insurance or a Waiver of Depreciation.

Waiver of depreciation

GAP Insurance (Guaranteed Asset Protection)

The fact is that both of the above are ways to increase your coverage in the event of a total loss, and both will make insuring your new vehicle somewhat more expensive. Hence, yes, it may change the equation, in that it makes insuring a new vehicle that much more expensive.

Note: A waiver of depreciation is only available to the first owner of the vehicle, while GAP insurance is typically available for any vehicle that is financed, regardless of whether it is new or used.

Here at Mitch we know that the cost of insurance is a big factor when buying a car. So whether you are thinking of buying a new car, a used car, or even a classic car, be sure to contact a Mitch broker, ideally before you make a decision. We can get you quotes on all the vehicles you are considering, and help you make the decision that is right for you, and your monthly budget!

Who are the best auto insurance companies if you’re a male driver in Ontario? The long answer is complicated, but the short answer, based solely on the prices available today, is CAA Insurance. Before you run out and buy a CAA policy though, keep in mind that based on quotes we ran for different male driver profiles, there are at least four different companies that could have your best rate. Working with an insurance broker helps match you up with the right insurer for you and your circumstances.

When looking for the best insurance company, the answer will be different depending on who you are, where you live, what you drive, etc. That’s because some companies love older drivers, and some don’t. Some want to insure people with clean records, and some would rather sell insurance only to high-risk drivers. Some insurers like to have customers in big cities like Toronto, and others consider that too risky.

The important thing is to find an insurer that wants customers like you, because then they will offer you the best rates. If you’re a male driver living in Ontario, then, which auto insurance companies are the best for you? To find the answer, we created seven different driver profiles, all male, and ran real quotes in our auto insurance quoter. The result was pretty convincing. CAA Insurance had the best rate for four of the seven profiles, and had the lowest average premium by more than $300 a year. But three other insurers offered the best rate for at least one profile.

Important note: When shopping for auto insurance, there are several factors to consider, including coverage options, quality of service, claims satisfaction, and of course, price. Insurer rankings below are based solely on price, because that is the only factor that varies by gender. Read more about the best car insurance companies in Ontario for more detailed information.

If you want an accurate ranking of auto insurance companies for male drivers, you can’t show all the insurers in the same list. That’s because some insurance companies specialize in high-risk drivers, meaning that they automatically have higher premiums for the drivers they cover, and usually won’t even provide a quote for people with clean records or even those with minor blemishes. That said, here are the rankings for both regular market insurers and high-risk insurers.

To determine who the best insurers are for men, we tried to eliminate factors like age, postal code, driving record and type of vehicle, by running quotes for a number of male drivers, where all factors other than gender were variable. The idea is that if an insurer has good rates for 20-year-old AND 60-year-old men, for men driving trucks and sports cars, for men in Toronto and Belleville, then they can be said to generally have good rates for men.

So we ran quotes for seven fictional driver profiles, all male. Each had a unique location (postal code), age, driving record, type of car, and relationship status. The quotes are for imaginary people, but they do represent real prices that you could get if you shared the same personal and driving information as one of the profiles.

All quotes were based on the same coverages, policy limits, deductibles and discounts.

The following drivers don’t actually exist, but the quotes we got for them are real, and reflect what someone of similar circumstances might pay for auto insurance.

Auto insurance is a highly variable market. Individual insurance companies measure their financial results on an ongoing basis, and then adjust their rates accordingly.

The current market shows CAA Insurance offering the best rates for a lot of male drivers. This will likely result in CAA winning a lot of new business among men. How long CAA stays at the top of these rankings really depends on how good their financial results continue to be in this market segment. If their male customers start making more claims, or more costly claims, for any reason, they will have to increase premiums to make sure they have enough money to cover those claims, and hopefully make some profit.

Even if CAA keeps their rates low, if they are making a profit at those rates, then other companies will probably think they can do the same, and gain market share, by lowering their rates to compete. For all of the above reasons, one company is unlikely to dominate a given segment for very long.

The fact is there really isn’t a best insurance company for men. Not for long anyway. Right now it’s CAA, tomorrow it may be Aviva or Wawanesa. And then it’ll change again. And as the quotes above show, the best insurer for most men may not be the best rate for you. The one thing we can tell you for sure is that Mitch is the best place to buy your auto insurance. Whether you’re male, female or non-binary, we work with most of the top insurance companies in the country and will be able to find you the best insurance company for you that day. If they stop being your best insurer, stick with us, there’s always other options.