Drivers in Ontario pay far more for auto insurance — including as much as 500 per cent more in Toronto — than consumers in provinces with public auto insurance, a new consumer study says.
The report by the Consumers’ Association of Canada suggests that drivers in the four provinces with public auto insurance — British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec — pay the lowest rates.
Among major cities, Vancouver and Winnipeg have much lower rates than Toronto and Calgary. Winnipeg has the lowest rates of major cities in Canada.
But in Toronto, some consumers “pay up to 500 per cent more for auto insurance than do equivalent consumers in provinces with public auto systems,” said Bruce Cran, national secretary for the Consumers Association.
“The highest actual rate quote we obtained in all of Canada was a shocking $18,000 in Toronto.”
The study included data from forty cities in all 10 provinces, examining more than 7,000 rate quotes and questioning whether the same driver would pay more or less for auto insurance if they had the same vehicle, same driving record and same claims history in another city.
On a region-by-region basis, the Atlantic provinces have much higher rates than the western provinces, with the exception of Alberta, where rates are much higher, Cran said.
“When one also compares Ontario’s smaller cities to smaller cities in a province like British Columbia one thing is very clear. Consumers in cities like Ottawa, London, Thunder Bay and Barrie pay a lot more,” Cran said.
“How much more they pay is also dependent on how much comparison shopping they do. The rates from different private insurers can vary by thousands of dollars. We strongly recommend consumers shop around（逛商店，比较价格）.”
The study used one special Canadian location as a side-by-side comparison of public and private auto insurance rates: Lloydminster, which straddles（跨越） the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Cran said a person living 30 metres across the street on the Alberta side can pay up to $5,000 more each year for the same vehicle and get worse insurance coverage. Saskatchewan has a public auto system while Alberta has a private system.
“If you live on the Saskatchewan side, you’re paying a fifth less than if you lived in Alberta. No wonder they’re so happy.”
The study follows a report by the Fraser Institute released last week that suggested public auto insurance leads to more deaths, injuries and property damage because bad drivers aren’t forced off the road by higher premiums. Cran questioned that report’s methodology.
The Consumers Association study also comes as Ontario election campaigns are heating up, with auto insurance emerging as a key issue.
“In Ontario, consumers and political parties of all stripes and the industry all agree on one thing: the auto insurance system in Ontario is broken and needs repair, desperately needs repair. The disagreement is on how to do it,” said Consumers Association president Mel Fruitman.
Conservative Premier Ernie Eves has said that he will have a plan in place by Jan. 1 to cut the cost of keeping cars on the road in Ontario by anywhere from five to 30 per cent. Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty has said his party would freeze rates immediately and then reduce them by an average of 10 per cent, while NDP leader Howard Hampton is touting public insurance.
Auto insurance was a divisive topic earlier this year in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, nearly costing New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord his re-election.
Insurance costs and what can be done about them grabbed headlines in recent months as auto premiums in the province shot up by 20 per cent or more over the past two years.
The industry has blamed rising premiums on soaring legal and health-care bills. The Insurance Bureau of Canada said health care costs from auto insurance claims in Ontario have risen to more than $1.5 billion in 2002 from about $380 million in 1992.
Insurers, who invest some premiums in the stock market, have also had to deal with the market’s three-year slump, as well as industry costs from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
（STEVE ERWIN ）
