Cheap car insurance

Here are some of the best ways to get cheap car insurance:

Drive responsibly

It’s true — insurance companies have access to all sorts of data related to road violations. So the more speeding and traffic tickets you collect, the higher your premiums go.

Bundle

Buy an insurance package that includes car insurance and another type of insurance, like home, tenant, or condo. You’ll get a bundle price that lowers both rates.

Avoid making small claims

The more claims you submit, the less attractive you are to insurance companies. Plus, they stay on your record and will cause your future rates to go up. The small claims are the low hanging fruit that you should pay out of pocket rather than ‘wasting’ a claim on.

Telematics

Telematics is an app-based system that tracks your driving habits. Insurance companies then use your driving data to determine your premium. So if you drive responsibly, your rate can go down.

Credit score

Plain and simple: Maintain a good credit score, pay less for your car insurance.

Here are three easy ways to lower your car insurance premiums:

Pay on time

It stands to reason that insurance companies don’t appreciate late payments. Follow the rules and reap the benefits.

Shop around for the best rate

The more you compare quotes from different insurance providers, the higher your likelihood of finding the lowest rate for you. An insurance broker like KBD can shop the market for you.

Sign up for your insurance company’s telematics system

Most insurance companies have an app-based system — like Intact’s my Drive — that tracks your driving habits, and uses your behaviour on the road to determine your premium. Just signing up can save you money, and consistently responsible driving can send your rate down over time.

Yes! Every Canadian province requires all vehicle owners to carry insurance. More specifically, liability insurance is the minimum coverage required.

One-way insurance.

Liability insurance is the minimum coverage required by law for drivers to carry. It covers you for non-responsible accidents only, meaning the damage occured through no fault of your own.

We don’t believe there’s such a thing as the BEST car insurance company in Canada. Each individual has to find the coverage and price that best suits their needs. Even then, the insurance provider that is best for you now might not be the best for you five years from now.

Having said all that, here are some of what we consider to be the top insurance companies in Canada:

• Belair
• Economical
• Intact
• Desjardins

No, it’s not. Every Canadian province requires all vehicle owners to carry, at minimum, liability insurance. However, if you are leasing or financing your car, you will be required by your lender to carry comprehensive.

To avoid paying interest charges, pay your car insurance in full. If you choose to pay in monthly installments, your insurance company will likely charge you interest.

Quebec!

La belle province employs a hybrid car insurance model wherein the private sector (car insurance companies) pays out physical damage claims and the public sector (government) pays out bodily injury claims.

A big reason Ontario (and the United States for that matter) has such high premiums is fraud. And the reason they have fraud is because bodily injury claims go through private insurance, and the responsible driver is on the hook to pay out any damages caused. 

In Quebec, individuals submit their own bodily injury claims through the SAAQ, removing the other party from the process and basically negating the incentive to fake injury to collect money.

Yes it does, and as usual, it has to do with data.

The statistics show that people with good credit scores claim less frequently than those with bad credit scores. Insurance companies like to follow the data, and it reflects in the premiums they offer.

More is better!

When you call an insurance broker or go online for a quote, the more information you can provide, the more accurate your car insurance quote will be.

Here are some quick items you should have at the ready that you will absolutely need to provide:

• Your vehicle’s serial number
• Each driver’s license number
• Home address
• Vehicle make and model
• Name of the registered owner of the vehicle

The best tip we can give for finding a lower car insurance rate is to shop around among the insurance companies out there.

If you’ve done your homework and properly shopped around, you’ll know the lay of the land, and you’ll know whether one company is overcharging.

We suggest calling at least three companies in order to gauge your car insurance market.

You’re not supposed to.

Here’s how it works: Your car should be registered in the same province as your principal residence.

Your driver’s license should also match the province of your principal residence. According to Canadian law (since 1982) you can only have one principal residence.

And since you need to provide a driver’s license and car registration that matches the province of your insurer, you can’t technically have insurance in more than one province.

Yes. Different provinces have different prices, rules, and regulations.

The most expensive car insurance in Canada? British Columbia.

The cheapest? Quebec.

Getting cheap car insurance as a young driver can be difficult because insurance companies aren’t crazy about the idea of insuring inexperienced drivers. Here are some things you can do as a newcomer.

Sign up for telematics

Most insurance companies have a telematics option in some form, like Intact’s my Drive. It’s an app-based system that tracks your driving habits, and uses your behaviour on the road to determine your premium. You can incur savings just by signing up, and if you consistently drive responsibly, your rate can go down.

Credit score

Insurance companies also look at credit score as an indicator of a responsible client. As a young person, hopefully you haven’t had time to damage your reputation as a borrower. Keep this in check and you can reap the benefits elsewhere.

Rack up experience

Obviously, you don’t have experience until you have it. But if you can keep a clean, claims-free record from the moment you get your licence, your premium will lower over time. Experience wins — it just takes a while to get there.

Pro tip: Put your name as the primary driver on one of your parents’ cars before you start driving — that helps build your profile as a driver.

Liability insurance — Covers you for third party property damage you cause.

For example: You drive your car into a telephone pole and knock it down. Your liability insurance can cover these costs.

Comprehensive insurance — Covers you for fire, theft, vandalism, or glass breakage.

For example: Someone breaks into your car and steals your laptop. Your comprehensive insurance can reimburse you for it.

Collision insurance — Covers you for accidents for which you were responsible.

For example: You rear end an unsuspecting driver on the highway. Your collision insurance can pay for damage to your car. (The other driver’s insurance will cover their damages.)

Hot tip: If you plan on financing or leasing your next car, you’ll need to get all three of the above coverages.

No. In fact, it’s usually the opposite.

Many drivers complain that while the value of their car drops every year, the cost to insure it goes up. It seems counterintuitive.

The reason insurance rates go up doesn’t have to do with the value of the car, but the value to repair it.

Why?

Because the vast majority of accidents claimed are partial losses, not total losses. In other words, insurance companies are more often than not paying out claims to fix or replace parts, not to buy a completely new car.

So why does that make it more expensive? Because a partial loss is, in general, more expensive to fix this year than it was last year, and will be pricier to fix next year and the year after that. The causes? Inflation, increase in cost of materials, and increase in cost of labour.

No, GEICO does not offer car insurance to Canadian residents.

While north of the border we can’t save 15% or more on car insurance by switching to GEICO, we CAN enjoy their silly commercials on the American TV networks.

No. Comprehensive doesn’t cover you for everything.

Comprehensive car insurance covers you for fire, theft, vandalism, and glass breakage. 

Full coverage includes everything comprehensive does, plus responsible and non-responsible accidents.

Males between the ages of 17 and 23.

Why? The data shows they get into more accidents and cost insurance companies more money than any other demographic.

Read more: A Guide to Buying First Time Car Insurance

You can make as many car insurance claims as you’d like — but you shouldn’t.

Be careful, because the more you claim, the higher your rates will go and the less coverage companies will be willing to offer. The same way liability insurance is mandatory for drivers, it’s also the minimum insurance companies are required to provide you. So if you submit claim after claim, they could refuse your collision and comprehensive coverage — and without those, you won’t be able to lease or finance.

So you can claim car insurance twice or more in a year, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find good (and affordable) insurance the next year.

The price of car insurance depends on where you live, your gender, your age, your claims history, and more.

You can lower your car insurance premiums by avoiding claims, paying on time, shopping around, and more.

At KBD, we always suggest a minimum deductible of $1,000 for collision insurance (responsible accidents) and $500 for comprehensive insurance (fire, theft, vandalism, glass breakage). If you can afford to go higher, you should, because the higher deductible you take, the lower your insurance premium will be. And since we don’t advise making small claims (the fewer claims the better!), you can rationalize a larger deductible.

Yes, but if you provide accurate information, it shouldn’t.

A common example: A potential client calls for a quote and the broker asks whether they’ve made any claims in the last five years. The client says no, and the broker produces a quote.

Later, when the client provides their driver’s license number, the broker goes into the claims database and finds that there is a claim within the last five years. Whether the client lied or simply forgot, the information was missing.

When the actual price is drawn up, it will be higher than the quote since it now takes the claim into account. Inaccurate claims history is the most common reason a quote would change.

We really can’t give an accurate answer to that.

Car insurance rates in Canada are determined by factors unique to each driver, like the type of car you drive, where you live, and more.

Shop around and do your research, and you’ll learn what the market looks like for a driver with your profile.

First, you need to register your vehicle in your new province and get new licence plates. Then, call up an insurance company or a broker from within that province to get a quote. Simple as that!