Auto Insurance Canada

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There is a old saying that you should only believe half of what you see, and none of what you hear. This could easily be applied to Car Insurance, heres a quick rundown to help you seperate fact from fiction!

 

“The colour of your car affects your premium”

Whether your car is a sober grey or a kaleidoscope of colour, it will not in any way affect your premium.

To use an analogy, insurance providers are colour blind. So don’t fret too much about choosing the yellow Ferrari over the red, it will not affect your premium!

 

“2 Door vehicles cost more to ensure than 4 door vehicles of the same make and model”

On a case to case basis, this may or may not be the truth. The truth is that the amount of doors on your vehicle is largely irrelevant.

Premiums for individual vehicles are calculated with reference to the claims history unique to that make and model.  The real factors are the accident frequency, safety ratings, and incidences of theft and vandalism for each make and model of car. 

So, depending on the claims history, a four door may cost more to insure than a 2 door and vice versa.

“Parking Tickets will increase your premium”

You may breathe a sigh of relief, luckily for most of us, this is not the case.

What will affect your premium is unpaid tickets. Unpaid tickets affect your ability to renew your license, and may ultimately lead to a suspension. Needless to say, this will definitely increase your premium.

“Speeding tickets will increase your premium”

It all depends. Get your first minor speeding ticket (up to 50km/h over the speed limit), and chances are your premium will not be adversely affected. However, once they start piling up, insurance companies will take heed and increase your premium in all probability.

Unsuprisingly a major speeding ticket (more than 50 km/hr over the limit) will almost certainly lighten your wallet.

“If you are not at fault, you don’t have to pay your deductible”

It is the insurance company who have the final say as to whether or not you pay your deductible.

The police may well have deemed you not to be criminally responsible for the accident, but until the insurance company have investigated and ruled the accident not to be your fault, they have a right to waive your deductible. Until this is decided, you may have to cover the cost of any repairs yourself.

“All insurance companies charge the same rates so it doesn’t matter who you insure with”

Probably the most widely held (and expensive) myth. Insurance companies like any other enterprise are competing for a limited amount of paying customers, and as such their rates vary, in many cases greatly.

For any given individual driver profile and car model, it is safe to say you will never find two identical quotes from different companies. The way each company calculates their premiums vary greatly. Some put greater emphasis on driver experience, some on claims history, and so on and so forth.

It pays to compare and shop around, try the auto insurance comparison tool at www.kanetix.ca . It is a quick an easy comparison tool which will give you rates from multiple competing insurers.