# So Car Insurance?



## broonie84 (Jun 12, 2016)

What's the best way to get a decent price on car insurance? We are a family of 4, in our 30's, quotes we have been getting back are around $4k, I understand new immigrants may pay a little more but $4k!


----------



## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

You have little experience driving on Canadian roads, driving under your province's driving rules, driving in Canadian winters, and have no driving history here. Based on all of that, what you are being asked to pay is not unreasonable. A friend of mine who was born and raised here insured a new SVU this week and based on his age and where he lives he was quoted over $3000. That was reduced slightly due to a discount offered to employees where he works but he is still paying well over $2k per year. So asking someone with no experience of driving here and no driving history here to pay $4k isn't out of line.


----------



## broonie84 (Jun 12, 2016)

colchar said:


> You have little experience driving on Canadian roads, driving under your province's driving rules, driving in Canadian winters, and have no driving history here. Based on all of that, what you are being asked to pay is not unreasonable. A friend of mine who was born and raised here insured a new SVU this week and based on his age and where he lives he was quoted over $3000. That was reduced slightly due to a discount offered to employees where he works but he is still paying well over $2k per year. So asking someone with no experience of driving here and no driving history here to pay $4k isn't out of line.


Thanks for the input Colchar, 

A little info for anyone who reads this, I've been in touch with an insurance broker and she has stated that certain insurance companies accept overseas 'no claims' you need to provide proof from your insurance companies stating claim free driving and with no convictions e.g speeding, 

I'll post back when I'm in Canada with details, 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

Yes, my insurance company at time of arrival 'acknowledged' my spotless driving record... with a 'commercial gesture' (discount of a couple of hundreds of dollars on a $$$$$ policy). LOL And traffic in the GTA is peanuts compared to where I used to drive.
Hope you have more luck. If not: after 1 year of accident free driving (and no tickets), the price will go down a lot! I don't remember exactly, but I think it was almost 50%!


----------



## broonie84 (Jun 12, 2016)

EVHB said:


> Yes, my insurance company at time of arrival 'acknowledged' my spotless driving record... with a 'commercial gesture' (discount of a couple of hundreds of dollars on a $$$$$ policy). LOL And traffic in the GTA is peanuts compared to where I used to drive.
> Hope you have more luck. If not: after 1 year of accident free driving (and no tickets), the price will go down a lot! I don't remember exactly, but I think it was almost 50%!




That's good news at least thanks for the reply, 
We have budgeted for around the $3k mark anyway, 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## evets (Dec 7, 2015)

colchar said:


> You have little experience driving on Canadian roads, driving under your province's driving rules, driving in Canadian winters, and have no driving history here. Based on all of that, what you are being asked to pay is not unreasonable. A friend of mine who was born and raised here insured a new SVU this week and based on his age and where he lives he was quoted over $3000. That was reduced slightly due to a discount offered to employees where he works but he is still paying well over $2k per year. So asking someone with no experience of driving here and no driving history here to pay $4k isn't out of line.


Not sure why international driving experience does not really count. I have driven in many countries and many years in the UK including winters. I have never encountered any crashes in winter in the UK, including some really bad ones, but reading the Canadian news the last few weeks and the amount of accidents reported. You guys really need to step up as you appear to come across as the worst drivers in the world!

Also reading how mickey mouse some of the driving tests are in the GTA area/Canada and how you should plan to take your test in an easier area. Sorry, no consistency!

How different is it it driving a UK winter to a Canadian winter. It snows, you have poor visibility, roads are a mess. Difference Canadians like other countries that have high snow falls deal which is probably better than the UK. Problem is Canadian drivers need extra tuition before being allowed on the road.

Canadian drivers are not, from what I understand penalised when moving to other countries due to the fact they have no local experience(I am just assuming this and could be very wrong). I came from the UK to Australia, and had no issues or penalties imposed on me. Even though I had not owned a car for 5 years, they still accepted my NCB.


----------



## WestCoastCanadianGirl (Mar 17, 2012)

evets said:


> Not sure why international driving experience does not really count. I have driven in many countries and many years in the UK including winters. I have never encountered any crashes in winter in the UK, including some really bad ones, but reading the Canadian news the last few weeks and the amount of accidents reported. You guys really need to step up as you appear to come across as the worst drivers in the world!
> 
> Also reading how mickey mouse some of the driving tests are in the GTA area/Canada and how you should plan to take your test in an easier area. Sorry, no consistency!
> 
> ...


It was _very_ difficult for me to get added to my Mother in Law's automobile insurance when I moved from BC to the UK. I was able to get a copy of my driving abstract (issued by the government of BC, the only purveyor of mandatory basic automobile insurance in the province... 3rd party firms exist but are forbidden to offer the requisite basic cover) but that was almost not enough... MiL had to pretty much argue with her underwriter the fact that I have a clean driving record (1 at-fault accident in my then 25 years of driving, and even at that, I was a new driver when it happened; the abstract I procured showed that the most recent 5 years of my history was clean) and the fact that DVLA was willing to trade Canadian licenses for UK without having to re-test (my UK license is blemish free in the 4 years I've had it), so I was a safe driver.

I was lucky to have been added in the first instance as many underwriters simply won't cover new-to-the-UK drivers or, if they do, the cover for deemed "new drivers" starts in the £ 000's.


----------



## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

I had about 25 years of experience driving in cities such as Antwerp and Brussels without any at fault accidents, but had to pay the high premium after moving to Canada. And I must say that I was very surprised about the poor driving skills I encountered here in Canada. :-(


----------



## broonie84 (Jun 12, 2016)

I've spoken with an insurance broker who insures our vehicles for my employer and she states I will get my NCB in the UK and Australia recognised for a discount in Toronto, but my boss who drives a Subaru Impreza sti/wrx (really powerful 1) and he pays just over $1000 for the year, 
We are not getting quotes for just over $2000 which is far better than the $4k that we had quoted on a dummy quote, we don't move out to Toronto until March, 

I pay $600 here in Australia and the driving standard here is utterly poor, undertaking, tailgating, cutting people up at any opportunity, young kids 18years old driving around in v6 3.6ltr cars as the insurance is so cheap for them, 

I remember when I passed my test in 2001, I bought a 1.1ltr Fiat Punto in the uk and paid £1800 for my 1st years insurance, 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

evets said:


> Not sure why international driving experience does not really count. I have driven in many countries and many years in the UK including winters.


First, you cannot prove to them which countries you drove in nor what the road conditions were. And UK winters are nothing like winters here so driving during the winter in the UK will not prepare you to drive in typical Canadian winter conditions.

Add to that the different rules of the road, driving speeds, driving on the opposite side of the road, etc. and it makes perfect sense that newcomers should have to pay more.




> I have never encountered any crashes in winter in the UK, including some really bad ones, but reading the Canadian news the last few weeks and the amount of accidents reported. You guys really need to step up as you appear to come across as the worst drivers in the world!


British winters are nothing like Canadian winters, nothing at all. An inch or two of snow can shut down London whereas we barely notice it.

As for accidents over the last week, that is due to the first snowfalls of the year. People tend to drive like they do in summer conditions and do not start to take care and drive for winter conditions until after the first snowfall. It is stupid, but people do it every year. And then there are places like Vancouver and Victoria which never see snow but got a decent snowfall this past week. If they rarely see snow it is no surprise that there were accidents there.





> How different is it it driving a UK winter to a Canadian winter. It snows, you have poor visibility, roads are a mess. Difference Canadians like other countries that have high snow falls deal which is probably better than the UK.


How different is it? Very. From Sunday to Monday this week we received about 15cm of snow in roughly 18 hours. If that happened in London they would have to shut the city down for a week. Hell, just pay attention to British media and you will see them describing minor snow flurries as 'blizzard conditions' (they are clearly too stupid to understand what a blizzard actually is or are keeping up the British media tradition of being overly sensationalist) and you will hear about traffic chaos. Other than the first snowfall of the year we just get on with it but in many parts of Britain it causes chaos. 





> Problem is Canadian drivers need extra tuition before being allowed on the road.


Um no, we don't. Other than idiots who don't alter their driving style during the first snowfall of the year we get on with it just fine.





> Canadian drivers are not, from what I understand penalised when moving to other countries due to the fact they have no local experience(I am just assuming this and could be very wrong). I came from the UK to Australia, and had no issues or penalties imposed on me. Even though I had not owned a car for 5 years, they still accepted my NCB.



Driving in Australia is hardly comparable to driving in Canada now is it?


----------



## evets (Dec 7, 2015)

WestCoastCanadianGirl said:


> It was _very_ difficult for me to get added to my Mother in Law's automobile insurance when I moved from BC to the UK. I was able to get a copy of my driving abstract (issued by the government of BC, the only purveyor of mandatory basic automobile insurance in the province... 3rd party firms exist but are forbidden to offer the requisite basic cover) but that was almost not enough... MiL had to pretty much argue with her underwriter the fact that I have a clean driving record (1 at-fault accident in my then 25 years of driving, and even at that, I was a new driver when it happened; the abstract I procured showed that the most recent 5 years of my history was clean) and the fact that DVLA was willing to trade Canadian licenses for UK without having to re-test (my UK license is blemish free in the 4 years I've had it), so I was a safe driver.
> 
> I was lucky to have been added in the first instance as many underwriters simply won't cover new-to-the-UK drivers or, if they do, the cover for deemed "new drivers" starts in the £ 000's.


Ah ok, I take that all back as was not sure or aware of the regulations of NA's getting insurance in the UK.


----------



## evets (Dec 7, 2015)

broonie84 said:


> the driving standard here is utterly poor, undertaking, tailgating, cutting people up at any opportunity, young kids 18years old driving around in v6 3.6ltr cars as the insurance is so cheap for them,
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


haha so true, I watch and drive in amasement at the clowns on the road here(Australia) and so agree with all your comments.


----------



## evets (Dec 7, 2015)

colchar said:


> First, you cannot prove to them which countries you drove in nor what the road conditions were. And UK winters are nothing like winters here so driving during the winter in the UK will not prepare you to drive in typical Canadian winter conditions.
> 
> Add to that the different rules of the road, driving speeds, driving on the opposite side of the road, etc. and it makes perfect sense that newcomers should have to pay more.


Noted, but that is not the point. I can only prove which countries I have a license and had been insured in. The fact I have driving in other countries is irrelevant to the me getting insurance in Canada, all it helps is that it gives me extra skills.

Snow is snow what ever country you come from, Canada deals with it better than the UK as they expect it. Talking to colleagues the snow is cleared from the main roads in the cities very quickly, compared to the UK. The highlands of Scotland are also very dangerous to drive in the winter as very isolated like parts of Canada.

Driving on the opposite side of the road, takes a few hours to get your bearings and a few months to get up to speed on the new laws. Not rocket science if you have a good number of years of driving under you.




colchar said:


> British winters are nothing like Canadian winters, nothing at all. An inch or two of snow can shut down London whereas we barely notice it.
> 
> As for accidents over the last week, that is due to the first snowfalls of the year. People tend to drive like they do in summer conditions and do not start to take care and drive for winter conditions until after the first snowfall. It is stupid, but people do it every year. And then there are places like Vancouver and Victoria which never see snow but got a decent snowfall this past week. If they rarely see snow it is no surprise that there were accidents there.


Agreed, because you know you will get snow and deal with it so much better. Whereas the UK just does not prepare.




colchar said:


> How different is it? Very. From Sunday to Monday this week we received about 15cm of snow in roughly 18 hours. If that happened in London they would have to shut the city down for a week. Hell, just pay attention to British media and you will see them describing minor snow flurries as 'blizzard conditions' (they are clearly too stupid to understand what a blizzard actually is or are keeping up the British media tradition of being overly sensationalist) and you will hear about traffic chaos. Other than the first snowfall of the year we just get on with it but in many parts of Britain it causes chaos.


haha so true. Had a colleague in Finland trying to get back to UK, and the locals laughing at the disaster of the British airport trying to deal with such a small snow fall.





colchar said:


> Um no, we don't. Other than idiots who don't alter their driving style during the first snowfall of the year we get on with it just fine.


Not from I have seen in the new reports over the last few weeks.



colchar said:


> Driving in Australia is hardly comparable to driving in Canada now is it?


Agreed, but drivers here are crap compared to the UK. Some of them I do wonder how they managed to even pass the driving test. Then again I have driving in many countries and passed my test in the UK. So I am not comparing driving in Australia to Canada as most Australians have never driving in snow let alone seen it in real life.


----------



## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

evets said:


> haha so true, I watch and drive in amasement at the clowns on the road here(Australia) and so agree with all your comments.



If you think they are clowns try coming to Canada and driving in Quebec.


----------



## WestCoastCanadianGirl (Mar 17, 2012)

colchar said:


> If you think they are clowns try coming to Canada and driving in Quebec.


Bwahahahahahahahaha!


That said, there are certain areas of the Metro Vancouver area that are pretty bad too.


----------



## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

evets said:


> Noted, but that is not the point. I can only prove which countries I have a license and had been insured in. The fact I have driving in other countries is irrelevant to the me getting insurance in Canada, all it helps is that it gives me extra skills.


But with no way to prove those skills, they are irrelevant.





> Snow is snow what ever country you come from


No, it isn't. The amounts we get make it very different.




> Canada deals with it better than the UK as they expect it. Talking to colleagues the snow is cleared from the main roads in the cities very quickly, compared to the UK.



Not always. Here they will plow main roads quickly for the first couple of snowfalls but after that they fall back onto another schedule. Under that, they clear highways when there is 3cm of snow, main roads when there is 5cm, and residential and secondary roads when there is 7.5cm. I was out yesterday and saw a couple of residential streets that still hadn't been cleared following the Sunday/Monday snowfall. We are expecting another couple of cm tomorrow and then about 5cm on Friday. I do not expect Friday's snow to be cleared off of my street until we get some more on top of it. They might, maybe, do it because we are early in the year but if this was January they wouldn't bother.

Here is the actual text from the map on the city's website:
"_Crews normally plow local residential streets when 7.5cm of snow has accumulated. This map will only show updates during these types of events._"





> Driving on the opposite side of the road, takes a few hours to get your bearings and a few months to get up to speed on the new laws. Not rocket science if you have a good number of years of driving under you.



And how do you think an insurance company feels about insuring you during those few months that it takes you to get up to speed? That is the period during which you are most likely to have an accident so they are definitely going to make you pay premiums which reflect that reality.





> haha so true. Had a colleague in Finland trying to get back to UK, and the locals laughing at the disaster of the British airport trying to deal with such a small snow fall.


A good friend of mine lives in London and she has mentioned more than once that the city melts down over a couple of cm of snow, even though they get it every year. She says there have been days during which the only people in her office are fellow Canadians who barely notice that it has snowed at all, meanwhile the Brits all think that snowmageddon has descended upon them and have stayed home.





> Not from I have seen in the new reports over the last few weeks.


And as I said, that is due to this being the first snowfall of the year in the Toronto area. It is always a ****show during the first snowfall but, after that, we get on with it just fine. And you can't have been seeing news reports about snow here the last few weeks as the first snowfall was only a couple of days ago. You might have seen reports out of Vancouver and Victoria but that is understandable because it doesn't snow there. Over the last ten days they have had more snow than the last two years combined. When you consider that it never snows there it is no surprise that things have been a mess as it is something that they simply do not have to deal with.





> Agreed, but drivers here are crap compared to the UK. Some of them I do wonder how they managed to even pass the driving test. Then again I have driving in many countries and passed my test in the UK. So I am not comparing driving in Australia to Canada as most Australians have never driving in snow let alone seen it in real life.



Drivers in the UK need to learn where the gas pedal is. No wonder it takes 45 minutes to go a few short miles.


----------



## evets (Dec 7, 2015)

colchar said:


> But with no way to prove those skills, they are irrelevant.



Agreed, but that was not the point I was making. Insurance companies will only base any discounts they provide you on a documented NCB. My own driving history will help me adjust to driving in different countries.




colchar said:


> No, it isn't. The amounts we get make it very different.


Not sure how, I have driven in some of the worst in the UK no snow trucks even out, visibility only a few feet. You may get more snow over all, but a stormy night what ever country you are in is going to put the most experienced driver to the test. And parts of Scotland are very remote that they do not get cleared. Stop making parts of Canada like they are unique to the rest of the world.



colchar said:


> Not always. Here they will plow main roads quickly for the first couple of snowfalls but after that they fall back onto another schedule. Under that, they clear highways when there is 3cm of snow, main roads when there is 5cm, and residential and secondary roads when there is 7.5cm. I was out yesterday and saw a couple of residential streets that still hadn't been cleared following the Sunday/Monday snowfall. We are expecting another couple of cm tomorrow and then about 5cm on Friday. I do not expect Friday's snow to be cleared off of my street until we get some more on top of it. They might, maybe, do it because we are early in the year but if this was January they wouldn't bother.


OK noted, same as much the same as rural parts of the UK.



colchar said:


> Here is the actual text from the map on the city's website:
> "_Crews normally plow local residential streets when 7.5cm of snow has accumulated. This map will only show updates during these types of events._"


Interesting.





colchar said:


> And how do you think an insurance company feels about insuring you during those few months that it takes you to get up to speed? That is the period during which you are most likely to have an accident so they are definitely going to make you pay premiums which reflect that reality.


Well to be honest I was being very liberal here. After a couple of hours driving round NA I felt pretty confident on the roads. Bit of background reading during that time to get up to speed on the road signs.

I feel less confident about the drivers in Canada than I do about my own driving.








colchar said:


> A good friend of mine lives in London and she has mentioned more than once that the city melts down over a couple of cm of snow, even though they get it every year. She says there have been days during which the only people in her office are fellow Canadians who barely notice that it has snowed at all, meanwhile the Brits all think that snowmageddon has descended upon them and have stayed home.


True, Brits while they understand it may/could/will snow are never prepared and then make such a big eal about it!




colchar said:


> And as I said, that is due to this being the first snowfall of the year in the Toronto area. It is always a ****show during the first snowfall but, after that, we get on with it just fine. And you can't have been seeing news reports about snow here the last few weeks as the first snowfall was only a couple of days ago. You might have seen reports out of Vancouver and Victoria but that is understandable because it doesn't snow there. Over the last ten days they have had more snow than the last two years combined. When you consider that it never snows there it is no surprise that things have been a mess as it is something that they simply do not have to deal with.


True, as one of my colleagues also said. I am not concerned with BC, only ON and the news reports for BC do not concern me.






Drivers in the UK need to learn where the gas pedal is. No wonder it takes 45 minutes to go a few short miles.[/QUOTE]


----------



## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

evets said:


> Not sure how, I have driven in some of the worst in the UK no snow trucks even out, visibility only a few feet. You may get more snow over all, but a stormy night what ever country you are in is going to put the most experienced driver to the test.


It is quite simple really - more snow equals worse driving conditions. A couple of cm in Britain is not the same as a foot or more here.




> Stop making parts of Canada like they are unique to the rest of the world.


The fact that you think that driving in the winter anywhere in the UK is comparable to driving in winter conditions here in Canada demonstrates a real lack of knowledge on this subject. When Britain starts experiencing winters like Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with their snow and extreme temperatures, you can make the comparison but until then it is silly for you to do so, especially when we have already established that many in Britain go into meltdown mode over a couple of cm of snow whereas we just shrug and get on with it.





> OK noted, same as much the same as rural parts of the UK.


The thing is, I am not talking about rural areas. I live in a city of almost 500.000 people which is just outside of Toronto (I can see the CN Tower from the front of my house) which means that there is far more traffic on those unplowed roads than there is on unplowed rural roads in the UK.






> I feel less confident about the drivers in Canada than I do about my own driving.


That kind of overconfidence about your own driving is what leads to accidents. And since you have little to no personal experience of Canadian drivers you are hardly in any position to judge their driving habits, especially when the driving laws are so different from those that you are used to.





> True, as one of my colleagues also said. I am not concerned with BC, only ON and the news reports for BC do not concern me.


Well if you are talking about Ontario you certainly haven't been seeing news reports over the last couple of weeks as the Toronto area only got its first snowfall on Sunday. Before that the temperatures were positively balmy.


----------



## evets (Dec 7, 2015)

colchar said:


> It is quite simple really - more snow equals worse driving conditions. A couple of cm in Britain is not the same as a foot or more here.


True.






colchar said:


> The fact that you think that driving in the winter anywhere in the UK is comparable to driving in winter conditions here in Canada demonstrates a real lack of knowledge on this subject. When Britain starts experiencing winters like Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with their snow and extreme temperatures, you can make the comparison but until then it is silly for you to do so, especially when we have already established that many in Britain go into meltdown mode over a couple of cm of snow whereas we just shrug and get on with it.


Good points, did not think about that.







colchar said:


> The thing is, I am not talking about rural areas. I live in a city of almost 500.000 people which is just outside of Toronto (I can see the CN Tower from the front of my house) which means that there is far more traffic on those unplowed roads than there is on unplowed rural roads in the UK.









colchar said:


> That kind of overconfidence about your own driving is what leads to accidents. And since you have little to no personal experience of Canadian drivers you are hardly in any position to judge their driving habits, especially when the driving laws are so different from those that you are used to.


No I am not over confident about my own driving experience, just more cautious when driving. I do have experience driving in Canada and the US, just not in your winter time. 






colchar said:


> Well if you are talking about Ontario you certainly haven't been seeing news reports over the last couple of weeks as the Toronto area only got its first snowfall on Sunday. Before that the temperatures were positively balmy.


OK just going by some posts I have seen on Instagram.


----------



## broonie84 (Jun 12, 2016)

I think you guys have now lost the point in this post, 

I'm not at all interested if someone things Canada is unique with snow fall, I've driven in heavy snow, it was that bad snow ploughs got stuck, Scotland in 08,09 had the worst ever recorded snow and temperatures dropping to -27 I believe, and following years we just get the normal snow fall with a foot deep, snow tyres had only been thought about in 2010, and they made a big difference for grip when I fitted them to my van, 
But forgetting that and onto why car insurance so so expensive, especially in ON, my sister stays in Calgary(crazy snow there) and pays $100 a month for her truck, she's only been there 6months, 
Yet I'm being quoted (initially) $300 for a family 7 seater at half the cost she spent on her truck, 

A quick Google on the insurance subject and a lot of story's of government price fixing, government controlled sectors making it a tough monopoly for that sector, 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------

