Car Insurance Impact of 2018 Ontario Economic Outlook

Yesterday, The Government of Ontario released their Fall Statement – 2018 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review.

This 174 page document obviously covers a lot more than just insurance, but of particular interest to us and our clients is the statements regarding car insurance. One section reads as follows:

“Making Auto Insurance More Affordable – The government is committed to lowering auto insurance rates to make life more affordable for the nearly 10 million drivers across the province. The government is working with stakeholders across the auto insurance system to explore options to lower rates in a responsible way, while ensuring that the needs of the people are served.”

This is of extreme importance to us, our clients and all drivers in the province. A website was recently set up by the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario to address the concepts of “Get Rates Right”! We will watch carefully as our government and business associations work together to fix the auto insurance system in Ontario, to be fair for all drivers.

The other item of great interest is this:

“Fostering Auto Insurance Innovation- Recent innovations in the insurance sector require an equally innovative response from the regulator. The government is committed to creating a regulatory framework that allows for a more modern auto insurance sector…”

This is meant to address a few different areas, but one of importance to our customers is electronic proof of auto insurance. This industry needs to keep up with the times and make Ontario car insurance consumers’ lives easier. One of the features of our Rhodes & Williams Client Center app is just that – constant and up-to-date access to your “pink-slip” right in your pocket. Many Police Officers will accept this as proof of insurance now, but they are not legally obligated to. This makes conscientious drivers feel the need to carry around paper copies and this needs to change to better serve auto insurance customers across our province.

Aviva Canada President and CEO, Colm Holmes summed it up nicely, “We look forward to working closely and collaboratively with the Government of Ontario to deliver meaningful change to Ontario drivers so that we can reward good drivers with the right coverage and the best service at a fair price,”

These are all very positive comments from the Ontario Government and we can’t wait to see progress for our customers.