Ontarians pay more than double in car insurance

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The price of car insurance is always a hot topic in this province. It costs Ontarians more than double to drive here, than anywhere else in Canada. New figures released today show rates have fallen marginally, less than 1%… and now an independent report found the auto insurance industry is raking in large government guaranteed profits. As Kate Carnegie reports, the liberals admitted today they have more work to do to lower the rates for drivers.

It can cost over $5,000 a year on average to drive in this province. That’s almost double the cost of what drivers in Alberta pay and three times the cost in Nova Scotia. Head to the west and it’s four and half times more than what drivers in Manitoba pay.

The Liberals promised to cut car insurance premiums by 15 per cent by last August. It was part of a deal to get NDP support for the 2013 budget when they were still a minority. The government released numbers today that show the rates dropped point five percent in the last quarter and almost 7 percent since august 2013 not the 15 that was promised.

The Ontario Trial Lawyers commissioned an independent report on the cost of auto insurance in this province and it found that customers likely overpaid by 3 to 4 billion dollars between 2001 and 2013.

The Premier admitted that more needs to be done. Yesterday, Finance Minister Charles Sousa admitted the government missed the target but said some companies have lowered rates an average of of 10 percent while others haven’t reduced them nearly enough.