Overwhelmed!!!

[mode3sour]

My son is 26 and is under our insurance coverage policy.

He has 10 years of accident free driving........but insurance only count the full G licence years, so he has about 8 years of claims free driving.

In 2011, he received 4 minor convictions. Speeding 15 kilometers over the posted limit, failure to come to a full stop (rolling stop at 4 way stop intersection), failure to produce proof of insurance (I had removed it to establish a windshield claim and forgot to put it back), and the nasty one........talking on a cellphone.

The results.......he is now rated a high risk driver and must get his own insurance for 4000 plus per year.

The insurance companies have happily accepted over 20,000 in premiums for him over the past 10 years, and never paid out a nickel.

It is all BS. The insurance companies can do whatever they want and charge whatever they want.

We need government run insurance in Ontario.

Government legislates the requirements for insurance and private business moves in to gouge consumers.

So much for privatization.

Yup

When I was his age I moved to Québec with 10 years claims free driving experience (actually 12 if you count tractor/50cc) I had to start all over with a Probationary SAAQ licence, and when a Quebecois backed his massive jeep into my car I became a high risk because of 3 not-at-fault claims. Huge scams

Why is the price based on what colour my car is, how many doors it has, my school grades, relationship status or what I feed my cat for breakfast? It's blatant prejudice. In Europe they just ask how many HP and how many years of claims free driving experience. Those cash grab tickets don't affect your insurance in Europe either, because they have no implication on your defensive driving skills. The use of stop signs in NA is retarded as well but besides the point

[the-royal-mail]

Agreed HC about the auto insurance. But rates have been increasing significantly for several years. I remember in 2003 or 04 they had a "general rate increase" despite the fact I had a good driving record. WTF. It would be interesting to graph these bogus rate increases along with company profits and overlay the two lines. I bet the trends will be matched. Gotta love the people who keep voting for this clown.

[SteveO]

My son is 26 and is under our insurance coverage policy.

He has 10 years of accident free driving........but insurance only count the full G licence years, so he has about 8 years of claims free driving.

In 2011, he received 4 minor convictions. Speeding 15 kilometers over the posted limit, failure to come to a full stop (rolling stop at 4 way stop intersection), failure to produce proof of insurance (I had removed it to establish a windshield claim and forgot to put it back), and the nasty one........talking on a cellphone.

The results.......he is now rated a high risk driver and must get his own insurance for 4000 plus per year.

The insurance companies have happily accepted over 20,000 in premiums for him over the past 10 years, and never paid out a nickel.

It is all BS. The insurance companies can do whatever they want and charge whatever they want.

We need government run insurance in Ontario.

Government legislates the requirements for insurance and private business moves in to gouge consumers.

So much for privatization.

That happened to me when I was younger, I had two or three speeding tickets, and they switched me to high risk. My advice to people is to fight their tickets. A few hundred dollars in paralegal fees sounds pretty good about now I imagine.

Also shop around. I was with state farm and they were going to jack up their prices big time (because I was high risk), I shopped around and found a broker that offered me insurance for not that much more than state farm was charing to begin with.

Good Luck

[MoneyGal]

Uh, you should overlay the rate of increase in claims at the same time.

Quoting from the Toronto Sun (gah, but no one could accuse me of a Liberal bias then, amirite?)

"From 2004 to 2010 no fault injury claims in Ontario rose 28% but large claims are up 108%. Are we more fragile? Or is something else going on? Bodily injury claims costs --cases where lawsuits were started as a result of collisions-- are rapidly increasing even though there has been no increase in the number of accidents. These claims represent more than $2 billion in costs annually. What is the reason behind this?

Accident claim costs in Ontario are rising, while the number of collisions is declining. Think about that for moment. Where's the money going?"

[Berubeland]

If you do the math on the insurance at $800 per month there is no point in him going to work in fact he's be -300 per month and this entire thread would be moot.

I also certainly agree with the insurance/ticket tax grab issue. I drive a lot all over this city and as a consequence I'm more at risk of getting tickets. A few months ago I got nailed in a speed trap. It's retarded and the police officer giving me the ticket almost got nailed a few times by driver's going 90 km in a 50 zone. I was going 66. In any case it's almost impossible to get a speeding ticket during rush hour.

I pay $488 per month and both my cars are over 10 years old. I've had no accidents or claims for the last 10 years. Quebec was so much better for rates at the time I paid less per year than I pay per month now and I was 18...

[Jaymac83]

I don't see what the big deal is with not getting insurance. Not everyone can afford the high rate of insurance nowadays, and if you go long enough without insured, it's actually a better payoff.

For someone poor with nothing to lose, not getting insurance is the logical and economical move. If you get in an accident, just declare bankruptcy, and you are done.

This may seem strange to rich millionaires posters on this forum, who if they broke the rules, they'll have much to lose.

FYI in Ontario its a mimimum $5000 fine for driving without insurance - Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act sec 2(1)(a).
Claiming bankruptcy does not apply to "Fines" they must be paid - and if you don't pay they suspend your license.
Driving with a suspended license is costly as well and can land you in jail along with the fines for minimum 15 days for repeat offenders adding 15 days for each repeat offence.... you can clearly see this is a slippery slope. Hardly a risk he should be willing to take... Kind of hard to make money to pay off the debt when u add fines / jail time....

[marina628]

You have 24 hours to produce proof of insurance .In July my husband got 2 tickets same day in Scarborough one was 8km over the other was 10km over and it was on a main street.I can see them being picky during a a school district but I think they have to ticket more to meet their budget demands.Moneygal it could also be the cars involved in the accidents are more expensive ,just last Sunday we seen two SUV which had to be $50,000+ each destroyed on the 401 westbound lanes.Or something more Sinister can be going on.

[marina628]

BTW my husband didn't lose any points for these 2 tickets.As for the OP I can see the cell phone one being the biggest one.Before our daughter started driving we taught her to turn the cell off in the car ,At her age all the friends are texting everything and don't think the phone goes more than 2 minutes without a text.I know this does not help your situation ,I guess all you can do is consider getting a cheap car with liability only until he can rebuild his record.