# Emigrating to Ontario in Feb, Need list of Who's Best/Chespest for EVERYTHING!



## hughm (Nov 1, 2010)

Hi all, my permanent resident VISA has issued so I will be making the big move on 18th Feb over to Burlington Ontario with my family.

It would be really great if you guys could help me out with a list of the cheapest/best providers for al the things that I am going to need to start over with. Also who offers good bundled packages, TV, Phone & Broadband etc. 

Who is very expensive o has terible service and should be avoided....

Here are a few topics to kick start the discussion...... 

Car Insurance
Home insurance
Health/Dental Insurance
Pet insurance
Groceries (what to buy where)
Electricity 
Gas
Telephone
Broadband
TV
Mobile Phones (family plan as have 5 phones)
buying tyres
buying cars
checking a/c Bank, low charges, online banking, limited branch network okay, access to ATMs needs to be good.
deposit a/c Bank, good interest rates fr short to med term deposit a/c
?
?
?
?



Many thanks

hughm


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

Tek savvy for Internet

No Frills for Groceries

Wal Mart for tires possibly groceries and other household goods

TD Canada Trust for banking service, they are not too cheap but they have decent service and great hours for banking.


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## Pigzfly (Dec 2, 2010)

New or Used?

You can do quite well scouring craigslist, kijiji.ca or the classified ads section online through the toronto star (newspaper). You can even find new things. Use your common sense though as sometimes you can tell that things are stolen goods!

If you look for furniture at the Brick, always negotiate (I know, weird eh?).

Liquidation World is a complete mix bag, however sometimes it can be a great place for furniture. It can also have good prices on things like cutting boards, linens, plates/cutlery etc. Again, the quality and pricing varies a lot, one week you may find something amazing for a good price and the next week the whole store is overpriced or complete junk! http://www.lwstores.com/maps/FindStore.aspx

Giant Tiger is another place to find cheap and varying quality household goods. 


Basically all Canadians hate all of the mobile/telecom providers. Depending on where you live, the newcomer Wind Mobile may be a good choice - no contracts etc. Most Canadian phones operate on 1 to 3 year contracts. Pricing tends to be better than pay as you go. Only some of the companies use SIM cards as well. Technical support also loves it when you don't have a company provided phone as they can claim it is the phone's problem and not have to deal with anything. A lot of the mobile companies operate by buying access to towers through the big providers. Correct me if I miss any here, but the big providers are Bell, Rogers, and Telus. Your best bet is probably to ask about coverage specific to where you live. Sometimes, even in big cities, if you live on a particular hill or in a particular neighbourhood, you are better off with one company. While in uni, one basement suite I lived in only had (effective) service with two of the companies, and that was in Ottawa!

I have had banking with TD, BMO and RBC. My partner also has an ING account which we use. I have been happy with TD and RBC. I have a high interest online acct with RBC, do not have the same product with TD, so don't know what the rate comparison would be. Lots of people like ally and ING for medium term, high interest savings account options. They are virtually completely online banking institutes. 

Car insurance in Ontario works where you are insured as a driver, not necessarily your vehicle (though your premiums will be based on your vehicles). It can be extremely expensive with teenagers around, esp boys. My partner's family had to prove to their car insurance company that he was domiciled hundreds of kms away during university to have their premiums for him reduced.
When an accident occurs, your own car insurance pays for the cost, regardless of whose fault it was, so some companies are extremely selective about who they are willing to insure.

Sorry I can't be of more help on the other subjects really.


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## Pigzfly (Dec 2, 2010)

A few more things - if you have an employer lined up, sometimes larger employers have employee cell phone deals available (for personal use). This can also be the case with insurance providers, mortgages, etc. The primary employer where we live has just got a deal-making binge and now we are getting flooded with offers, some of which would be a great deal depending upon where you are in the life of these products.

I almost forgot - for House Insurance, I highly recommend TD Meloche Monex. I know they also do insurance for other things such as boats, cars etc. We live in BC where basic car insurance must be purchased through a crown corp.

When we were looking for house insurance, their price was hundreds less, even after the various association membership and/or alumni discounts. From what I can tell, the fine print is more or less the same, but I do not know a lot on the subject. We have not had to make a claim, but have been adding items and they have been great to deal with so far. 

http://www.tdinsurance.com/


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## Oldroe (Sep 18, 2009)

Car Ins. Belair was cheap and Cumis the cheapest but you need to be a credit union member. Couldn't find any house ins. deals.

Any of the furniture stores negotiate 30-50% off price don't buy the fabric protection packages they will throw them in in the end. Don't agree to delivery charge until the very end. When the salesman goes for manger approval start walking to door. When the manger starts with we can't do this get up and start walking.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

My friend just moved to Canada from Israel on November 12 .She did her homework on car insurance for non Canadian driving experience and State Farm gave her the best rate.The first thing you have to do is get your G license as you cannot get car insurance without a valid CANADIAN License.You can look at autotrader.ca for used cars and get idea on prices.
She also got a Secured credit card from CIBC and TD bank to help establish her credit here .She ended up buying a used 2008 Sante Fe which was three years old as it was the cheapest SUV type family car in terms of insurance.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

Car Insurance TD MELOCH MONNEX
Home insurance TD MELLOX MONNEX
Health/Dental Insurance CANADA LIFE
Pet insurance PC FINANCIAL INSURANCE 
Groceries (what to buy where) NO FRILLS, FOOD BASIC, PRICE CHOPPER
Electricity TURN ALL PHAMTOM POWER LOADS OFF 
Gas MARKET PRICE
Telephone ROGERS RETENTION
Broadband ROGERS RETENTION
TV ROGERS RETENTION OR OVER THE AIR
Mobile Phones (family plan as have 5 phones) SPEAKOUT WIRELESS @ 7-11
buying tyres WALMART
buying cars KIJIJ
checking a/c Bank, low charges, online banking, limited branch network okay, access to ATMs needs to be good. PC FINANCIAL
deposit a/c Bank, good interest rates fr short to med term deposit a/c ALLY
?
?
?
?



Many thanks

hughm[/QUOTE]


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

See post below. My dyslexic fingers hit the wrong keys and somehow I ended up with two posts instead of amending the first one.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

Hmm, where to begin. This covers a lot of territory.

*Car Insurance*: You haven't said where you are coming from. You may be in for a shock, as Ontario Insurance companies get to charge people with no insurance record known to them as if they were beginning drivers. Most may not accept foreign driving records for this purpose, as they have no means of verifying your driving record (or choose not to make the effort). There are companies that have group plans that have preferential rates for some categories of professions/occupations. TD/Monnex has very good rates for professional engineers for example.

*Home insurance:* TD/Monnex. But shop around. Property insurance has gone up a lot recently.

*Health/Dental Insurance*: Not too many people have dental insurance unless it is through a group plan of their employer's. Supplemental medical insurance (prescription drugs, vision care, etc.) is cheapest through an employee group plan as well, but you can buy directly from any number of insurers. 

*Pet insurance*: Don't know.

*Groceries (what to buy where);* Loblaws is the dominant chain. Sobey's (a company from Atlantic Cnada) has been moving into the Ontario market. And "Your Independent Grocer" is the remnants of the IGA chain. But they are all facing price competition from Food Basics & Price Choppers

*Electricity* You will have to become a customer of you local utility (often called a "Hydro" company in Ontario for historical reasons). You can sign contracts with third-party companies to supply electricity over the utility's lines, instead of buying it at the utility's rate. But these are usually a bad bargain, and the main energy marketers have a reputation for bad sales practices. Most of the electrical utilities are publicly owned, so there is some contro on their rates.

*Gas:* Somewhat similar to hydro. The companies are privately owned but publicly regulated. You have to sign with whoever the supplier is in your neighbourhood. You can subsequently contract with 3rd party "energy suppliers" for part of the gas bill. These have usually been a poor bargain as well, but recentl gas contracts have fallen steeply in price. But you are not likely to be settled soon enough to consider these.

*Telephone* Bell Canada still owns most of the landline network, but you can purchase long-distance packages and DSL service from 3rd parties. Cable companies are also offering telephone service now.

*Broadband * In an area like Burlington I expect you will have choice of DSL or cable.

*TV* Cable or Satellite service. Over-the air is disappearing.

*Mobile Phones (family plan as have 5 phones) *No opinion, but there are numerous suppliers. Bell & Rogers would be the biggest.

With Telephone, cable and satellite companies offering combinations of TV, landline, and cell phone service, it's a major job doing an economic analysis of the "best bargain" The only advice I can offer is keep it simple at the start and don't sign anything long-term until you have a chance to study the market and your usage patterns. There is a separate thread on this subject here: http://www.canadianmoneyforum.com/showthread.php?t=142

*buying tyres* I've heard Costco & Walmart are the cheapest. Canadian Tire is the biggest, but no longe the cheapest.

*buying cars* No advice

*checking a/c Bank, low charges, online banking, limited branch network okay, access to ATMs needs to be good.* I have heard that PC Financial is the cheapest for chequing acounts. You will find them in your neighbourhood Loblaws store.

*deposit a/c Bank, good interest rates fr short to med term deposit a/c*
There are no "good interest rates" at present. For full-service banking, Canada has 5 truly national banks: RBC; TD; CIBC; BMO; and ScotiaBank. RBC and TD are the biggest, but all will have plenty of banches in Burlington.


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

As per OGG - Health/Dental Insurance: Not too many people have dental insurance unless it is through a group plan of their employer's. Supplemental medical insurance (prescription drugs, vision care, etc.) is cheapest through an employee group plan as well, but you can buy directly from any number of insurers. 

Depending upon the size/needs of your family it can be best to simply pay cash for some of these as opposed to paying for the insurance. If you have dental insurance where you currently are, best to get a check up/cleaning prior to its expiry. Then you should be ok for awhile, at least until you get settled here.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Pigzfly said:


> > Basically all Canadians hate all of the mobile/telecom providers. Depending on where you live, the newcomer Wind Mobile may be a good choice - no contracts etc. Most Canadian phones operate on 1 to 3 year contracts. Pricing tends to be better than pay as you go. Only some of the companies use SIM cards as well. Technical support also loves it when you don't have a company provided phone as they can claim it is the phone's problem and not have to deal with anything. A lot of the mobile companies operate by buying access to towers through the big providers. Correct me if I miss any here, but the big providers are Bell, Rogers, and Telus. Your best bet is probably to ask about coverage specific to where you live. Sometimes, even in big cities, if you live on a particular hill or in a particular neighbourhood, you are better off with one company. While in uni, one basement suite I lived in only had (effective) service with two of the companies, and that was in Ottawa!
> 
> 
> You are right there. I've had a couple billing issues with Bell. where they
> ...


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

*FURTHER ON HEALTH INSURANCE*

See http://www.canadaupdates.com/content/health-services-newcomers-canada-15936.html

Although all provinces have universal health insurance, I believe there is still a 90 day waiting period for registration to come into effect in Ontario. (There really isn't any excuse for this anymore in the 21st century, but that's another story.) So you should buy 90 days extended coverage from an insurance carrier in your current country of residence. Or buy travel insurance for foreign visitors to Canada.


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## hughm (Nov 1, 2010)

hi and thank you all soo much for all the great information.

looks like car insurance is going to be my big problem. I'm coming from Ireland and have a full clean Irish Drivers licence for 20 years HOWEVER i cannot exchange it for an Ontario one, I need to do a test. If I was from the UK I could simple swap it over.

I do need a decent car from the day I arrive as we have 4 small kids and we depend on a car. 

anyway, thanks again, I appreciate the info and please feel free to continue to educate me in all things Canadian if you find the time.


PS: in case I can't get insured, is there a dirt cheap budget car rental company that I could use for a few weeks until I pass my test?


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

hughm said:


> I do need a decent car from the day I arrive as we have 4 small kids and we depend on a car. ...


I recommend that your bring a letter from your Irish insurer stating your driving record and their experience with you. For a car, I think you should rent one after you get here until you find something you want to buy. I often rent vehicles from around the airport in Toronto and you can get some deals off the internet before you get here.

Buying off craiglist of Kijiji is a crap shot because there are so many scammers but using Auto Trader and the local ads should get you something good.


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## I'm Howard (Oct 13, 2010)

leasebusters.com


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

kcowan said:


> ... I often rent vehicles from around the airport in Toronto and you can get some deals off the internet before you get here.
> 
> ...


Don't rent at the airport. Most airports in Canada now require rental agencies to add an exorbitant airport concession fee (per day!) for cars rented at airports. 

You can check rates on the internet. I know when travelling to Europe it is much cheaper to book a reservation ahead of time from here - don't know if the reverse is true. You might try Enterprise car rentals in Burlington.


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## hughm (Nov 1, 2010)

enterprise cars was a good lead thanks. We could rent a dodge caravan from them for a month for $1671. All told that's not too bad a deal.


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## hughm (Nov 1, 2010)

OhGreatGuru said:


> *FURTHER ON HEALTH INSURANCE*
> 
> See http://www.canadaupdates.com/content/health-services-newcomers-canada-15936.html
> 
> Although all provinces have universal health insurance, I believe there is still a 90 day waiting period for registration to come into effect in Ontario. (There really isn't any excuse for this anymore in the 21st century, but that's another story.) So you should buy 90 days extended coverage from an insurance carrier in your current country of residence. Or buy travel insurance for foreign visitors to Canada.




Thanks for this, I was aware of the 90 day requirement. Will cost around €2,000 to cover us for the 3 months for full international health insurance cover !!!!


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

OhGreatGuru said:


> Don't rent at the airport. Most airports in Canada now require rental agencies to add an exorbitant airport concession fee (per day!) for cars rented at airports.
> 
> You can check rates on the internet. I know when travelling to Europe it is much cheaper to book a reservation ahead of time from here - don't know if the reverse is true. You might try Enterprise car rentals in Burlington.


I have an opposite view 
I rent cars frequently for both business and personal and my experience has been that airport locations offer the best price and value.
It is true that often there are additional fees at airport locations vs. off-airport, however, it is all built into the daily price.
It is cheaper (sometimes, a lot) to rent at the airport instead of off-airport.
Also, airport locations will often give you unlimited mileage whereas off airport will impose mileage restrictions.
Last, but not least, most discount or consolidator travel sites like Expedia, Orbitz, etc. will give you deeply discounted quotes for airport rentals.
Priceline is the best example - they only offer airport rentals and the rates you can get by using the "bid-your-own-price" feature are much, much lower than those offered by consolidator travel sites, let alone agencies own websites.

The only reason I sometimes rent off-airport is convenience (save the trip to/from the airport).


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## hughm (Nov 1, 2010)

good call on priceline, got quote for $1450 for a month including full collision insurance.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

HaroldCrump said:


> I have an opposite view
> I rent cars frequently for both business and personal and my experience has been that airport locations offer the best price and value.
> It is true that often there are additional fees at airport locations vs. off-airport, however, it is all built into the daily price.
> It is cheaper (sometimes, a lot) to rent at the airport instead of off-airport.
> .


We will have to agree to disagree. That hasn't been my experience in pricing car rentals from different companies at places like Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton, & St. Johns. I can understand if you are on a business trip and only need a car for a day or 2 it is cheaper and more convenient to pay the airport concession fee than to pay for taxis to/from some locastion off the airport. But if you rent a car at an airport for 3 weeks, they charge you that daily concession fee every day of the rental. 

Oddly enough I found that if you pick up off the airport, you are often allowed to return it to the airport at no extra charge.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

hughm said:


> Thanks for this, I was aware of the 90 day requirement. Will cost around €2,000 to cover us for the 3 months for full international health insurance cover !!!!


WOW!. I know you have a large family, but €2,000 for 3 months still seems a bit much.


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## NorthernRaven (Aug 4, 2010)

Auto insurance - I can second the recommendation to check out State Farm. Two or three years back I had been licensed for 20 years, and did large amounts of holiday driving in rental vehicles, but hadn't owned a vehicle or had insurance for over a decade. State Farm was one of the very few who didn't quote outrageous "no experience" rates in Ottawa. You can also get 6-month coverage for a couple extra percent, if it is of interest. Also check out TD Insurance - they came out cheapest for me just recently (in Nova Scotia), and you can get the annual rate as monthly payments, which is nice. 
There's a website (kanetix.ca) which provides quotes from a number of companies, which can be helpful in getting some baseline numbers for additional shopping. Definitely have your Irish insurer(s) give you a formal "letter of experience" showing the period you've been insured and (hopefully) explicitly stating there have been no claims - if you can find insurers who will honor it as equivalent to Canadian experience your quotes will drop a lot.

Cellphone - Rogers (and its low-cost sub-brand Fido) use GSM, but slightly different frequencies than in Ireland. If any of your phones are unlocked multi-band ones that can use the North American frequencies, you might see if getting a SIM card from Rogers/Fido and using a short term pay-as-you-go option would be sufficient temporarily, while you evaluate a permanent option. Other providers (Telus, Bell) are historically non-GSM; they may support some 3G phones that use "UMTS", but again there may be frequency issues between Ireland and Canada. You'll want to investigate whether you have to replace some or all of your phones - post the models and we can probably point you to a good technical resource (like Digital Home Canada).

Here's a health insurance resource if it is helpful.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

FWIW the premiums paid for private health coverage while you are waiting for OHIP to come into effect for your family are eligible medical expenses which you can use to reduce the taxes you pay on your Canadian employment income.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

OhGreatGuru said:


> *FURTHER ON HEALTH INSURANCE*
> 
> See http://www.canadaupdates.com/content/health-services-newcomers-canada-15936.html
> 
> Although all provinces have universal health insurance, I believe there is still a 90 day waiting period for registration to come into effect in Ontario. (There really isn't any excuse for this anymore in the 21st century, but that's another story.) So you should buy 90 days extended coverage from an insurance carrier in your current country of residence. Or buy travel insurance for foreign visitors to Canada.


I was just asked to give a fake letter from my business to somebody who arrived in Canada three weeks ago so he could say his family have been in Canada since October.Of course I said no but his REAL ESTATE AGENT gave him one ,if he had a claim would they follow up asking for plane tickets etc to show entry date into Canada?


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## mrbizi (Dec 19, 2009)

my advise: before you commit to buying a car, shop for auto insurance first, as you might be in for a sticker shock...

if you don't mind buying used, you can find a lot of good stuff in craigslist (furniture, electronics etc) selling at a fraction of what it would cost new.


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## atrp2biz (Sep 22, 2010)

Groceries: 

If you're in Toronto or somewhere uptown in the GTA, Foody Mart is where I shop for my groceries. It's a fairly large Asian grocery store that is trying to compete with T&T (Loblaws entity) for market share. 

Apples - $0.99/lb
Bananas - $0.59/lb
Ground beef - $1.29/lb
Carrots - $0.79 per bag
Green peppers - $0.99/lb
...and so on

The above are regular prices, not specials. Average grocery bill of $55-75 per week feeds three adults and an infant in my house. NB: I'll go out for lunch 1-2 times a week. Rarely go out for dinner.


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## hughm (Nov 1, 2010)

Hi all,

we have a date for our move. We are flying on the 18th Feb.

Re insurance, I cant get insured until i sit my driving test and get my G licence. that's a blow. My Irish licence cannot be exchanged for an Ontario one but once i have proof of driving record I can get a full G licence immediatly if I pass a test. 

good to know that i can write off the health insurance contrib against tax. 

I have another tax related question but i will start a new hread for that.

thanks for all the help.


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