# Exobitant auto-insurance for new immigrant



## drdtyc (Mar 23, 2010)

I am a new immigrant who have just booked a brand new car which will be ready for delivery this Friday, July 30.

I am now shopping around for auto-insurance. As a mature driver (50+) with 32 years of driving experience and enjoying maximum No Claim Bonus in my country of origin, I am surprised to find on-line insurance quotes in the range $6000 to $8000 per year for my new ride, a Mazda5.

Any suggestion for me to get a cheaper quote? Any good insurance brokers who are specialized in auto insurance for new immigrants? Time is not on my side, as I need to get the insurance before Friday.

Thanks for your suggestions!


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## slacker (Mar 8, 2010)

Yeah, auto insurance in Canada is very expensive. You can goto www.kanetix.ca to compare prices.


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## Dr_V (Oct 27, 2009)

drdtyc said:


> I am surprised to find on-line insurance quotes in the range $6000 to $8000 per year for my new ride, a Mazda5.


My advice would be to contact an insurance broker. They can often manage to get better rates than what you can find yourself (and if they don't, you're under no obligation to buy their insurance).


K.


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

drdtyc said:


> I am a new immigrant who have just booked a brand new car which will be ready for delivery this Friday, July 30.
> 
> I am now shopping around for auto-insurance. As a mature driver (50+) with 32 years of driving experience and enjoying maximum No Claim Bonus in my country of origin, I am surprised to find on-line insurance quotes in the range $6000 to $8000 per year for my new ride, a Mazda5.
> 
> ...


I'll second the recommendation to talk to an insurance agent. I'm an immigrant myself and when I first purchased a car, I don't remember paying anything close to what's being quoted even though I was under 25 at that time. I'll shop around if I were you. Insurance companies price policies differently and typically the premiums fall in a wide range.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Sometimes your driving record will be credited if you can get a letter from your former company.


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## rookie (Mar 19, 2010)

so far, i have got only one all state agent who was able to consider my driving experience from home country and give credit for it. my insurance rate dropped like a stone after that. BUT, he was able to do so only after 2 conditions were satisfied:
1) 3yrs canadian driving experience
2) full G license

till then...


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## lonelimey (Mar 11, 2010)

I emigrated from England 3 years ago with my family. Nearly burst into tears when I started shopping around for car insurance. Our driving history didn't count for anything in Canada even though we brought letters from our UK insurance company stating our incident free record.

I'm 47 my wife is 42 and my two sons are 21 and 18. we have a 2006 BMW 323i, 2005 Dodge mini-van, and the boys share a 2002 Cavalier. They are limited to only driving the Cavalier on the insistence of the insurance company, which suits me fine.

We pay $700.42 a month to RBC Insurance for all the vehicles.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

The auto insurers have quite a racket going. High rates apply when you have no driving record. In principal this is supposed to reflect higher risk of inexperienced drivers. But in practice they apply it to anyone who doesn't have a CDN driving record; or even doesn't have a CDN auto insurance record (because they don't own a car). Keep shopping around; talk to a broker. If you belong to a professional association of some kind you can often get preferred rates through them. Depending on your economic circumstances, consider taking a higher deductible on collision coverage to reduce rates.

PS: Since you are facing a deadline, ask about cancellation privileges before you sign a policy. I seem to recall seeing on another thread that you can also find 6-month policies if you look for them.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

OGG is right. The auto insurers are running a very easy and profitable racket.
Canada is made up of immigrants, one way or another.
Most folks have had a good driving record in their own respective countries before immigrating to Canada.

Some insurers will consider good driving & insurance record from the US when quoting rates, esp. those that do cross border business such as State Farm, All State and ING.
If you are a non US immigrant, you are essentially SOL.

I had the exact same experience and my rip off insurance reduced only once I moved far away from the GTA zone.
In your case, the car make/model/year is also contributing to the premiums.

First, pull a copy of your driving record from the DMV and ensure that the 32 years of driving experience has been credited to you.
There is a column called Original Licensed Date or First Licensed Date.
Make sure that column reflects your 32 years of driving history.
Without that, you will be considered a brand new novice driver, worse than a drunken partying 20 year old.

Once you have looked at the driving record and ensured all aspects of it are correct, including your experience, then contact an insurance broker and try to get the best deal.
If possible, try to sign up for additional services like renters insurance or home insurance. It will save you money on your car insurance and be overall cheaper.
Make your deductibles as high as you can.
Don't take riders such as maximum medical payments, rental car coverage, etc.
Talk through every option/rider of your policy with the broker and try to go as lean as you can.
$6K to $8K sounds like a lot.
You should ideally be able to get it in the range of $3k per year.

Good luck.


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## ghostryder (Apr 5, 2009)

HaroldCrump said:


> OGG is right. The auto insurers are running a very easy and profitable racket.



Of course this only applies to provinces with private auto insurance.


http://www.sgi.sk.ca/rates/rate_calc.htm


_Registration Date: 26Jul2010 Vehicle: 2010 MAZDA MAZDA5 GT 
Class: LV - Light Vehicle Safety Rating: 0 

The registration and insurance for this vehicle is $1279.00 per year. Based on the information you have chosen, this registration would expire on 25Jul2011._


And no extra cost for the spouse or kids to drive it.


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## akka (Feb 22, 2010)

I had similar situation ,when I moved from US 1 year back.I was paying there in US,$100 each month for 2 cars for 2 drivers.Here i am paying $287 per month for 1 car!!Even though I had no claims in my 6 years US history.
I had just 2 minor tickets in last 6 years,

Some companies did nto even give me quotes seeing that its coming out $500 per month or above.Finalyy hot lowest from Desjar dins!

Good luck & welcome to Canada!


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

drdtyc said:


> I am a new immigrant who have just booked a brand new car which will be ready for delivery this Friday, July 30.


Welcome to Canada drdtyc! 

Did you buy the car before shopping for insurance?! Might have been easier at first if you had not bought a brand new car.

I saved a lot when transferred from TD to Belair.

Good luck & hope you'll like it here!


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## chaudi (Sep 10, 2009)

Hi well your in for a shock in Canada.

First they judge you buy the number of years you have been driving in Canada and the number of year you have had uninterrupted auto insurance.

I've been driving and insured for many years and only pay $96 per month. But i drive a older car with low KMs.

You have to be rich in Ontario (or TO) to drive a nice car.
This is because if you have one accident or one major ticket or even 2-3 minor tickets your insurance will go so high you'd swear it's cheaper to take a taxi. A lot of people do, or use autoshare.

So it's not really worth it for me at least to drive an expensive car. A new car. You realize that a new car loses value very quickly.

Best place to live is somewhere you don't need to drive, walk to the grocery store etc.


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

Actually it's been my experience that the car you drive matters very little (maybe 10%). The other 90% is based on the driver and the location. So if you're paying very high rates to insure a new expensive car, your rates would be only slightly better with an old cheap car.

Also, if your postal code stars with an M you will pay a lot more than if it starts with something else like L.


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## chaudi (Sep 10, 2009)

actually as long it is 6 months in one location you can get that insurance rate. Solution: get two cars and parking spot in Quebec or Manitoba and drive one for 6 months then other. Might work well for convertible in the summer and suv in the winter.


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## GeniusBoy27 (Jun 11, 2010)

Location does matter, but when I moved from Woodbridge to North Toronto, my insurance rates went WAY down. I think there are far more crazy drivers in Woodbridge (in general), who drive expensive cars.

RE: Getting insurance in Quebec/Manitoba. Doesn't the cost of gas, food, lodging and time costs from one location to the other negate the benefit? Never mind the hassles of keeping your license (which would have to be Quebec, if Quebec) and doing all the paperwork to keep your license in play. Unless you're in Quebec for a long period of time, that'd make no sense to me. 

If I was in Ottawa, sure. No problem. But in Toronto?


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

chaudi said:


> actually as long it is 6 months in one location you can get that insurance rate. Solution: get two cars and parking spot in Quebec or Manitoba and drive one for 6 months then other. Might work well for convertible in the summer and suv in the winter.


If _that's_ what you wanna do, you are better off doing this in the US.
i.e. register your car in the US and get US insurance.
It'll beat most Canadian insurance rates hands down.


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## InfiniteSeries (Aug 1, 2010)

Questions...are you buying the vehicle on time or have you paid outright? 

If you've paid outright, keep minimum insurance on the vehicle. At the exposure to insurance costs you are telling us, any fender bender you may have will be a cost savings net net. 

This should tell you how fat and happy the Canadian insurance industry is. I recently changed auto insurance to the company through which I have my homeowners policy. That was two months ago...and they have yet to process my check paying for said. 

I wonder if I should be worried about a supposedly highly rated insurance co. that can't even hire enough minimum wage office personnel to process incoming cash....


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## chaudi (Sep 10, 2009)

"If that's what you wanna do, you are better off doing this in the US.
i.e. register your car in the US and get US insurance.
It'll beat most Canadian insurance rates hands down. "

That's a good idea. How long can you keep it in Canada? Maybe only 6 months?


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

chaudi said:


> "If that's what you wanna do, you are better off doing this in the US.
> i.e. register your car in the US and get US insurance.
> It'll beat most Canadian insurance rates hands down. "
> 
> That's a good idea. How long can you keep it in Canada? Maybe only 6 months?


I believe most provinces require you to register vehicles in your province of residence within 30 days or less. Also, since insurance rates vary with where you normally reside, you are essentially committing fraud on the insurance company by claiming to live somewhere else, and they simply wouldn't pay if you had a major claim.


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