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Is Basic Car Insurance Coverage in Ontario Enough?

cheap car insurance

So you’re looking for cheap car insurance. And you want to do everything you can to keep your coverage costs down. Most of us drivers out there can relate to that. Especially with the way that car insurance costs are soaring in Ontario.

We’ve talked a lot about cutting costs on insuring your vehicle here on the blog. Check out this post if you’re interested in some of our tips and tricks: 10 Ways You Can Get Cheaper Car Insurance Rates

In this post, we want to touch on a common tactic to get the cheapest insurance possible – only opting for the coverage that is mandatory in Ontario. (For more on that, check out this post from the archives: What Is Mandatory for Car Insurance Coverage in Ontario?)

Part of this mandatory coverage are accident benefits, that will give $65,000 for non-catastrophic injuries, and $1 million for injuries that are deemed catastrophic.

The inspiration for this post is a tragic story that came out of North York in the GTA last month about a man critically injured after a car accident (Critics of accident insurance reform say Ontario drivers not protected in case of a serious crash – Global News). The couple is now dealing with the repercussions of the 2016 reform to accident benefits, specifically the adjustment to catastrophic injuries.

In a nutshell, this change resulted in the need for a greater number of, or severity of, impairments to qualify for the catastrophic coverage. This 2016 reform also resulted in longer wait times to assess injuries after a motor vehicle accident. It currently takes around a year and a half for this process, whereas prior to the reform the assessment took a few weeks (Source: Global News). So accident victims must wait much longer for benefits in the case of serious injuries, and may have trouble qualifying for the catastrophic designation.

There is the hope that the current government will address this issue and bring back higher compensation for catastrophic injuries. In the meantime, car insurance policy holders should think carefully about the coverage they have in place and consider optional benefits to pump up their mandatory coverage. Learn more about those options here:

So if you’re one of the drivers out there either using or considering only the mandatory coverage for your car insurance, we suggest that you do your due diligence to ensure that you fully understand what this means and what gaps there may be in your coverage. A discussion with an insurance professional is one way to help you get a better grasp of coverage options. Feel free to get in touch with someone from our team if you’d like this kind of expert input. Or head over here if you’d like to get an online car insurance quote for Ontario.

Image source: fantasista | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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