Like all industries, insurance has its own language and uses all kinds of terms and jargon that may not be common knowledge.

For this reason, we have available on our site a glossary of insurance terms as well as a collection of blog posts that go a little more in-depth into some of the more common or confusing terms you might come across in business, home and auto insurance.

In this post, let’s cover a term that is common in the realm of car insurance – one way auto insurance.

One-way auto insurance defined

One-way auto insurance refers to coverage that only goes one way, only applies to one party, in this case the other driver, in the event that you are at fault for a collision or accident. So for example, if you are the cause of an accident and you sustain damage to your vehicle, you are not covered. Coverage and compensation only extends to the other driver(s).

So a one-way insurance policy includes the three pillars of auto insurance coverage in Ontario (as we have talked about here) …

1. Third party liability (learn more here)

2. Accident benefits (learn more here)

3. Uninsured automobile

… they just only apply to the other driver.  

(Note that formally there was a fourth pillar of mandatory auto insurance coverage in Ontario – Direct Compensation – Property Damage. As we talked about here, this is no longer required in our province.)

Why would you choose one-way auto insurance?

In short, to get cheap auto insurance and cut costs for coverage as much as possible. But as we know, getting the best insurance rates can sometimes mean taking risks and whether or not this is a good option given your situation really depends from driver to driver.

Stay tuned for a future post where we get into the details of when one way auto insurance makes sense and what kind of coverage you would be foregoing when choosing this option.

Have some other insurance jargon on your radar that you’d like clarified? Check out our blog posts defining common terms and peruse our full glossary of insurance terms here.

Want to learn more about one way auto insurance? Wondering if it’s the right call for you? It’s always best to talk to an insurance professional to understand the repercussions of foregoing a particular type of coverage in your hunt for cheap auto insurance. Get in touch with one of the specialists on our team to learn more. Or head over here to get your quote online.