Ontario auto insurance rates often change. Sometimes they increase, and believe it or not, sometimes they go down.
Auto insurance in Ontario is highly regulated and an insurer cannot increase, or decrease, their rates on a whim. Any change to an insurer’s rates must be approved by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA), a Crown corporation of the province that answers to the government’s Ministry of Finance.
FSRA assumed the regulatory functions of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) who, until June 2019 when FSRA officially took over, previously approved auto insurance rate changes in the province. The new agency, FSRA, is taking over the reins of insurance rate approvals at a time when rates have been on an upward climb for nearly two years. But that hasn’t always been the case.
A history of Ontario car insurance rates
Four times a year, the approved changes in rates are released and the following tracks how rates have increased, and decreased, industry-wide over the last five years.
| 2019 average approved car insurance rate change | ||
|---|---|---|
| Quarter | Average Increase/Decrease | # of Insurers Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 | 1.99% | 18 |
| Q1 | 2.70% | 23 |
| 2018 average approved car insurance rate changes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Quarter | Average Increase/Decrease | # of Insurers Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 | 3.35% | 23 |
| Q3 | 2.06% | 20 |
| Q2 | 1.11% | 37 |
| Q1 | 2.23% | 32 |
| 2017 average approved car insurance rate changes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Quarter | Average Increase/Decrease | # of Insurers Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 | 1.03% | 17 |
| Q3 | -0.10% | 15 |
| Q2 | 0.76% | 22 |
| Q1 | 1.24% | 48 |
| 2016 average approved car insurance rate changes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Quarter | Average Increase/Decrease | # of Insurers Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 | -0.14% | 10 |
| Q3 | 1.5% | 25 |
| Q2 | 0.33% | 14 |
| Q1 | -3.07% | 50 |
| 2015 average approved car insurance rate changes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Quarter | Average Increase/Decrease | # of Insurers Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 | -0.15% | 21 |
| Q3 | -0.50% | 40 |
| Q2 | 0.60% | 26 |
| Q1 | -0.95% | 39 |
| 2014 average approved car insurance rate changes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Quarter | Average Increase/Decrease | # of Insurers Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 | -0.54% | 16 |
| Q3 | -0.11% | 9 |
| Q2 | 0.22% | 5 |
| Q1 | -1.01% | 14 |
Wide range in approved rate changes
The average increase (or decrease) reported for each quarter from the last five years is a good indicator on the direction the industry was (or is) heading, but it’s important to remember that these are industry-wide numbers. The numbers that are really interesting are the insurer-specific change in rates.
Last quarter, for example, when the average approved rate change clocked in at a 1.99% increase, one insurer actually dropped their rates in the neighbourhood of 1.20% while another increased their rates an average of 20%. And, it’s because of situations just like this that makes shopping around at renewal time essential. There’s an ebb and flow to insurance rates and when your insurer is increasing their rates another might be lowering them.
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