Do Drivers Who’ve Had an Accident Select Higher Car Insurance Deductibles?

Whether they have filed claims or not, the majority of Ontario drivers tend to select standard ($1,000) deductibles for collision and comprehensive coverages year-over-year.
Most Alberta drivers selected standard ($1,000) deductibles for collision and comprehensive coverages each year except in 2018 when more drivers opted to customize their deductibles whether they filed claims (51.4%) or not (46.7%).
The youngest drivers on the road in Alberta, Generation Z, are more likely to go without any collision or comprehensive coverages whether they’ve filed an auto claim previously or not. These drivers may be taking a significant risk.
Opting for a $1,000 deductible can help reduce your monthly payments, but can you afford to pay that amount if you must file a claim?

If you’ve ever been involved in a car accident and had to file a claim with your insurer, chances are you’ve been told you need to pay a deductible for the damages to your vehicle before your car insurance coverage pays out.

Many people may be confused by that: pay a deductible before my coverage applies? Why? And how much?

A deductible is the amount of money you must pay towards the repair costs when filing a collision or comprehensive claim. When setting up an auto policy, you are given the option to choose the deductible amount. In the simplest terms, the higher your deductible is, the lower your overall premium will be. If you have optional collision and comprehensive coverages, each will feature a deductible amount you can select. There is no deductible involved for your policy’s mandatory third-party liability coverage.

With respect to driving, experience behind the wheel and on the road counts for a lot. If you’ve gone through the experience of filing a claim following a collision, you know what it means to shell out funds to cover your deductible. For example, if you chose a high deductible amount to save money on your premium – picking a $1,000 deductible instead of a $500 deductible – you know you had to come up with a grand to get the repairs to your vehicle underway. Which begs the question: do drivers who’ve had the misfortune of being in a car accident choose higher deductible amounts? We endeavoured to find out.

Using data compiled by RATESDOTCA of drivers across different age groups in Ontario and Alberta who got an auto policy quote between January 2018 and December 2020, we looked into the coverages and deductibles they chose. We segmented those drivers between those who have filed at least one claim or are claims-free, as well as by generation and whether they live in urban or rural regions.

Choosing a deductible: what are the options?

On RATESDOTCA’s free-to-use car insurance quoting tool, drivers can select the deductible amounts they want for collision and comprehensive coverages. They can choose “minimum” (no collision or comprehensive coverages), “standard” (a $1,000 deductible and $1 million worth of third-party liability), “enhanced” (a $500 deductible and $2 million worth of liability protection), or “custom” vehicle coverages, which gives drivers the option of choosing different deductibles for both collision and comprehensive coverages.