Most households have more than one vehicle because there are either two adults working or two adults working with a teenager who drives. Either way, when you own more than one vehicle, it is nice to know that you can get a discount for insuring those vehicles with your insurance provider. These discounts are called multi-vehicle loyalty discounts and can save the average household quite a bit of money compared to not having such a program at all.
Most insurance providers in Canada carry multi-vehicle loyalty discounts, which is why it is important to make sure that you have all of your cars on the same policy. The usual discount is around 10% off of each car that is on the policy. If you don't have your cars on the same policy, then you are missing out on that discount that can keep you from paying out unnecessary amounts to the car insurance provider.
However, although the median discount between Canadian insurance providers is around 10%, the discount can be anywhere between 5 and 15% per car. This is especially helpful for drivers in British Columbia and Ontario who are said to be paying the highest and second highest car insurance rates in Canada. The average motorist in British Columbia is paying out $1,400 per year for their car insurance policies, whereas Ontario isn't far behind at an annual of $1,350. Who has the best rates? Try the Prince Edward Islanders who are only shelling out around $825 yearly for coverage. That is certainly a vast difference between the highest and the lowest.
The reason for these differences in rates is because there are certain provinces where the government has tighter control over the rates and rates are also based on certain criteria in each province. But Ontario has a free market system and is still paying a lot of money for their car insurance. Why is this?
Ontario's high insurance rate is due in part to the population. Because there are more people, there are more accidents and more cars are stolen each year. There are other factors such as age, driving record, and how much time is spent traveling. Then again, there is the question of whether or not multiple vehicles are on the same policy. This can be making a huge difference as well when taking into consideration that most car insurance providers carry that 5-15% discount per car to save Canadians some money on these high insurance rates.
Despite the high rates, when looking at some Canadian insurance providers, you will see that there are other benefits they offer in addition to the multi-vehicle loyalty discounts. They can have accident forgiveness protection on all vehicles, provide anti-theft discounts, and they can also combine car insurance with property insurance to form a multi-line discount that can save you even more money by using the same provider.
So as you can see, there are several ways in which you can beat the high car insurance rates and insurance providers who are willing to work with you to do it. Just keeping certain things in mind such as making sure your vehicles are on the same policy and ensuring that a discount has been imposed can make a world of difference in your pocket. Even if you think you are currently getting a discount, double check to make sure, because mistakes do happen and not on purpose. You also want to ask your insurance provider about other discounts and moving other existing policies from other providers to them in order to save money by keeping all of your insurance in one place. This can certainly offset your insurance costs and keep a little more money in your pocket each year.
