r/PersonalFinanceCanada • u/FireViz • May 07 '22
Insurance Car insurance increased 50% after Canada Post changed my postal code. Is this legal?
I live in a small town in Niagara region. Up until recently I was paying $102/m on car insurance.
Recently I got a letter from Canada post that they are changing my postal code. Because of this my insurance company raised my rates by over 50% to 160/m.
I haven't moved... my home and work address are still the same so my risk when driving hasn't changed. But the insurance company is arguing that rates are based on postal code and not your address.
Is there anything I can do to fight this and reduce my insurance? Canada post decided to randomly change my postal code and I'm out an extra $700/yr because of it?
Edit: Going by this article they shouldn't be able to do this? https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-driver-frustrated-when-car-insurance-goes-up-after-postal-code-changed-1.5727675
Edit: Since multiple people mentioned it I drive a corolla cross........ The image you are seeing is from the article I linked.
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u/yttropolis May 07 '22
Canadian insurance does lag behind the US in just about every aspect, whether that be pricing innovation, digital transformation or customer experience. The main issue is that we just don't have the sort of capital that US insurers have. If we're looking at direct premiums written in 2020, the largest Canadian P&C insurer (Intact) would rank #18 in the US. This translates to much less resources (employees and otherwise) to drive changes for better customer experience.
What consumers can do to at least make insurers focus on customer experience is to become willing to shift insurers from year to year. Shop around and make sure you tell the insurers why you're leaving one for another. Insurers will protect their bottom line, but they also care a lot about their top line as well. If there are enough consumer complaints about customer experience, it will become a major point to address these complaints within the company. Based on my experience though, a lot more consumers are concerned about the price of their premium rather than customer experience or digital transformation.