Think you're paying too much for Auto Insurance in Ontario?

The report by York University Schulich School of Business Professor Dr. Fred Lazar reveals that Ontario drivers continue to pay excessive auto insurance premiums in Ontario while insurers rack up billion dollar profits.

Drivers in this province definitely have paid too much for auto insurance, Dr. Lazar writes in this report.

Focusing on the top-ten insurance companies in Ontario in particular, Lazar finds that their profitability was higher than their Canada-wide businesses for each of the last three years!

In essence, if they weren't in the auto insurance market in Ontario, they would have been marginally profitable in the rest of their business in the country, said Dr. Lazar.

The auto insurance premiums in the province of Ontario are helping subsidize the rest of the insurance industry around the country. This is just not fair to Ontario drivers, said Ontario Trial Lawyers Association President Allen Wynperle.

We're paying more and getting less. It simply doesn't add up. And Dr. Lazar has now shed some light on this issue, Wynperle added.

The report lands just as Ontario auto insurers received approval to raise premiums again. After years of coverage reductions, rates in Ontario are now 20 per cent higher than they were in 2017.

Under the previous Ontario government, benefits were cut 17 times. It was supposed to reduce premiums, but premiums have not gone down. said Wynperle. And now, the regulator has approved the ninth consecutive increase totaling 20% over the last three years. It just doesn't make sense, Wynperle added.

OTLA is calling for greater transparency and clear reporting of the profits enjoyed by the automobile insurance industry.

OTLA has also proposed a comprehensive package of reforms to the current government to rebalance Ontario's insurance system, restore affordability and ensure fairness for injured accident victims.