Car insurance premiums vary depending on province.
From British Columbia to Prince Edward Island auto insurance can cost a surprisingly different amount! Travel from one end of Canada to the other and other than a lot of boring stuff in the middle you will find average car insurance premiums can vary greatly from one province to another if you ask.
You can be in Ontario and pay on the highest end with an average premium per year of $1,878. But just over in Québec you will pay only $863 per year – but if you slip the Mayor of Montreal $100 you don’t have to pay. Prince Edward Island is the place with the cheapest insurance at $649, but New Brunswick tops out at $1123 and it is right beside it.
The vast differences in insurance by province is smaller out west with Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and British Columbia all about $1,476 to $1,027 per year annual for car insurance premiums. While Nova Scotia runs $906 insurance can be had for $749 in Labrador and Newfoundland.
What City is the Most Expensive?
In the province of Ontario where the car insurance premiums are the highest, you will also pay a higher premium in the cities of Toronto and Oshawa. The cost of insurance in the big city is over $2000, Edmonton is over $1500 in Alberta. So why are the car insurance premiums higher in the city? It’s simple, more accidents, and more accidents means more insurance the company has to pay out. It’s just a numbers game.
The smaller cities can charge less than the big ones because they have fewer accidents to cover with your premium. Halifax or Dartmouth is at $836 a year.
But the real question here is, how many Timmies coffees can the highest premium get?
- Oshawa at $2189 will get you 1563 double doubles
- Edmonton at $1552 will get you 1109 double doubles
- Charlottetown at $884 will fetch 631 double doubles
- Saint John at $1128 will get 806 double doubles
- Halifax & Dartmouth $836 will go for 597 double doubles
- Montréal & Laval at $929 will get you 663 double doubles
Next time you are driving around in your brand new Oshawa built vehicle, drinking a Timmies coffee and listening to Nicklebacks 1 song, don’t forget that the insurance premium you are paying every year is based mostly on where you live in Canada and not how much coffee you drink.
actually the insurance is high in areas like GTA, GVA, not because of more accidents. primary cause of high insurance is rampant insurance fraud in these 2 areas. staged accidents, fraud rings including physicians, mechanics, tow truck, physio, etc. also, the need for high 3rd party liability due to lawsuits (as opposed to no-fault provinces) also increases prices. unfortunately the majority of people are clueless to the facts and thats why NDP gets so much support by blaming insurance industry greed & mandating a 15% rate cut.
Ummmm, I wouldn’t take a 100% rate cut in exchange for an NDP government 🙂
@Alex
when I had a minor accident earlier this year my contingency lawyer referred me to a local mechanic, and the general practitioner referred me to a physiotherapist close by. The insurance company paid for everything so I didn’t spend a dime, but I hope fraud rings aren’t rampant here in Vancouver at least.
@RIN
The BC NDP were many points in the lead in every poll leading up to the election last month. But all the polls were way wrong and the Liberals won after the votes were counted :0)
You’re funny, driving around Oshawa listening to Nickelback? In a new Trans Am no less? 🙂
My wife and I pay around $1800 for 2 vehicles in Ottawa. That’s enough.
I’ll add to myownadvisor’s comment and say My wife and I pay $1,193 for 2 vehicles just south of Ottawa. Cars are getting older though, a 2003 and 2004, but for now, they both still work :). Where it really hurts is home insurance. Most recently I switched carriers to cover my 2 dwellings and saved $2,400!!!! for the SAME coverage – cheers
@My Own Advisor
That’s cheap 🙂 I pay about $1100 for just one vehicle.
@Phil
That’s really cheap. Too bad about the home insurance. Good move on switching to a cheaper insurer 🙂 I don’t pay as much because I live in a condo but some of the costs are absorbed through the strata fees.
I live right downtown in Toronto. I use my car for recreational usage only. (No work commuting). I pay $2500. 20+ years with NO CLAIMS. My car is a 2007 Mazda 3.
Hey our cars are the same year 🙂 I have a 2007 hatchback. My friend has a gray 2012 Mazda 3. It looks like a happy car because it’s always smiling 😀 Too bad you live in one of the most expensive cities in Canada for car insurance. I think with your driving record and vehicle, they should look into lowering your premium.
For bare minimum insurance, I pay $300 a YEAR on a 2004 vehicle in Quebec. Similar insurance in Ontario would be $250 a MONTH.
I would also like to note that Toronto drivers are actually ruder than Montreal ones. Montrealers drive fast, but they’re fairly careful because everyone is driving fast and “recklessly”. You don’t see as many morons on the road in Montreal because everyone assumes everyone else is a moron, and drives accordingly. Sure, you see some rude folks, but a lot less than in Toronto once you realize how it works.
In Toronto, people assume everyone (e.g. Anglos) are nicer on the road, when in fact they are a lot ruder — cut you off by speeding up JUST to get in front of you for a turnoff, drive like formula 1 racers.. etc. They also don’t stop at red lights before turning on the right (a GOOD rule in Montreal, that should be done across Canada), and are in general jackasses (my family included, I refuse to get in the car with them.)
The best cities for driving? Small ones. They’re all so polite and slow.
HTA and section 144 sub section 18 and 19 indicate drivers must stop at the red before proceeding with right turn. so yea, its in the law, just some people dont obey it, or maybe dont know ><. i actually saw someone the other day run a intersection flashing reds. i guess they dont even know it means treat as stop sign. it was a 80kph zone too so they totally coulda T-boned someone … idiots like that dont deserve to have a license in my opinion
In the Ottawa Valley, most drivers roll stops treating them more as yields… And as such, interestingly, many newer 4 way stops are being designed as roundabouts which are way more efficient than full blown intersections. – Cheers.
It’s strange how the price of insurance is so different between two bordering provinces. I agree that smaller cities are better for driving. If you want to get your drivers license easily, do the road test in a small town. Less traffic, friendlier people, and examiners are more lenient :0)
Yep its getting ugly in Ontario, we are paying about $2300/yr for 2 vehicles (both clean driving records) for new Dodge Ram 1500 Truck and Audi A4 Cabriolet but house insurance has dropped to under $100/month
You pay roughly the same for your home insurance as I do for my car insurance lol. Audi convertibles are gorgeous 😀 Especially the sleek looking black ones :0)
Damn I got silver lol.. ill tweet you a pic
Ever since I moved to Canada from the UK the price of Insurance has boggled my mind. This is something I am NOT used to. When I went for insurance the first place wanted to charge me close to $5000 a year because I had no Canadian driving experience. I had since received a letter from my insurance back home and it’s around $1000 a year now. What boggles my mind is because I’m new here I needed to read the rules of the road and is it surprising to hear the amount of people who Don’t follow them? I can’t believe the amount of idiots that have nearly killed me because they forget to put a signal on etc… Maybe it does have to with fraud the cost of insurance but having drivers who fail to use the rules of the road as created don’t help either. Failing to have a minute to live often costs people or others their lives.
I’ve heard insurance can also go up for people who moved from just another province. I think a little higher premium is justified, but $5K is too much 🙂 Lots of first time drivers like teenagers have no driving experience in Canada either and I bet their insurance is cheaper than that.
It was a bit ridiculous. I was looking on my own because the wife was working and I just moved here. Then the wife took over and went to her insurance and all they needed was my record from the UK which I had to jump through hoops to get but I got it. Mistake number one was not bringing it with me. I’ve been with the same company my wife has been with for over 10 years and they’ve been great to me. I’ve driven all over the world and the wife said if you can drive in the UK you CAN drive here NO problem. All I did was read the rules of the road the rest of it was simple. I just find that since I follow the rules I see how many others don’t. Sad really…. I hope it’s worth it for everyone who needs those few extra minutes in their day.
We moved within Toronto and saw our car insurance go up over $800 per year moving from a house to a condo. According to the insurance company, our new area has more claims – sheesh 🙁
That’s quite a big increase considering you’re still within the same city 🙁 I’ve heard on the news there’s a gadget you can buy now for your car that tracks your vehicle’s speed, acceleration, and braking behavior and can tell the insurance company all this information. It’s used to give insurance discounts to drivers who show they are more cautious and careful than most people when on the road. But it’s only in some parts of Canada, not sure where, and only some insurance companies have signed on.
[…] to being involved in an accident. In effect, this means drivers aged between 17 and 25 pay the highest premiums. The sad news here is that this is one factor you cannot […]
Yes, between age 17-25 we get screwed. On top of that try living in Brampton area which has the highest premiums in Canada At 22 years old with no tickets and no accidents with 5 years driving experience I pay $4200 for an 8yr old car.