Liberal
insurance delay costs drivers millions |
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Some Ontario motorists will
wait as long as 22 months to benefit from insurance premium cuts that Dalton
McGuinty's Liberals promised to deliver within 90 days of taking office. |
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Data obtained by the London
Free Press shows the delay, caused by slow processing, will cost drivers about
$575 million. |
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The processing bottleneck came
about because the new provincial government didn't add staff to the office to
which insurers were required to file rate reductions by Jan. 23. |
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"The rate filings were
very complex and it takes time to go through them," said Rowena McDougall,
a spokeswoman for the provincial Finance Ministry. |
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Ontario's 61 insurers typically
file rate changes once or twice a year. With those filings spread out across
the year, fewer than 10 typically come in a single month, a regulator said. |
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But regulators weren't able to
keep pace when all 61 insurers filed rate reductions in January. While some
took effect April 15, others won't until next month, perhaps later. |
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Drivers won't enjoy lower
premiums until they renew their insurance, and since most renew once a year,
that means some won't get a break until as late as August 2005. |
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On average, motorists will have
to wait until the end of October -- a year after the Liberals took office. |
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A mathematical analysis shows
the delay from January to November will cost Ontario motorists about $575
million, the newspaper reported in today's edition. |
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That's too much for motorists
already struggling to pay premiums that skyrocketed in recent years, said Mark
Arsenault of the Canadian Automobile Association. |
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"It's definitely a lot of
money," admitted Arsenault. |
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Neither McGuinty nor Finance
Minister Greg Sorbara -- the deputy premier -- agreed to be interviewed about
the delay and the costs to motorists, the Free Press said. |
Ontario motorists pay $7
billion a year in insurance premiums, according to the Insurance Bureau of
Canada.
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