Province
defends delay in car insurance rate cut |
TORONTO
- The Ontario government is defending a delay in cutting auto insurance rates,
blaming an administrative backlog in processing insurance company rate filings. |
|
The Liberals said Monday all
new rates will be approved by July 15 -- three months after the April 15 date
they initially set for lower rates to take effect. |
|
"It will take some time
for people to see those, but already as of April 15 people are seeing decreases
in their rates, and we're continuing to work to bring in other reforms so we
can continue to see rates go down," said Diane Flanagan, spokeswoman for
Finance Minister Greg Sorbara. |
|
When the Ontario government was
sworn in last Oct. 23, Premier Dalton McGuinty immediately froze insurance
rates for 90 days, promising that rates would fall on average by 10 per cent
when insurers filed new rates on Jan. 23 as the government required. |
|
But that was the first time all
of the province's 61 insurance companies filed rate changes at once, which
resulted in a mass of paperwork, and many of the filings were complex, Flanagan
said. |
|
"Some of the filings were
more complicated than the Financial Services Commission of Ontario
expected," she said. |
|
More staff were hired through
an actuarial firm to process the documents, Flanagan added. |
|
Rate decreases averaging about
10 per cent were approved April 15 by the government for firms representing 55
per cent of Ontario's auto insurance market. However, the remaining 45 per cent
of the market won't get approval to drop rates until July 15. Approval must be
granted before customers of those companies see rate decreases, and only when
they get their renewals. |
|
Mark Yakabuski, Ontario
vice-president of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, said most insurers have
already begun to factor in those lower rates as they send out renewals. |
|
"Those approvals, in most
cases have already taken place," he said. "The quarterly publication
of new rates that have been approved in the last quarter won't come out until
July 15, but many of those will already be in effect." |
|
Yakabuski said that in
November, the average auto insurance premium was $1,488, but that fell to
$1,389 by April -- a decline of close to seven per cent. |
The reforms have also led to
rising competition in the auto insurance market, meaning more options and lower
rates for consumers, he said.
|
Province
defends delay in car insurance rate cut |
TORONTO
- The Ontario government is defending a delay in cutting auto insurance rates,
blaming an administrative backlog in processing insurance company rate filings. |
|
The Liberals said Monday all
new rates will be approved by July 15 -- three months after the April 15 date
they initially set for lower rates to take effect. |
|
"It will take some time
for people to see those, but already as of April 15 people are seeing decreases
in their rates, and we're continuing to work to bring in other reforms so we
can continue to see rates go down," said Diane Flanagan, spokeswoman for
Finance Minister Greg Sorbara. |
|
When the Ontario government was
sworn in last Oct. 23, Premier Dalton McGuinty immediately froze insurance
rates for 90 days, promising that rates would fall on average by 10 per cent
when insurers filed new rates on Jan. 23 as the government required. |
|
But that was the first time all
of the province's 61 insurance companies filed rate changes at once, which
resulted in a mass of paperwork, and many of the filings were complex, Flanagan
said. |
|
"Some of the filings were
more complicated than the Financial Services Commission of Ontario
expected," she said. |
|
More staff were hired through
an actuarial firm to process the documents, Flanagan added. |
|
Rate decreases averaging about
10 per cent were approved April 15 by the government for firms representing 55
per cent of Ontario's auto insurance market. However, the remaining 45 per cent
of the market won't get approval to drop rates until July 15. Approval must be
granted before customers of those companies see rate decreases, and only when
they get their renewals. |
|
Mark Yakabuski, Ontario
vice-president of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, said most insurers have
already begun to factor in those lower rates as they send out renewals. |
|
"Those approvals, in most
cases have already taken place," he said. "The quarterly publication
of new rates that have been approved in the last quarter won't come out until
July 15, but many of those will already be in effect." |
|
Yakabuski said that in
November, the average auto insurance premium was $1,488, but that fell to
$1,389 by April -- a decline of close to seven per cent. |
The reforms have also led to
rising competition in the auto insurance market, meaning more options and lower
rates for consumers, he said.
|
|
|
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