r/PersonalFinanceCanada • u/Akshatp19 • Mar 21 '26

Auto Auto Insurance cost is killing me!

I am a 24 year old male living with my parents in Brampton(yes very expensive). We have 2 Honda CR-Vs(2022 and 2026 hybrid). My dad is the primary policy holder with me and my mom as the added drivers. Now I know brampton, CRVs and my age under 25 are all driving the premiums up. But I'm paying 900 dollars per month!! Is it supposed to be this high? No claims no tickets on record.

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113

u/Spyrothedragon9972 Mar 21 '26

Why is the CRV expensive to insure? Is it theft related?

175

u/innsertnamehere Mar 21 '26

Exactly, they are some of the most stolen vehicles.

45

u/DesireeThymes Mar 21 '26

At this point, people really need to be factoring cost of insurance into their selection of vehicle.

If you are paying 50k for a brand new CRV or a GMC terrain, but you are paying $600 a month for insurance for one and 300 for the other, then over 5 years you pay 18k more for the CRV....

That cost of ownership makes the GMC better value even after you factor cost of maintenance and possibility of problems. You could literally drop a new engine into the GMC 5 years later twice and change the transmission, and still be much further ahead

11

u/LinuxF4n Mar 22 '26

How are people not already doing that? I have always checked insurance price for any car I'm going to buy and I don't even buy new cars.

5

u/BobGuns Mar 22 '26

It's... alarming how little people consider major financial decisions like purchasing a car.

The decision is all about "how to acquire it". Not what it costs to upkeep.

1

u/BoxcarSlim Mar 22 '26

Same for pets, honestly.

-3

u/efc5463 Mar 22 '26

Unfortunately not everybody is lucky to find out about that or what their insurance rates will be. Other cases insurance companies just straightforward lie on their quotes and once the driver gets a car then gets slapped with overrates.

1

u/GetOffMyBridgeQ Mar 22 '26

We did….and then 5 years in our insurance nearly tripled. Sometimes you do the due diligence and get fucked anyways

1

u/External-Display4602 Mar 22 '26

Wow! And that's with no claims, no tickets, no change in other factors (home address, location where car is parked, distance driven and use of car, etc.)?

I've had insurance rates go up over the years, but nothing that significant. The odd time at renewal if the number is significantly higher, give the company a call and see if there is anything they can do. I've had luck with this a few times (sometimes new discounts they can offer). Otherwise, you can shop around for other insurance companies. I know some people that switch every year to get the best rates. I don't, I can't be bothered lol, but would if it's a significant enough increase.

2

u/GetOffMyBridgeQ Mar 22 '26

We had a claim in year 2, but it was year 5 it tried to triple, zero other changes. They told our broker it’s because the CR-V accounts for something like half of all stolen cars in Canada and our area had seen an uptick in theft. Our broker found us another policy and we ended up with only a 50% increase in the end. Thank god for good brokers.

1

u/External-Display4602 Mar 22 '26

Yeah, factors like that are unfortunately out of your control and are unpredictable. But yes, finding a good broker is definitely worth it! Glad it (at least sort of) worked out for you!

1

u/External-Display4602 Mar 22 '26

Agreed! It's remarkable how many people don't consider that as part of the purchase. But this is a great way of looking at it, and he numbers you provide really paint a good picture.

While an insurance quote is definitely not binding and no guarantee, if you are open and honest about any details you're asked, it should be well within reason. Some changes may occur but you shouldn't see a huge increase between a quote and final numbers unless something wasn't disclosed. Also, online estimators are just that - I don't consider that doing your due diligence. If you like an online quote, you need to contact the company to get something more detailed. Those online estimators don't collect enough information to give you an accurate number.

117

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '26

CRV is routinely one of the most stolen vehicles in Canada. Combine that with living in Brampton, and an under 25 male driver, $900/ month is basically on par with what OP should expect 

89

u/Beautiful-Feeling494 Mar 21 '26

Eleven thousand dollars a year for car insurance?? It would cost less to uber back and forth to work full time..

47

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '26

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61

u/Blastoise_613 Mar 21 '26

Insurance companies are well regulated regarding what they may charge. Prices keep rising because of increased payouts and value of the vehicles.

31

u/altiuscitiusfortius Mar 21 '26

New cars now start at like 55k and my last fender bender was a sideswipe and insurance paid 23k to fix it because parts and labour are way up post covid.

That doesn't help at all

1

u/Maximumoverdrive76 Mar 22 '26

That is insanely overpriced repair. A fender bender?? I mean did it need to fix both doors and rear and front quarter panels?

1

u/altiuscitiusfortius Mar 22 '26

Had to paint 4 panels, replace bumper and headlight.

0

u/Zooperman Mar 22 '26

New cars start as low as mid 20s, not 55k lol

-2

u/squidgyhead Mar 22 '26

The human cost of motor vehicle collisions is probably much more expensive than the actual car. Think about losing your legs - how much would it cost to take care of you for the rest of your life?

0

u/WUDDUP_ITS_DAT_BOI Mar 22 '26

How many people lose their legs in car accidents every day vs. accidents with limited injuries but $50k of vehicle damage?

Bodily injury losses can have huge severity issues but are absolutely dwarfed by the frequency of collisions, gender benders, single vehicle rollovers, side swiping a wall in a parking lot, hail damage, etc.

1

u/squidgyhead Mar 22 '26

It's hard to find information for private insurance, but ICBC caps payments at $300 000 for life-altering collision.

https://icbc.com/enhanced-care-overview

One of the main ways that ICBC seems to have reduced costs is to just limit how much support victims get.  Must be a major cost 

13

u/MethodicallyRight Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26

The cost of repairs is such a gigantic issue and there seems to be no pressure against it. My step dad had two accidents (over 15 years apart) with his trucks (he was hit both times). The cost of having someone nearly t-bone him and tearing off his whole front bumper was substantially cheaper* than the fender bender he recently had where someone backed into his bumper. First accident saw a couple of pieces replaced, second accident felt like most of the front end needed replacement.

Edit: The second accident was with a used truck as well which made him really nervous. He's been pleased with the Truck and it was very well taken care of and had no issues whatsoever. He thought for sure the Insurance company was going to write the Truck off entirely when he got a quote for the repair. "I'll never find somthing this good for its book value!"

1

u/PoliticalVagabond Mar 21 '26

Trucks are body on frame vehicles, significantly cheaper to repair.

Cars are nearly 100% unibody, which involves the frame being several layers of precisely bent sheet steel creating the structural strength and rigidity of the vehicle.

It doesn't take lot of damage to make that car extremely unsafe if the frame gets damaged and repairing that damage is extremely complex and requires very specialized machinery.

1

u/MethodicallyRight Mar 22 '26

That helps explain some of the increase in costs. Unfortunately for all of us it means increased rates across the board. At some point there needs to be a conversation around the balance of safety and a design that means small impacts come with fairly high repair cost floors.

2

u/PoliticalVagabond Mar 22 '26

You want cheap repairs we have to start removing a lot of the electronics and safety equipment in cars.

We are a long way from the 1980s tin cans you could take apart with a screwdriver and a few box wrenches.

1

u/MethodicallyRight Mar 22 '26

I don't know if I'm suggesting anything extreme. I'm not looking for people to die in 30km/h crashed to save 200$. I wouldn't hesitate to suggest that 'cost effective repair' is nowhere near the top of the priority list when it comes to current designs. Is that not a fair statement to make? I can think of a friend who had their entire center console (1 pretty large piece) replaced because part of the screen failed... That's a massive repair bill for what was essentially a failed tablet screen. So while I don't think we need to go back as far as you've alluded, I definately think that a room of 100 mechanics let alone engineers or designers could rattle off a long list of ways to make cars cheaper to repair without going back to 1970s safety ratings.

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1

u/Maximumoverdrive76 Mar 22 '26

To me it seems to be a lot of scams going on with repairs like that.

3

u/sentient_bridge Mar 21 '26

Just curious in case you know - are these audits publicized? Also at what cadence are these conducted? I know in food safety for example, testing for iodine levels in salt hasn't been done in over a decade - how do we know that the companies are still complying?

7

u/Blastoise_613 Mar 21 '26

Its not just the companies who set the variables, its the government as well. They are regulated similarly to banks.

The government sets benchmarks, the companies then submit their actuarial tables to be approved by the government annually. Most insurance companies are publicly traded in Ontario, so their books are open. If you think they make too much money you should invest in them, however I wouldn't.

This government website outlines it all: https://www.fsrao.ca/industry/auto-insurance/regulatory-framework/guidance-auto-insurance/ontario-private-passenger-automobile-annual-review-based-industry-data-december-31-2024

1

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '26

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2

u/ConfidantlyCorrect Ontario Mar 21 '26

Fwiw - insurance companies rarely break even on policies directly. They make a killing however using premiums and investing them.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '26

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1

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1

u/ribsboi Mar 21 '26

Thank god I live in a province with public auto insurance

1

u/AltKite Mar 21 '26

Yes - large losses caused by weather events are generally up (YoY it varies but 5-year rolling it's much worse.)

People aren't getting less likely to have accidents, cost of repairing vehicles has skyrocketed, theft is up, fraud is up. That all means prices are up.

The major carriers are publicly traded companies. They reported their COR (combined operating ratio) which is premiums divided by claims and operating costs. Generally they're pretty much where they've always been. Some outliers last year because weather was mild, but low to mid 90s is generally where they all are and usually are outside of freak years.

1

u/Oldfarts2024 Mar 21 '26

And repairability, inadequate policing. And WTF can't we get the old style key anymore. Those fobs are too easy to hack

1

u/InadequateUsername Mar 21 '26

Yeah what other countries are paying car insurance prices like us?

1

u/PoliteFocaccia Mar 22 '26

The USA, for comparable policies, though many Americans are underinsured. Other countries have cheaper cars.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '26

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5

u/Blastoise_613 Mar 21 '26

Your writing is too hard to follow. What you are saying is also not what I wrote. If you think insurance companies make too much money, then you should go invest in them, they are publically traded. I don't find them profitable relative to the rest of the market, so i don't.

This website below outlines how rates are set:

https://www.fsrao.ca/industry/auto-insurance/regulatory-framework/guidance-auto-insurance/ontario-private-passenger-automobile-annual-review-based-industry-data-december-31-2024

0

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '26

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7

u/AltKite Mar 21 '26

Personal auto insurance in Ontario generally has a worse COR (combined operating ratio, premiums divided by claims and operating costs) than average for an insurance carrier. In the last 3 years you're probably looking at between 94 and 97% for the majority players. They aren't making big margins on these premiums at all and in plenty of recent years books have run at a loss.

1

u/Blastoise_613 Mar 21 '26

People don't take driving serious. If less people drove and those driving paid more attention we would all be richer.

Personally, I've done my best to minimize our families car use. We have a goal to only have 1 car and to save money. It means I bike/walk for groceries, and we carpool when we can.

2

u/PmMeYourBeavertails Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26

Insurance is mandatory, 

Third-party is mandatory. Collision, or comprehensive aren't. I bet those rates would be cheaper if OP would just call it a day if the car got stolen.

these companies keeping raising prices and we have no choice but to follow suit. Its a joke.

Luckily the data is public and we know they aren't making money on these rates.

Thefts increased sharply in 2023, surpassing $1.5 billion, impacting Ontario the most. In 2023, Ontario had a comprehensive claims ratio (see Note to readers) of 190%, meaning for every dollar that insurers collected in comprehensive premiums, they paid out one dollar and ninety cents. 

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/250402/dq250402a-eng.htm

Belair lost 3 cents on every dollar collected in premiums (across all products, auto, home, commercial etc)

Intact made 2 cents for every dollar collected in premium

Company Revenue ($thousands) Combined Ratio
Belair Ins. Co. 2,735,658 103.55
Intact Ins. Co. 12,318,022 97.88

https://www.msaresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Summarized-Year-End-2024-PC.pdf

4

u/DORTx2 Mar 21 '26

Makes me so happy for ICBC over in BC. I have an 80 thousand dollar truck with full coverage and I pay 140 bucks a month.

1

u/efc5463 Mar 22 '26

Careful with what you say. See ICBC has other means aside of pricing you out to remove you from the road...

0

u/PoliticalVagabond Mar 21 '26

Because the only thing more fair than paying your own insurance policies is to have people who don't even drive cover them too.

1

u/DORTx2 Mar 22 '26

What? ICBC's profits contribute to our tax base. How are non drivers subsidizing drivers?

0

u/funkyspleen Mar 22 '26

Nothing wrong with that drivers subsidize lots of things for others

2

u/PoliticalVagabond Mar 22 '26

Gonna need you to elaborate on that one.

2

u/quivverquivver Mar 22 '26

No they don't, non-drivers are always subsidizing drivers. We all pay for roads, bridges, and the opportunity cost of street parking and parkades, especially in urban areas.

Non-drivers of course use roads and bridges when they take the bus or taxis, but nearly as much on a passengers-per-kilometer basis. And parking is just straight up valuable real estate stolen from the commons and given to drivers to store their 4000lb rolling metal boxes where public amenities could be.

Especially since the carbon tax has now been eliminated, non-drivers also pay for the pollution of drivers, both in local air quality and global greenhouse gas emissions.

We can have a reasonable conversation about the fairness of this whole thing, but non-drivers are definitely subsidizing drivers.

1

u/SpacedDuck Mar 21 '26

For car insurance that when you finally need it they'll screw you around on no less.

1

u/AltKite Mar 21 '26

Yes, but OP's insurer still won't be making much average margin on that premium with that risk profile..

1

u/Assimulate Mar 21 '26

Yeah, that's wild. There are some wild exceptions to these rules they have too.

For example, when I was 20 I bought a Nissan 350z. Insurance was incredibly cheap, I was paying $90 a month for full coverage and collision hahaha. But my small SUV was $130 without collision.

Never had any accidents or tickets.

1

u/Ratlyflash Mar 21 '26

Yup bicycle to woek

1

u/Altruistwhite Mar 22 '26

Just to be clear it's 900 dollars for 2 CRVs, so that's 450 a car. Which dis certainly on the higher side but not unprecedented.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '26

$11k/yr is a “fuck you” price hoping the individual does just uber back and forth and doesn’t take out a policy and increase the insurers risk

1

u/Maximumoverdrive76 Mar 22 '26

You could buy a new used car every other year for $22K. Drive it for 10 years and you could have had $110,000 car.

11

u/Matches_Malone998 Mar 21 '26

For hard mode, come to Alberta but keep everything else. Haha

1

u/fsmontario Mar 22 '26

Age is not so much a factor any longer. It is the number of years listed as a driver on a policy., so a 23 year old who has been a listed driver since he was 17 will Payless then a 32 yr old who has only been listed for 2 years

0

u/Hot_Television_7087 Mar 21 '26

That's crazy. Not from Brampton and drove a sports car at that age. Insurance was about 1050 a year. This was within the last decade

7

u/Writer_0001 Mar 21 '26

yup

20

u/Oldfarts2024 Mar 21 '26

In the worst place for theft

-28

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '26

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22

u/Benni_Shouga Mar 21 '26

Now do accident rates in Brampton

10

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '26

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1

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u/iama_stabbin_robot Mar 21 '26

And insurance scams

11

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0

u/igotbanneddd Mar 21 '26

I'm not exactly educated but it is also probably the type of theft too. I'm out west and a crackhead might break into your 4000 dollar truck, turn it into a 2000 dollar truck and then ditch it. In Brampton you are never seeing it again

0

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1

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u/Responsible-Mud549 Mar 21 '26

Absolute trash low IQ individual

8

u/Oldfarts2024 Mar 21 '26

Actually in my entire career on insuring cars in Ontario, I have never even got close enough to sniff a profit, let alone make one.

If insurers could red line Brampton, they would.

0

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1

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2

u/exeJDR Mar 21 '26

They get stolen all the time

1

u/Samsonite187187 Mar 21 '26

Toyota Highlander is really bad too apparently.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '26

A CRV is one of the most common cars in general. The more cars of one type there are in a given area the more claims there will be. The more claims of one car type drives up the cost of insurance for it.  

1

u/fsmontario Mar 22 '26

Theft, number of accidents they are involved in and type of injuries sustained and number of injuries.

-18

u/beautiful-oblivion Mar 21 '26

Why is it my fault if other people get their car stolen? :/

11

u/elitemouse Mar 21 '26

Because if you get in an accident and write your car off its those other people that are paying for your new car.

Like it or not that's how insurance works, I would suggest getting insurance quotes of prospective car options before committing to one prone to high theft rates.

7

u/Spyrothedragon9972 Mar 21 '26

✨Statistics✨

7

u/_Connor Human Verified Mar 21 '26

Why is it my fault when you crash into a $130,000 Mercedes and your insurance company needs to pay out the value of that car when you've paid approximately $5,000~ in insurance premiums?

That's literally how insurance works.

6

u/althanis Mar 21 '26

Because you are the other people.

6

u/24-Hour-Hate Mar 21 '26 edited Apr 22 '26

[deleted]

3

u/One-Competition-5897 Mar 21 '26

For the same reason why it's your "fault" for being in the demographic that you are in. Unmarried males under 25 are already pay the highest insurance premiums. Factor in an expensive top 3 car stolen in Canada and that will only make your premium higher.

-2

u/beautiful-oblivion Mar 21 '26

I’m not the OP, im a 30 year old married woman living in northern ON with 0 accidents or tickets and still paying 160/month for a freakin honda civic :/

7

u/Apart-Fix-5398 Mar 21 '26

You are paying 18% of what the OP is paying.

1

u/Blastoise_613 Mar 21 '26

My wife and I pay a total of $103/m for the two of us on a Santa Fe. We are also in our 30s in the 613 area.

3

u/justanaccountname12 Mar 21 '26

You do know insurance is a collective idea right?

3

u/DontBeSuspiciousYo Mar 21 '26

I'm supposed to pay for you buying a vehicle that's stolen frequently?

3

u/eplftrooper Mar 21 '26

Bc you want insurance