Auto Insurance

How to shop for cheap car insurance in Ontario

By: Tahnya Kristina on January 6, 2016
Article image

There are a few different ways to shop around for cheap car insurance in Ontario. Some of them are helpful and some of them are a total waste of time.

Keep in mind that the cost of insurance premiums is directly related to the amount of coverage you choose. This means that cheaper isn't always better because you might not be covered for all the benefits you need.

You'll probably call your bank first

This is a big mistake. I know because it's a mistake I made when I bought my first car. I always dealt with one bank (a big blue Canadian bank that will remain nameless) so it was only natural that I called them for my car insurance. Only three years later when I lost my job and started shopping around for cheap car insurance did I realize that I was overpaying for my car insurance.

That's the thing about banks in Canada: they know they can overcharge clients for their services because they have the name to back their products. What if I told you that equally trustworthy, but less well known companies can offer the same coverage for lower premiums?

Then you should contact an insurance company

As a child I remember my parent's insurance agent coming and sitting at our kitchen table to fill out insurance forms. I'm sure those days are long gone. Nowadays people do business with companies they've never met and buy things from salespeople they've never seen. Why? Because we need everything in a rush, we want to buy insurance before we go on vacation and we want to find cheap car insurance before our policy expires.

That's okay because it's just the way of the world. When you call around to get quotes for cheap car insurance in Ontario it's a wise idea to call insurance companies as well as your bank. That way you can compare insurance rates from different providers.

Make sure to compare apples to apples

When shopping around for cheap car insurance in Ontario, compare apples to apples. Get quotes with the exact same deductible as well as the same amount of collision, damage and theft coverage. There's a saying in French (I live in Montreal): "Jamais deux sans trois." It means, “Never have two without three.” So get three car insurance quotes.

Call two banks and call two insurance companies to find the lowest quotes. The two with the cheapest premiums for exactly the same coverage make your shortlist. Now you only need one more quote to make an informed decision on where to buy your car insurance.

Go online and click

What's better than calling around and waiting on hold to get car insurance quotes? Getting several quotes in one place - and that place is online. By entering a few pieces of information such as your postal code, the make and model of your car as well as your age and gender you can compare car insurance quotes from several providers at the same time. Doesn't that sound like a much easier way to find cheap car insurance in Ontario?

Use our tool and get up to 10 insurance quotes in just three minutes for FREE.

Image Courtesy of Adobe Stock

Comments