“I was absolutely flabbergasted when Desjardins bought State Farm,” said Cooke. “And with State Farm’s large book of Ontario clients – a book that has traditionally not been profitable – you have to ask yourself, why?”
Cooke theorized that Desjardins is looking ahead, looking to capture those clients and place itself in the position to service those auto clients in the future.
http://www.insurancebusiness.ca/news/telematics-the-death-knell-for-brokers-177022.aspx
Canadians have differing ideas on what other kinds of distractions should be considered criminal offenses. http://www.insurance-canada.
Accident victims see Bill 171, not as a fraud fighting measure but as a template for reducing benefits paid to injured drivers by way of legislation geared toward enhancing insurer profits.
Please stop trading accident victims’ rights to fair hearings, and the benefits they need for recovery, for insurer dollars.
Please stop capitulating to Ontario’s insurers and discriminating against those whose insurers have failed to stand behind their contracts by taking away their right to have their case heard. Stop letting assessors harm accident victims and start making regulation and enforcement work.
Please stop taking action that has made Ontario’s accident victims third class citizens and in the bargain allowed Ontario’s insurers to walk away from their responsibilities by downloading these costs to the taxpayer.
Mr. Jagmeet Singh: Now, I challenge the Liberal government, I challenge the members on the other side, to show me how this bill, particularly the two components I talked about-how will changing the dispute resolution system from the FSCO arbitrators to the Licence Appeal Tribunal reduce fraud? It won’t. I dare you to show me how it will. You can’t show that. So your title that says “Fighting Fraud and Reducing Automobile Insurance Rates Act” in that regard is false. I challenge you to show me how reducing the interest rates charged to encourage insurance companies to settle quicker-reducing them from 5% to 1.3%-reduces fraud in any way. I challenge you to show me how that reduces fraud. You won’t be able to show me that. Again, the title “Fighting Fraud and Reducing Automobile Insurance Rates Act” is false in those two areas, and those are the two biggest components of this bill.
Mr. Jagmeet Singh: There’s no incentive to settle quicker. This is another example of allowing the insurance industry to delay. They actually make money on delaying. They can take the amount of the settlement, if it’s a $100,000 settlement or a $400,000 settlement—whatever the settlement is, they can take that money and reinvest it and make more money. It actually benefits them to delay it. How does this reduce fraud? How does this benefit the drivers of Ontario?
According to the OTLA, “insurers will be set to profit particularly in serious cases as they can earn greater returns by delaying settlement and investing the funds.” Fair Association of Victims for Accident Insurance Reform also objects to the change stating, “there is no incentive to settle cases when insurers can make a fortune sitting on the dollars that are owed to the injured accident victim.”
http://www.torontosun.com/2014/03/15/little-benefit-for-victims
Insurance Business readers didn’t have a lot of love for NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh, the author of the bill that has pegged auto insurance premium reductions at 15 per cent, and his recent criticism of changes being made to the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule.
However, the devil is in the details. This round of changes could easily be called the Insurance Company Relief Act….I have said before that insurers in this province will not be happy until they can collect premiums and have no obligation to pay claims.
The government drank the Kool-Aid served by insurers. The sad fact is that victims will only learn of how they were sold out when they are injured, vulnerable, and looking for help that won’t be there.