Author Archives: Admin2

“In the name of expediency and cost savings to the insurance industry, the Wynne Liberals propose to wipe out recourse to an independent judicial system that safeguards the fundamental rights of citizens…” Saving money on car insurance Toronto Star March 10 2014

Insurance fraud is big business. It’s estimated that 15 per cent of insurance premiums go to cover fraudulent insurance claims. In real numbers, that’s:

• $225, if your insurance premium is $1500;
• $300, if your premium is $2000; and,
• $375, if it’s $2500.

http://www.insurancehotline.com/auto-insurance-fraud-was-that-auto-accident-really-an-accident/

Big difference  between what the Insurance Hotline tells us and the IBC tells us during Fraud Month –

“We have watched the stakeholders and the legislators and their foremost experts spend two decades trying to get the Ontario auto insurance system to run right – but they have repeatedly and stubbornly ignored the key problem –  the poor quality of the medico-legal assessments that fuel the disputes which backlog the system,” FAIR stated in a release March 7.

The Progressive Conservative finance critic, Vic Fedeli, also suggested the government needs to address the issue of insurers’ medical assessments in auto claims.

The PC party “suggested a truly independent third party injury-assessment protocol in order to clarify injuries and mitigate the demands for mediation in the first place,” Fedeli said in the legislature March 4. That, he added, “is missing” from Bill 171.

http://www.canadianunderwriter.ca/news/accident-victims-group-ontario-pc-critic-call-for-reform-of-auto-insurers-medical-assessments/1002956466/

“the bill’s proposal to align the rate with market conditions, meant to help reduce claims costs, really means slashing payouts to accident victims…..Many accident victims have to fund their own treatment and care, some have mortgaged or lost their homes, some have ended up on our social systems or borrowed funds at very high interest rates. Those are all common scenarios for Ontario’s accident victims whose compensation for their hardship has just been vaporized. It’s hard not to wonder where our legislators think that MVA victims get the funds to cover the costs of making a claim.” FAIR on DRS Reform Legislation too hasty TWI March 11 2014

The average annual saving will likely be in the 10-to-15 per cent range, if you’re prepared to have a GPS tracking device installed in your car, give up some privacy and trust your insurer not to misuse the information it collects about you.

http://www.thestar.com/business/personal_finance/insurance/2014/03/09/how_you_can_lower_car_insurance_costs.html

If you’re too broke to offer the electorate tax cuts at election time, what else can you do to put money back in their wallets?

Well, you can lower their auto insurance rates. Who wouldn’t want to save 15 per cent when the average premium in Ontario is $1,600? That’s $240 a year back in a driver’s pocket. http://www.lawtimesnews.com/201403103825/commentary/liberals-look-to-hijack-ndp-auto-insurance-strategy

Why would an insurer pay out a claim when it can make money by delaying that claim indefinitely? When they are getting 4% on their money, and they only have to pay interest to the claimant at 1.3%, they can’t lose in that scenario,” OTLA president Charles Gluckstein charges.

OTLA reports it is also concerned about certain changes to Ontario’s auto insurance dispute resolution system (DRS). A recent review by Justice Douglas Cunningham includes a number of sensible reforms, OTLA notes, but the group strongly cautions the government to reconsider changes that it argues “would deprive injured accident victims of the opportunity to access the courts in cases involving denials of statutory accident benefits.”  http://www.canadianunderwriter.ca/news/ontario-trial-lawyers-association-calls-for-amendments-to-proposed-auto-reforms/1002953628/

The technology is capable of gathering a lot more information. A telematics device can record all kinds of things: how quickly you accelerate and brake, whether you drift out of your lane, how sharply you take corners, whether you’re driving on busy highways or quiet side streets……“It’s almost limitless, the number of risk factors which you can access,” said George Cooke, the former CEO of Dominion Insurance company and an advisor for Intelligent Mechatronic Systems, a Waterloo telematics company.

Cunningham repeated concerns by consumer advocates that health regulatory colleges “have not been responsive to complaints regarding members who conduct IEs.” He also remarked that it “must be a challenge to insulate themselves from outside influence.”

If that wasn’t clear enough, Cunningham added, “The problem is obvious. An expert retained by an insurer who supports claimants is unlikely to be retained again. For this culture shift to be successful, the government will need to be proactive.” That seems a polite way of saying it’s difficult for experts appointed by insurers not to provide reports that favour the insurers who pay them large sums of money in return.

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/03/08/action-on-insurance-reform