Ontarians are used to paying the highest premiums in Canada for auto insurance, but overpaying by $840 million in one year alone is still leaving a sour taste in the mouth for many people. A report released last week on behalf of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA) revealed that insurers are collecting record profits from overcharged insurance rates.
http://www.lowestrates.ca/news/fallout-otla-auto-insurance-report-divides-industry-1667
TORONTO – “We know of some entities who have about 50 different ways to defraud us,” says claims investigation supervisor Dave Nolan of Aviva Canada Inc. “They try something new every day,” he said.
Almost everyone in Ontario knows that, with the full collusion of the government and its ministers, drivers are required to have insurance, but insurance payouts are severely capped. We pay lots, they pay little.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2015/04/16/gouging-in-auto-insurance.html
Windsor personal injury law firm Greg Monforton & Partners agrees with the results of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association’s recent conclusion that insurance companies are reaping the benefits while drivers are left with no choice but to overpay.
http://windsorite.ca/2015/04/local-law-firm-takes-aim-at-ontario-car-insurance-costs/
http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1519133/ontario-s-auto-accident-victims-in-crisis
Victim’s Group Calls for Ontario Auditor General to investigate and report on the Auto Insurance Sector
TORONTO, April 16, 2015 /CNW/ – A recent StatsCan Civil Court Survey revealed that there are now 61,063 auto insurance related cases waiting for hearings in Ontario’s Superior Court.
According to the 2013 Minister of Finance DRS Report there were over 30,000 unresolved claim disputes at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario.
This is an unprecedented number of innocent and injured victims who have not had their claims properly handled by the insurer whom they paid to assist them in a time of need. Many of these seriously injured victims are without timely access to treatment and rehabilitation and they face a wait of up to 10 years or more to hold their insurer accountable.
Ontario drivers pay the highest prices in Canada for insurance, almost double what some other Provinces are paying for similar coverage. With so many unresolved claims in the system it is time to take a hard look at whether our government should be legislating Ontarians to buy this inferior product.
According to the Auditor General’s 2011 Report on auto insurance about half of all claims are turned down by Ontarioinsurers. What the AG report doesn’t talk about is how these claims are turned down. Victims are forced to attend multiple and excessive medical examinations by their insurer in course of a claim. Insurers spend more on assessing a victim than they do on treatment and rehabilitation according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s own statistics in the HCDB Standard Report.
Insurer medical examinations (IME) are virtually without oversight and are often performed by biased and even unqualified medical ‘experts’ who are beholden to the insurer who hires them. These bogus medical opinions are the tool used to deny claims and are at the core of the court backlog.
Victims are being downloaded at an alarming rate onto OHIP and our public system of Welfare, Ontario Disability and CPP Disability programs that are underfunded and unable to provide adequate care for victims.
Not only do victims face a personal crisis but they are faced with hiring a legal representative in a province where the cost for legal representation is the highest in Canada. Many victims hire more than one lawyer during the course of a claim and there is plenty of evidence that the quality of the services and the billing practices of that sector are also harming MVA victims.
We pay our premiums and we should be able to access the coverage we paid so handsomely for. What we have is legislators who are listening only to the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s incessant calls to slash benefits and our government is now on-board with blocking victim’s access to fair and balanced hearings in court through Bill 15.
When insurers don’t pay we all will. We are paying for private insurers who, according to the OTLA’s recent report, are making unprecedented and excessive profits on the backs of victims they refuse to pay.
We invite the public to join FAIR and we ask our elected MPPs to join in the call to the Auditor General to review and report on the auto insurance sector.
About FAIR Association of Victims for Accident Insurance Reform – FAIR is a grassroots not-for-profit organization of auto accident victims and their supporters who have struggled with the current auto insurance system in Ontario. http://www.fairassociation.ca/
SOURCE FAIR Association of Victims for Accident Insurance Reform
For further information: Rhona DesRoches, FAIR, Board Chair, fairautoinsurance@gmail.com, Tel: 705 543-0574
We have heard many arguments in favour of Alternative Business Structures (ABS). I don’t find these arguments compelling, nor are they supported by any concrete data. The ABS structure is important for accident and injury lawyer because these are the areas which have been targeted the most in the UK and Australia since the introduction of ABS. Other areas simply aren’t as important or as lucrative to the ABS model:
The Financial Services Commission of Ontario reported Wednesday that Ontario’s 9.4 million drivers have only seen their rates go down by just over 7 per cent.
“Everybody who is being regulated is being looked at, how can they contribute to lower costs, lower premiums,” Palumbo said, noted that contingency fees are usually in the 25 to 40% range. “We’re saying that personal injury lawyers have a responsibility as well. In terms of the auto system in particular, and fees, they aren’t regulated.”
“Government needs to step up to the plate, take on this issue and come up with a reasonable solution that will result in decreasing the cost of claims and settlement expenses,” says Randy Carroll, the former CEO of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario and author of the blog ‘Let’s Talk About the Elephant in the Room.’ “No-fault insurance was supposed to eliminate lawyers’ involvement and cost – not increase it.”
http://www.insurancebusiness.ca/news/fee-cap-on-pi-lawyers-a-good-start-brokers-190339.aspx
“There are people who have been evicted from their apartments because the government rent cheque didn’t come through. I don’t think the Minister understands the magnitude of this. If she does understand, her hard-heartedness is off the scale.” — Warren (Smokey) Thomas, OPSEU President
http://nupge.ca/content/12214/ontario-court-case-over-sams-starts-wednesday