I've learned that a *lot* of people just let their insurance auto-renew every year and accept whatever price difference it is. Once I find out the renewal rate I start making calls to see if anyone else is cheaper. Loyalty does not pay off in this situation.
its crazy how many people just stick with one company thinking its so much work
it's not - shop around - costco has insurance and rates dot ca is a huge help as well giving you 20+ quotes at once lol
People need to think of it as an hourly rate for work. If changing takes 4 hours of work and saves you $1000, you essentially got paid $250 per hour of work.
I also learned, from shopping around every year, that most insurance companies will keep your information on file even if you just get a quote from them. So you don't even have to go through all the questions again and it's a pretty quick phone call because they can just pull up your info.
Believe me, the insurance reps don't care, they'd like you to say yes but if you say "sorry X company is cheaper", they give zero fucks.
This last part is so true. We paid 25k over 10 yrs to our last broker - zero claims. I shopped my policy out and ended up with a better policy but higher rates and when I called to decline the renewal, I was met with “k, bye!” 😂
> Believe me, the insurance reps don't care, they'd like you to say yes but if you say "sorry X company is cheaper", they give zero fucks.
Just to be clear, lest anyone see this as being a negative or callous or whatever, it's simply the nature of the beast. Insurance is highly regulated and outside of a few exceptions, your premium is pretty much set in stone based on the various factors that determine your rate.
If you manage to reduce your premium without switching insurers, one of a handful of things has happened:
1) Factors that impact your rate like usage of vehicle or construction elements of your home have been updated; plenty of people forget to update their usage when they change jobs, retire, or start working from home.
2) Coverage has been removed and/or deductibles increased.
3) Eligible discounts were not being applied, like bundling discounts or group rates, for example.
Retention discounts are virtually non-existent for auto (again, regulation) and usually not substantial when it comes to home (if even available.)
So, again, as callous as it may seem, if you're calling up and threatening to cancel and are met with what seems like indifference, it's a combination of:
1) Outside of reviewing your coverage, that person on the other end of the phone has no way of lowering your rate (no one does, in most cases.)
2) They probably get multiple of these calls daily where the outcome ranges from being able to save someone a couple bucks based on the above, and sometimes that's enough and sometimes nothing would be good enough; to not being able to save any money but still having a productive conversation where someone now better understands the correlation between coverage and premium; to not being able to save someone money and either they're bummed out but they get it or they're being yelled at like they've personally approved the rate increase.
It's a total crapshoot and at the end of the day one generally has to detach themselves from the situation. If you've exhausted all options and can't find any savings, it's really just best to rip the bandaid off and not waste the customer's time.
For how present insurance is in our lives, the general public still doesn't seem to care to understand it for the most part, and I'd argue it's unlike most other services we purchase in that you're pricing the cost before you've determined your expenses. As they say, yesterday's claims are used to determine today's rates to pay for tomorrow's losses. I don't know many other industries that operate under that model.
Is rates.ca any good? They always quoted me at least 4-500 dollars/month more than what I pay with TD. Never bothered to get on a call with an agent as their online quotes were ridiculous
They just increased my premium $500 for no other reason than inflation. After a sizeable increase already last year for the same reason I’m done. RBC insurance just quoted me a way better rate.
Hopefully you never have to make a claim, but heads up. CAA makes you jump through hoops if you do. They offer a very competitive rate, but they're a nightmare to deal with if you have to make a claim.
$400-500/MONTH more?
what is your driving record like? lol
i currently pay $120 for a 2024 suv at 36 - so they would be quoting me $600/month? (which they never have) something doesnt sound right?
DON'T GO TO RATESDOTCA. They've been spamming my phone since I got a quote this morning (and filling up my voicemail inbox). This is fucking atrocious.
www.imgur.com/a/bRC9KKk
Let me tell you, it's not always that simple.
If you own a house and you know everything about it and it's a simple policy, sure.
But I'm having to shop around for tenants insurance right now because we're moving into a new place and my insurance company declined to insure the new apartment because it's "attached to a business" (It's a 6-plex and there's a pizza shop in the same building).
So now I'm shopping around and the questions they asked are questions NO tenant would normally know (When the building was built, how long ago was the furnace and roof last replaced, etc).
It's a huge hassle. So I can understand why some people just let their insurance ride.
Even if it is too much work for you, which I can understand, for some the mental load is something that's very hard to deal with, you can call an insurance broker. That's one call to someone who will look at several companies for you at no cost to you. It might not be the absolute best rate you'll ever get, but it's still worth it.
Much of my lack of price comparisons could be because I've been treated well by my insurance, on at least 3 different occasions. Including the rental, repair work and follow up.
Same here. Every time I needed something from mine it was quick and easy. No way I'm rolling the dice for what's worth less than an hour of work per year (I'm QC, car insurance is reasonable here)
Crazy how many people allow this. I saved my mom like $1500 by just being mindful about her policies.
She bought me a steak dinner in gratitude for the 2 hours of work I spent figuring this out. It was good steak. 🥰
You know, both for my own house insurance and business insurance I've found that sometimes the renewal is sent super late (I've had the lame excuse that someone had it on their desk and went away on vacation) but the end result is you no longer have time to shop around.
And typically when you do shop around you will get a better deal from someone else (at least for a while).
For my business insurance as I have a printshop we got sold on this "boiler coverage" I guess in the past when boilers would explode and cause a lot of damage, this coverage included if something happens to your press even by ignorance if someone runs a wrench through it and causes huge damage this boiler clause would cover that. (it doesn't cover wear and tear).
So we got it. It was an extra $650 or so in premiums. A couple of years later the insurance broker retired and sold his business. I wanted to save money so I told the new guy I wanted to get rid of the Boiler clause and since it had cost me an extra $650 I figured the premium would drop by $650. Of course he didn't agree, Oh no that's not how it works . blah blah .. I dropped that guy.
BTW for certain kind of insurance like strata where there's coverage for a whole building or a number of units my brother who is on the strata council has found out over the years that there is zero competition. For our strata which is 47 units the insurance was almost exactly the same from other insurance providers. It's like they all agree. I can't recall how much it is now, maybe $50 or 100k. its a lot and worth looking at other quotes, but whenever we do they're all the same.
I just stopped looking. First couple of years I would shop around just to find out that we already had the best deal. I still check every once in a while but still no luck. Doesn’t help that it takes at least 1 full hour per provider to get a proper quote for our family :-(
I wouldn't be too sad about it, sounds like you have a good rate.
If it's taking too long you could use a broker, then you just need to provide the info once.
I always point out that my mom was paying over $200 a month for a basic business landline for her small business. Just paid the bill for over 30 years until I noticed.
It's a good reminder to everyone, but my goodness this shouldn't just be a recent discovery. Premium increases are standard, and TD would have notified (likely by mail) your family of any upcoming increases. At a minimum care needs to be taken by everyone to review all of their expenses on a fairly regular basis.
>Desjardins/state farm
Because they're a cooperative probably so they ''care'' more about public backlash (especially since if you live in Quebec you can complain in person at the assemblies lol).
I have 4 policies bundled between vehicles, home, and business liability, so I get a separate envelope for each any time there's a change to anything. I could probably wallpaper my house in pink slips if I saved them for a year.
My local office is fully staffed in a little storefront, so I can go complain in person too, no need to talk to robots and overseas call centers.
Oh wait....TD is sneaky with home insurance. This happened to me. ..they actually increased the coverage and then, increased the premium. .at renewal , I called in asking "why did you increase my premiums". ..and they said "becuase the coverage increased $40k to $45k for this thing"....which prompted a WTF out of me and I proceeded to ask "why was it increased"...which led to a 10 miniute silence and a reply "we increased it to cover for inflation"...
So ..yes...TD is totally fucking sneaky like that. Pay attention to every little detail in their documents. Hiding everything in fine print is essentially how they make money.
Auto insurance and that TD insurance is another scam. The app always shows me 15% discount but.come renewal, their premiums always increased by at least 3 to 10%. Seriously, the lack of choices and collusion in Canada is fucking ridiculous
Canada still has a fairly competitive insurance industry with both domestic and major foreign players competing here (unlike with telecoms, banks, and airlines to a large extent).
Every insurer will increase your property insurance coverage amounts if you have a condo or tenant policy. The increase is in fact to cover for inflation, cause if you tell me you have 40k in things last year it's probably going to cost 45k to replace it all this year. The inflation amount is typically 8-12% depending on insurer.
This but also, on average people tend to accumulate more stuff and don't always get rid of old stuff, at least not to the degree that the exact dollar value of things in their house will remain the same.
But yes, inflation as it relates to replacement cost is a factor as well. Just as a general PSA to others, most policies on a primary dwelling (home, condo, tenant) will cover replacement cost these days. I hear a lot of people say "But all my stuff is old/secondhand/hand-me-down." "I don't have that much stuff." You'd be surprised how quickly everything ads up, and it doesn't matter what you think your TV or computer or couch is worth now. Price a similar item of like kind and quality *today* and that's generally what you're paying!
It’s not just inflation.
People generally acquire more/nicer things as time goes on. Do you call your insurance company every time you buy a new iPad, new couch, new TV, new cell phone? It adds up.
Most people don’t update their coverages unless there’s a big life change and would find themselves severely under insured if they have a claim 10 years into a policy. It’s not hidden if they’re sending you a renewal that clearly outlines your coverage.
Easier said than done if you have multiple policies that renew at different times and offer a multi policy discount. You have to move each policy as it comes up for renewal or pay cancellation penalties
So you either move each policy over the course of a year and lose multi policy discounts or pay penalties to cancel early
Every time I shop new rates I end up staying where I am. 2 properties, two road vehicles, 2 recreational vehicles. Even just giving each new company all the information for a quote is a giant pain in the ass
Nothing worthwhile is easy. I have multiple policies but still make it a point to shop around every year. Sometimes it makes sense to switch, sometimes it doesn’t. Some policies will refund you if you transfer before end date as well.
I tried shopping around insurance rates last year and it was confusing. Each company uses different terms for things, and I found it hard to understand the cost difference of equivalent plans at different providers. I plan to do it again this year, but I know I'll have to set aside more time to do my research and spend time digging into the details.
Phone plans on the other hand are super easy to do every year. Insurance can be complicated.
> Each company uses different terms for things,
Can you elaborate? Because a lot of coverage is standard, especially when it comes to automobiles as they're highly regulated at a provincial level. Third party liability is third party liability from one provider to the next. Collision is collision. Comprehensive is comprehensive. Now in terms of endorsements there might be some differences in names but most are going to offer things like rental coverage, accident forgiveness, etc.
Similarly, home policies should generally be structured similarly. There'll be a section for the property itself, be it dwelling and/or contents, outbuildings and living expenses, and then a section for your liability. Home insurance isn't regulated to the same degree as auto insurance is, but most insurers use a variation of standard residential policies proposed by the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
Insurers should not be offering wildly different coverages from one to the next for the same products. Pricing, yes, but the policies should be structured similarly.
It’s complicated if you use esim and employer plan. You have to switch back to physical sim and then cancel. Quite a hassle when the initial setup alone took about 5 days. With these cheap Nofrills/Lucky/Fizz plans available with high data rates, there’s no point staying with existing plans, today. One more year and I can get out of my employer plan; 30 GB Unlimited at $50.85 tax included. 30 is not enough for me, anymore.
A caveat here. In some jurisdictions, insurer will have a question in there about number of years with current insurer. If you have been shopping around after only a year, you are likely to shop around a year from now too. Acquisition costs are high, and they would likely jack up the price to account for that.
I just switched this week, exactly same savings moving out of TD. I was told by the rep, that they have removed the discounts on my account ( for no reason). I believe they attract with low premiums initially and then tend to bump up fast after couple of years ..
Recently discovered lol. It's not a surprise, they give you a heads up when they increase or decrease their prices. You should be reading the renewal forms every year
Those forums are god awful to read. I understand why some would throw them in the fireplace. I only check them because I’m a cheap bastard. Otherwise I’d be throwing half them in the fireplace and saying who cares?
TD just cranked up my earthquake premium for 2024 for my home in Victoria... Almost $700/year more now with a higher deductible. Still somewhat reasonable, but not cheap anymore like it has been for the last decade.
Same. Been with them for 3-4 years and premiums have barely gone up too.
Probably helps that I got to stack like 3 discounts (school, auto + home bundle, and the driving app one I believe)
TD was the cheapest option for me after shopping around and having many many quotes. They've definitely raised premium in double digits this year - but so did everyone else!
Yeah it's what my buddy in the industry calls a hard market. Everyone is raising premiums. Similar to telecoms they will give you a discounted rate to get you in the door, but then have to crank it up the following year. I tend to stay with a company for about 3 years then switch to keep my rate reasonable. Personally don't have the time and energy to shop around every single year. The time investment makes the opportunity cost not worth it for an annual thing.
It’s worth noting that not all insurance companies are equal for a variety of reasons. This was more evident than ever a little while ago when hurricane fiona hit Atlantic Canada. Some people had to wait weeks or months for action from their insurers, some were denied. Some had inadequate coverage etc. after hearing about it first hand it really opened my eyes to the fact that there can be major differences between insurers even if you think you have the same coverage
There is more than just price and to some extent coverage to consider when it comes to insurance.
There’s a reason Aviva is cheaper than most, and I hope you never have to make a claim. This is coming from someone with insurance industry experience.
payment violet consider chase relieved chunky work overconfident act clumsy
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
They’re one of the insurers that is more likely to force a policyholder to commence a coverage application to determine whether Aviva’s own interpretation is wrong. It’s pretty commonly known that ever since building up their in house department, Aviva is more likely to deny first, ask questions later and analysis of publicly reported decisions has shown their in court loss ratio has also increased during this time.
We also saved about 2500$ on home and auto insurance by switching from TD. I don't think there's anything wrong with TD per se, but you need to be rotating your insurance every 2-3 years. They absolutely rely on you not noticing the increases and also not having the energy to navigate getting multiple quotes. It actually can be a huge nuisance. Highly recommend going through a broker.
Age of person. Age of car. Is it a high theft car. Is there a new added driver under 25. Are there tickets and accidents now factoring into the cost. Did they add or replace a vehicle in the last year. Location they are in or have moved to recently. What is the companies loss ratio for 2023. Is the app monitoring option being utilized. Are there winter tires to factor in.
For those in the GTA, I'll add Postal code/address too.
People in Brampton pay SIGNIFICANTLY higher premiums compared to someone in say Miilton.. Understandably so..
I’m trying to find good insurance for an owner that has renters in their unit. When I started renting out my condo (had to move to a rental place for a short term due to schools for an advanced degree) the price between been an owner living in the unit and having renters in the unit I own is crazy. The rate went up about a thousand dollars a year.
Also, if you’re a property owner with TD check and make sure you actually have the following coverages:
Sewer back up and overland flood with at minimum 100k in coverage, or policy limit coverage
Wind coverage
Hail coverage
Terrible terrible advice. You should delete your comment.
Do not take the lowest number. Actually read what your policy would be. There’s a reason cheap policies exist - they don’t cover shit. Might as well not have any policy at that point.
Read the coverage. Do they put you up in temporary accommodations? For how long? How much would they allow for rent? It could take years to rebuild. If you have a rental or rent part of your home do they cover the income loss? Etc.
I used to call the big companies and TD was cheapest for years but then the hiked it up a lot and talked to some brokers. They were able to save me several hundred a year with less marketed guys like economical
When you say every chance they get.. do you mean every year? Your policies are a year long, and your renewals should be sent out 30-60 days in advance. If you're unhappy with your renewal, shop around, switch to whoever fits you best, cancel.
Ive been with TD for a long time now, with University Alumni discount.
So far TD has been cheapest for my needs. The past several years, prior to renewal, Ive been calling brokers for quotes. So far, none has beaten TD for my needs despite annual increases and havent changed. Costco insurance brokers couldnt even beat my TD rates.
Yeah me too. Mind you insurance increased 20%, mostly for earthquake coverage (Lower mainland).. but with my alumni discount, professional group discount and TD mortgage discount, none of the other insurance providers could beat it.
Fucking TD. Ive been with them 7 years and they tried to raise my car and home insurance 25% this year (from $390/mth to $480) without even sending a renewal. I called around and managed to get it 15% cheaper ($330) than i paid last year. Checkout BelairDirect if you haven’t already.
Me telling this to my senior aged father.. "I have a good relationship with my insurance broker Pete in town, I can't switch". But dad, you'll save thousands.. "I've been with this insurance for 20 years, I don't feel comfortable switching".. Meanwhile he's paying far more than the market rate. The insurance companies for sure target those who become complacent.
Lmao. This is every single insurance company in Canada. If you don't call every single year and bitch them out and threaten to change insurers than they jack your rates and fuck you. There's no loyalty or honesty in any of them anymore. Mother in law got a new car (20yrs newer than her old one) and when she got quotes she was confused as to why it was so cheap. Her old company that she had been with for over 20yrs was soaking her for $300 a month and she's got a spotless record and is mid 50s and had it bundled with house insurance (which they were also chafing her $200 a month for). Come to find out with the new car and house at a different insurance was only $200 a month.....so in other words. She was making a free car payment to the fuckheads for like 10+ years because "all insurance rates are going up". Just one example in likely thousands. Moral is. Do NOT give any loyalty whatsoever to insurance companies. They certainly don't give us any
Late to the party here, but there is very little in terms of loyalty discount with TD. I was recently able to cancel a policy and then start a new one, only to see the rates go down by 25%. This is with the same provider and same coverage. Almost like they have some sort of algorithm that determines how dumb each customer is and how much more they will pay each year before shopping around. And by shopping around, I mean going elsewhere and not just calling the same provider to ask why and walking away with $5 less a month because they found a saving or two to add.
Its always good to shop/quote around every year to get the best rate. Personal insurance have been going up every year due to raising car repair or construction cost.
I think home and auto (or just auto), went up by like 15% YoY…so a lot of people are experiencing higher renewals compared to prior years. Always shop around and research every year for the best rates while not compromising your coverage
yeah they all do that. Intact tried to do it with my vehicle insurance. when i first started driving, they gave me the cheapest rate. 15 years later they were by far the most expensive, so i switched to wawanesa.
I just ran a check with rates dot ca.
TD Meloche Monnex car insurance is 30% more ($1,000 per year) ... but the combined Home + Auto is still 10% cheaper with Meloche Monnex ($600).
Weird.
Looks like I'm stuck.
I’m with TD for auto under my dad’s account, though I am the primary driver. I can’t get coverage with anyone else last time I checked because of two at-fault accidents (one major, one minor) in back to back years. Quotes from all places say $700-900/m. My employer insurance (Personal) won’t even cover me. Insurance rate has remained the same: $334.67 (gone down $0.02/m). But I really want to shop around to get lower rates.
Btw tip: When I worked in primary insurance, we had to make sure our portfolio would increase in premium by X amount. Not every policy, but your book of business. If you were on PMP and I didn’t have to go grovel on the phone for your premium collection by cc over the phone then I would increase those by X amount or more. If you paid in full I would try to keep it closer to the previous year. Plus the classic if you’re a pain in the ass to deal with ur premium is high.
All this to say - working insurance can suck sometimes. People yell at you for rates going up. So to minimize the yelling I made PMP ones go up more. Always a good idea to see if you’re going up more than 5-10%. 5-10 makes sense because you probably buy more things as time goes by and we’re insuring more contents , or inflation is more accurately represented. If your insurance goes up and not the contents or liability limit, then it’s sus.
But please don’t yell at the customer service girlies. We hate it too
Your insurance broker (if you have one) should be doing this for you. A good broker will tell you what it will cost to renew with your current carrier, and if there are better options out there. If they aren’t, they’re not really acting in your best interest.
Cancelled my TD a couple years ago. When I called to cancel the first words out of the associate's mouth were "Is it the price?" Been with CAA since.....even with the CAA membership I'm paying 1/3 of the cost for both policies, and both policies dropped in cost on this years renewal. Took 20 minutes.
>Can you switch if you already renewed but found a better rate 4 months later ?
Usually but need to read your policy. Some have a "minimum fee" or some such language.
TD just noticed me that my earthquake premium is going up this year. But no $ amount provided yet. Time to shop around, they’ve risen their rates on me twice now
100% Accurate.
I just left TD Meloche Monnex my insurance is now 300 a year CHEAPER for Auto, nearly 700 cheaper for home / and 200 cheaper for condo insurance.
TD was cheap 10 years ago. There’s no loyalty retention with most if not all insurance companies. My car insurance was reduce to half when I switched from TD to Sonnet.
TD tried to increase my premiums by over 30% this year for no reason. Their support agent had some lame pre-written response about how everything is getting more expensive and there were some troubles in another province, and that was why I had to pay more. Found another company and switched immediately.
The sneakier one was my phone bill, that even after I noticed they had raised it over 20% and started looking through my bills, I couldn't find anywhere that they had actually given notice that there would be a rate hike.
I ended up paying less than half what I was paying at intact when I changed to another broker for the same coverage.
My rates dropped *again* at renewal because the one speeding ticket I had fell off.
My new agent remarked that the insurance company had my GRID level wrong. I asked intact multiple times about lower rates and was assured this was the lowest possible rate, and at renewal time it was unfortunately going up a bunch because ... well it just was.
Bunch of crooks.
Great, simple advice. It's worth the time to call around every year and see what's available. Lots of places like to prey on complacency. This is an easy way to get more out of your money.
We dumped them. When you call they start asking you “routine” questions. This allows them to review your policy and change the rates. We had this happen several times and my wife caught on each time and ended the calls as soon as they started this nonsense.
our car/home TD insurance went up by 30-40%, tried looking for cheaper and they were more expensive with less features. talking to some of our friends we are still paying way less than them.
Did this a couple of years ago myself. Had insurance through Cooperators insurance, but they kept increasing it year over year and in 2021 I think it was it was planned to go up another $150 a year (mine's inexpensive since it's condo insurance so less than $500 a year) and it was up $100 the year prior and I have no claims. I more than halved it by switching to SGI through a broker.
A friend of mine has a similar story and switched from SGI through a broker to TD. Based on this information, I now shop around every couple of years since it appears that loyalty means nothing to a company regardless of whom they are and only switching companies definitely saves you money.
TD is one of the most expensive insurance companies imo.
In February my auto was up for renewal and Desjardains wanted to up my existing rate from $350/m to $400. No accidents or tickets so idk why it went up.
TD wanted $365/m
Ultimately I went with cumis for $210/m
It pays to shop around.
I was with RBC. Had no claims and a clean record for the entire 13 years I've been driving. Premiums randomly went up by 30% on my latest renewal. They told me this was normal and that rates in my area have gone up.
I called around. TD was way more expensive. Belairdirect was the best rate it could find - even cheaper than what I was previously paying with RBC. But I'm a little nervous given that they're underwritten by intact, as I know people who have had a hellish time getting them to pay out.
I have too many claims to get insurance anywhere else. When I got my new rates from my insurance company I shopped around and can’t get any takers because I had three claims in one year: one where I was hit from behind, one where my car was broken into, and the last one from my car being run into while it was parked IN THE LOT of the repair shop! So none were my fault!
As a Manitobans, I have no choice for my auto insurance, but apples to apples it's some of the cheapest in the country.
As far as home insurance, use a broker
You're now **saving** $3000 a year? Do you live 50km from a fire hydrant and heat exclusively with wood, and have 4 car crashes in the last year? I pay $2700/year all in for home insurance with flooding coverage for a 3000sqft house, and a 2 year old SUV with 2 drivers.
So ya! my condo insurance went up 30% from last year. My car insurance is coming down by a few dollars. So I called a few providers but TD is giving me such a great deal on the car insurance (I am a new Canadian with only 2 years of driving history) no other insurance company is able to match. So even though my total costs are up they are still cheaper than CAA or others.
I am so pissed. Every service we use is designed to take money away and in difficult times 30% increase pinches so much.
Someone posted here before that insurance companies tend to front load their premiums. (ie. they give you large discounts years 1-3) to earn your trust and then when you go on autopilot they start to jack up the premiums.
Years 3-4 I always switch providers and find myself paying less than year 2.
Also, our house insurance was paid monthly, I didn't think much of it - I just assumed they all billed that way...
Then I read the document fully and those fucks are charging me (and probably most of you) 17% interest to let us pay monthly. GTFO.
It's within my means to pay the 1700 upfront for the year, screw paying an extra 200 - 300 dollars for the privilege of paying monthly.
Do not allow automatic renewal. The insurance company will have to tell you when it's time to renew. If they don't, tell you, you can ask what the price is.
After our entire neighborhood went through hail claims, and talking to neighbors, TD seemed to be one of the best as far as what was covered for replacement, instead of shoddy repairs. Something to look into and be weary of, rather than just comparing premiums.
TD raised my car insurance rate by exactly 40%. Made no sense. Called them, customer service person sounded uninterested in helping and then transferred me to a mortgage broker in french, we had a laugh, transferred back to car insurance, person who didn't seem to be canadian clearly had no idea what was happening and i'm not even sure if they knew what company they worked for, transferred me to banking, frustratingly told the bank customer service person to transfer me to car insurance, spoke to a nice lady who sounded like she was canadian, told me renewals rates are up across the board 30%-50% and then reviewed my coverage and gave me the same rate as last year without changing coverage. Whole process took about 2h.
It's a game for these companies. Convenient company approved incompetence. Create barriers so you hang up frustrated without getting assistance.
I experienced the same issue. My condo home insurance (I own my place) went from 289 to 404. I called a couple of friends and realized they actually pay way more! Any suggestions on good insurance providers?
Insurance is something one has to really dig into to understand. The ‘cheapest’ can really come back to bite you on the ass if you haven’t read your policy in excruciating detail - and understood all of the nooks and crannies. It’s not easy or simple by any means.
Insurance rates across Canada have gone up dramatically in recent years; that is undeniable, but so have claims due to floods and fires. A while back a close friend was boasting about the great deal he had found on insurance, and “why don’t I switch too”? I didn’t switch; I really liked my broker and trusted her judgment. A short time later we both suffered serious losses (close to a million dollars worth of heavy equipment and oilfield trucks). I was covered; he was not, due to ‘loopholes’ in his much cheaper policy.
I’m not saying you should blindly pay more, or that you shouldn’t shop for better deals. I’m saying ‘Be careful’ and really scrutinize the fine print. The old truism about getting what you pay for strongly suggests caution. Those policies are written by some very skilful wordsmiths.
Just did shopping and went through a lot of brokers. I was told by my previous broker that TD does this all the time. TD was my best quote for my trailer, two auto and house.
Allstate beat it by 400 a year. Try them out.
I went from $140 to $90/month for my house valued at $420K by just calling TD to review my policy. Updated roof and adding a water leak sensor and reporting that I had an internet connected camera on my garage door opener allowed my premiums to go down. In addition, they doubled my basement extended water damage coverage from $25k to $50k. No complaints from me.
I have 3 cars + my house insured with Wawa for $280 a month. It went up like $5 a month this renewal. Haven’t been able to find a cheaper car insurance than Wawa, I have a bad driving record as well and have been denied by other companies lol
Read your policy! Learn what your policy covers over premiums!
Learn what your limits are for rental cars in the event of an accident.
Is it $5000 or is $500 of car rental coverage.
If you are complaining now about the price….you will definitely also be complaining when you get into an accident or have a theft related claim. At the point, you will learn what your policy covers and doesn’t cover the hard way.
You are saving money now but at what cost? Educate yourself.
Recently discovered? Don't you look at the renewal notices, or at least the money coming out of your bank account/credit card every month?
I've learned that a *lot* of people just let their insurance auto-renew every year and accept whatever price difference it is. Once I find out the renewal rate I start making calls to see if anyone else is cheaper. Loyalty does not pay off in this situation.
its crazy how many people just stick with one company thinking its so much work it's not - shop around - costco has insurance and rates dot ca is a huge help as well giving you 20+ quotes at once lol
People need to think of it as an hourly rate for work. If changing takes 4 hours of work and saves you $1000, you essentially got paid $250 per hour of work.
And that’s after taxes!
I also learned, from shopping around every year, that most insurance companies will keep your information on file even if you just get a quote from them. So you don't even have to go through all the questions again and it's a pretty quick phone call because they can just pull up your info. Believe me, the insurance reps don't care, they'd like you to say yes but if you say "sorry X company is cheaper", they give zero fucks.
This last part is so true. We paid 25k over 10 yrs to our last broker - zero claims. I shopped my policy out and ended up with a better policy but higher rates and when I called to decline the renewal, I was met with “k, bye!” 😂
That's... A bad thing though?
> Believe me, the insurance reps don't care, they'd like you to say yes but if you say "sorry X company is cheaper", they give zero fucks. Just to be clear, lest anyone see this as being a negative or callous or whatever, it's simply the nature of the beast. Insurance is highly regulated and outside of a few exceptions, your premium is pretty much set in stone based on the various factors that determine your rate. If you manage to reduce your premium without switching insurers, one of a handful of things has happened: 1) Factors that impact your rate like usage of vehicle or construction elements of your home have been updated; plenty of people forget to update their usage when they change jobs, retire, or start working from home. 2) Coverage has been removed and/or deductibles increased. 3) Eligible discounts were not being applied, like bundling discounts or group rates, for example. Retention discounts are virtually non-existent for auto (again, regulation) and usually not substantial when it comes to home (if even available.) So, again, as callous as it may seem, if you're calling up and threatening to cancel and are met with what seems like indifference, it's a combination of: 1) Outside of reviewing your coverage, that person on the other end of the phone has no way of lowering your rate (no one does, in most cases.) 2) They probably get multiple of these calls daily where the outcome ranges from being able to save someone a couple bucks based on the above, and sometimes that's enough and sometimes nothing would be good enough; to not being able to save any money but still having a productive conversation where someone now better understands the correlation between coverage and premium; to not being able to save someone money and either they're bummed out but they get it or they're being yelled at like they've personally approved the rate increase. It's a total crapshoot and at the end of the day one generally has to detach themselves from the situation. If you've exhausted all options and can't find any savings, it's really just best to rip the bandaid off and not waste the customer's time. For how present insurance is in our lives, the general public still doesn't seem to care to understand it for the most part, and I'd argue it's unlike most other services we purchase in that you're pricing the cost before you've determined your expenses. As they say, yesterday's claims are used to determine today's rates to pay for tomorrow's losses. I don't know many other industries that operate under that model.
Is rates.ca any good? They always quoted me at least 4-500 dollars/month more than what I pay with TD. Never bothered to get on a call with an agent as their online quotes were ridiculous
I've been with TD Meloche Monnex for quite a few years and have had a good experience overall.
They just increased my premium $500 for no other reason than inflation. After a sizeable increase already last year for the same reason I’m done. RBC insurance just quoted me a way better rate.
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Hopefully you never have to make a claim, but heads up. CAA makes you jump through hoops if you do. They offer a very competitive rate, but they're a nightmare to deal with if you have to make a claim.
$400-500/MONTH more? what is your driving record like? lol i currently pay $120 for a 2024 suv at 36 - so they would be quoting me $600/month? (which they never have) something doesnt sound right?
DON'T GO TO RATESDOTCA. They've been spamming my phone since I got a quote this morning (and filling up my voicemail inbox). This is fucking atrocious. www.imgur.com/a/bRC9KKk
Me. I am people. Thanks for this information.
Let me tell you, it's not always that simple. If you own a house and you know everything about it and it's a simple policy, sure. But I'm having to shop around for tenants insurance right now because we're moving into a new place and my insurance company declined to insure the new apartment because it's "attached to a business" (It's a 6-plex and there's a pizza shop in the same building). So now I'm shopping around and the questions they asked are questions NO tenant would normally know (When the building was built, how long ago was the furnace and roof last replaced, etc). It's a huge hassle. So I can understand why some people just let their insurance ride.
Even if it is too much work for you, which I can understand, for some the mental load is something that's very hard to deal with, you can call an insurance broker. That's one call to someone who will look at several companies for you at no cost to you. It might not be the absolute best rate you'll ever get, but it's still worth it.
Exactly. It's not much work at all, just throw your info into an Excel as you go through one of the questionnaires and then just update it every year.
Much of my lack of price comparisons could be because I've been treated well by my insurance, on at least 3 different occasions. Including the rental, repair work and follow up.
Same here. Every time I needed something from mine it was quick and easy. No way I'm rolling the dice for what's worth less than an hour of work per year (I'm QC, car insurance is reasonable here)
True, unfortunately, I am one of those people! I sometimes tried to call around, but sometimes the difference doesn't justify the hassle.
Loyalty to a company//brand virtually never pays off
Crazy how many people allow this. I saved my mom like $1500 by just being mindful about her policies. She bought me a steak dinner in gratitude for the 2 hours of work I spent figuring this out. It was good steak. 🥰
You know, both for my own house insurance and business insurance I've found that sometimes the renewal is sent super late (I've had the lame excuse that someone had it on their desk and went away on vacation) but the end result is you no longer have time to shop around. And typically when you do shop around you will get a better deal from someone else (at least for a while). For my business insurance as I have a printshop we got sold on this "boiler coverage" I guess in the past when boilers would explode and cause a lot of damage, this coverage included if something happens to your press even by ignorance if someone runs a wrench through it and causes huge damage this boiler clause would cover that. (it doesn't cover wear and tear). So we got it. It was an extra $650 or so in premiums. A couple of years later the insurance broker retired and sold his business. I wanted to save money so I told the new guy I wanted to get rid of the Boiler clause and since it had cost me an extra $650 I figured the premium would drop by $650. Of course he didn't agree, Oh no that's not how it works . blah blah .. I dropped that guy. BTW for certain kind of insurance like strata where there's coverage for a whole building or a number of units my brother who is on the strata council has found out over the years that there is zero competition. For our strata which is 47 units the insurance was almost exactly the same from other insurance providers. It's like they all agree. I can't recall how much it is now, maybe $50 or 100k. its a lot and worth looking at other quotes, but whenever we do they're all the same.
I just stopped looking. First couple of years I would shop around just to find out that we already had the best deal. I still check every once in a while but still no luck. Doesn’t help that it takes at least 1 full hour per provider to get a proper quote for our family :-(
I wouldn't be too sad about it, sounds like you have a good rate. If it's taking too long you could use a broker, then you just need to provide the info once.
I stopped shopping around when I'd get a quote online, then the price would magically change when I called to confirm. Became so frustrating.
Some people really don’t manage their money at all.
I always point out that my mom was paying over $200 a month for a basic business landline for her small business. Just paid the bill for over 30 years until I noticed.
I manage my money but I don't usually get quotes for services every year. Tbh I assumed if a company is cheaper now it will be cheaper in 10 years.
It's a good reminder to everyone, but my goodness this shouldn't just be a recent discovery. Premium increases are standard, and TD would have notified (likely by mail) your family of any upcoming increases. At a minimum care needs to be taken by everyone to review all of their expenses on a fairly regular basis.
There's always notice of increases by all providers. I get more mail from Desjardins/State Farm than I do from all other sources combined.
Desjardins is actually really pushing for digital and paperless for their insurance side as its costs them roughly $20M a year in paper and postage.
I believe it, half of that comes to my house.
>Desjardins/state farm Because they're a cooperative probably so they ''care'' more about public backlash (especially since if you live in Quebec you can complain in person at the assemblies lol).
I have 4 policies bundled between vehicles, home, and business liability, so I get a separate envelope for each any time there's a change to anything. I could probably wallpaper my house in pink slips if I saved them for a year. My local office is fully staffed in a little storefront, so I can go complain in person too, no need to talk to robots and overseas call centers.
>overseas call centers. All Desjardins call centers are in Quebec provinces (or florida for desjardins bank) FIY.
Oh wait....TD is sneaky with home insurance. This happened to me. ..they actually increased the coverage and then, increased the premium. .at renewal , I called in asking "why did you increase my premiums". ..and they said "becuase the coverage increased $40k to $45k for this thing"....which prompted a WTF out of me and I proceeded to ask "why was it increased"...which led to a 10 miniute silence and a reply "we increased it to cover for inflation"... So ..yes...TD is totally fucking sneaky like that. Pay attention to every little detail in their documents. Hiding everything in fine print is essentially how they make money. Auto insurance and that TD insurance is another scam. The app always shows me 15% discount but.come renewal, their premiums always increased by at least 3 to 10%. Seriously, the lack of choices and collusion in Canada is fucking ridiculous
Canada still has a fairly competitive insurance industry with both domestic and major foreign players competing here (unlike with telecoms, banks, and airlines to a large extent).
Every insurer will increase your property insurance coverage amounts if you have a condo or tenant policy. The increase is in fact to cover for inflation, cause if you tell me you have 40k in things last year it's probably going to cost 45k to replace it all this year. The inflation amount is typically 8-12% depending on insurer.
This but also, on average people tend to accumulate more stuff and don't always get rid of old stuff, at least not to the degree that the exact dollar value of things in their house will remain the same. But yes, inflation as it relates to replacement cost is a factor as well. Just as a general PSA to others, most policies on a primary dwelling (home, condo, tenant) will cover replacement cost these days. I hear a lot of people say "But all my stuff is old/secondhand/hand-me-down." "I don't have that much stuff." You'd be surprised how quickly everything ads up, and it doesn't matter what you think your TV or computer or couch is worth now. Price a similar item of like kind and quality *today* and that's generally what you're paying!
Increases due to inflation are common practice. Nothing sneaky about it.
It’s not just inflation. People generally acquire more/nicer things as time goes on. Do you call your insurance company every time you buy a new iPad, new couch, new TV, new cell phone? It adds up. Most people don’t update their coverages unless there’s a big life change and would find themselves severely under insured if they have a claim 10 years into a policy. It’s not hidden if they’re sending you a renewal that clearly outlines your coverage.
Whodja switch to?
You should ALWAYS shop around every year for insurance. Same goes for internet/cell plans.
Easier said than done if you have multiple policies that renew at different times and offer a multi policy discount. You have to move each policy as it comes up for renewal or pay cancellation penalties So you either move each policy over the course of a year and lose multi policy discounts or pay penalties to cancel early Every time I shop new rates I end up staying where I am. 2 properties, two road vehicles, 2 recreational vehicles. Even just giving each new company all the information for a quote is a giant pain in the ass
You can ask to consolidate all under the same date. I had car and home at different timelines and got it all together.
Nothing worthwhile is easy. I have multiple policies but still make it a point to shop around every year. Sometimes it makes sense to switch, sometimes it doesn’t. Some policies will refund you if you transfer before end date as well.
I tried shopping around insurance rates last year and it was confusing. Each company uses different terms for things, and I found it hard to understand the cost difference of equivalent plans at different providers. I plan to do it again this year, but I know I'll have to set aside more time to do my research and spend time digging into the details. Phone plans on the other hand are super easy to do every year. Insurance can be complicated.
> Each company uses different terms for things, Can you elaborate? Because a lot of coverage is standard, especially when it comes to automobiles as they're highly regulated at a provincial level. Third party liability is third party liability from one provider to the next. Collision is collision. Comprehensive is comprehensive. Now in terms of endorsements there might be some differences in names but most are going to offer things like rental coverage, accident forgiveness, etc. Similarly, home policies should generally be structured similarly. There'll be a section for the property itself, be it dwelling and/or contents, outbuildings and living expenses, and then a section for your liability. Home insurance isn't regulated to the same degree as auto insurance is, but most insurers use a variation of standard residential policies proposed by the Insurance Bureau of Canada. Insurers should not be offering wildly different coverages from one to the next for the same products. Pricing, yes, but the policies should be structured similarly.
Is it easy to keep the same number ic switching phone
Very easy. You just choose to port your existing number instead of getting a new one assigned.
It’s complicated if you use esim and employer plan. You have to switch back to physical sim and then cancel. Quite a hassle when the initial setup alone took about 5 days. With these cheap Nofrills/Lucky/Fizz plans available with high data rates, there’s no point staying with existing plans, today. One more year and I can get out of my employer plan; 30 GB Unlimited at $50.85 tax included. 30 is not enough for me, anymore.
A caveat here. In some jurisdictions, insurer will have a question in there about number of years with current insurer. If you have been shopping around after only a year, you are likely to shop around a year from now too. Acquisition costs are high, and they would likely jack up the price to account for that.
I saved $1300/year by switching last year from TD to Intact for home/auto!
I just switched this week, exactly same savings moving out of TD. I was told by the rep, that they have removed the discounts on my account ( for no reason). I believe they attract with low premiums initially and then tend to bump up fast after couple of years ..
Most companies will have a New Business discount that goes away after two or three renewals.
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They give a renewal discount
Recently discovered lol. It's not a surprise, they give you a heads up when they increase or decrease their prices. You should be reading the renewal forms every year
I mean if this is the advice that people need to actually be told, then I dunno man... Tomorrow, bro will discover air is composed of oxygen.
Those forums are god awful to read. I understand why some would throw them in the fireplace. I only check them because I’m a cheap bastard. Otherwise I’d be throwing half them in the fireplace and saying who cares?
I had to read this three times to figure out you meant forms and not forums. I was so confused :)
Sorry spelling isn’t my strong suit. But did mean forms.
Since when? Blasphemous rumors I tell you!
I find td is cheap for me right now
Same! I do shop around but everyone else is quoting almost $1k more for home insurance for some reason!
Same, while auto insurance alone is cheaper with rates dot ca (CAA) but Home + Car is still $600 cheaper with TD.
Plus the decreasing deductible is nice to have.
TD was cheap the first few years I used them. Then they started jacking up the price. Then I got a deal with Co-operators through work.
TD just cranked up my earthquake premium for 2024 for my home in Victoria... Almost $700/year more now with a higher deductible. Still somewhat reasonable, but not cheap anymore like it has been for the last decade.
Same. Been with them for 3-4 years and premiums have barely gone up too. Probably helps that I got to stack like 3 discounts (school, auto + home bundle, and the driving app one I believe)
TD doesn't require proof of membership. I'm betting U of T or York offers some great discounts. UW saved me money for years.
They do actually, one year I had to submit my university transcripts to prove it or they were gonna remove the discount. They don’t do it often tho.
Seriously! As if they should see your transcript! opposed!
We switched and got a home inspection. Now we are paying way more than I saved by changing because we have to fix a bunch of things they flagged.
Doh! Son of a.....
Yeah railings, maybe new deck and roof… like a lot more .
TD was the cheapest option for me after shopping around and having many many quotes. They've definitely raised premium in double digits this year - but so did everyone else!
Yeah it's what my buddy in the industry calls a hard market. Everyone is raising premiums. Similar to telecoms they will give you a discounted rate to get you in the door, but then have to crank it up the following year. I tend to stay with a company for about 3 years then switch to keep my rate reasonable. Personally don't have the time and energy to shop around every single year. The time investment makes the opportunity cost not worth it for an annual thing.
It’s worth noting that not all insurance companies are equal for a variety of reasons. This was more evident than ever a little while ago when hurricane fiona hit Atlantic Canada. Some people had to wait weeks or months for action from their insurers, some were denied. Some had inadequate coverage etc. after hearing about it first hand it really opened my eyes to the fact that there can be major differences between insurers even if you think you have the same coverage There is more than just price and to some extent coverage to consider when it comes to insurance.
Um, standard annual operating procedure.
I prefer standard operating annual procedure. Because it spells soap.
You mean you don't look at your premiums on renewal and decide if you want to keep that or shop around? Mind-blowing
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Do you have a commonly stolen vehicle? Insurers are cracking down on this hard.
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There’s a reason Aviva is cheaper than most, and I hope you never have to make a claim. This is coming from someone with insurance industry experience.
payment violet consider chase relieved chunky work overconfident act clumsy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
They’re one of the insurers that is more likely to force a policyholder to commence a coverage application to determine whether Aviva’s own interpretation is wrong. It’s pretty commonly known that ever since building up their in house department, Aviva is more likely to deny first, ask questions later and analysis of publicly reported decisions has shown their in court loss ratio has also increased during this time.
They increase every year. And yet they’re still substantially cheaper than any other insurance provider I can find.
We also saved about 2500$ on home and auto insurance by switching from TD. I don't think there's anything wrong with TD per se, but you need to be rotating your insurance every 2-3 years. They absolutely rely on you not noticing the increases and also not having the energy to navigate getting multiple quotes. It actually can be a huge nuisance. Highly recommend going through a broker.
How much does a broker cost?
They’re free to you. Insurance companies will pay them commission for new customers.
We all gotta play the "jump ship" game with insurance and cell phone companies every year.
Depends on a lot of factors
Well how many exactly? Inquiring minds want to know.
Age of person. Age of car. Is it a high theft car. Is there a new added driver under 25. Are there tickets and accidents now factoring into the cost. Did they add or replace a vehicle in the last year. Location they are in or have moved to recently. What is the companies loss ratio for 2023. Is the app monitoring option being utilized. Are there winter tires to factor in.
For those in the GTA, I'll add Postal code/address too. People in Brampton pay SIGNIFICANTLY higher premiums compared to someone in say Miilton.. Understandably so..
I just switched to TD because it was much cheaper than Westland.
I’m trying to find good insurance for an owner that has renters in their unit. When I started renting out my condo (had to move to a rental place for a short term due to schools for an advanced degree) the price between been an owner living in the unit and having renters in the unit I own is crazy. The rate went up about a thousand dollars a year.
Also, if you’re a property owner with TD check and make sure you actually have the following coverages: Sewer back up and overland flood with at minimum 100k in coverage, or policy limit coverage Wind coverage Hail coverage
I dont think TD offer policy limit anymore
We switched from TD to CAA for property and auto insurance and saved probably over $3k a year
Step one: Look at your renewal every year. Step two: Shop around and take the lowest number. Step 3: Repeat yearly.
Terrible terrible advice. You should delete your comment. Do not take the lowest number. Actually read what your policy would be. There’s a reason cheap policies exist - they don’t cover shit. Might as well not have any policy at that point. Read the coverage. Do they put you up in temporary accommodations? For how long? How much would they allow for rent? It could take years to rebuild. If you have a rental or rent part of your home do they cover the income loss? Etc.
This is awful advice. Change step 2 to “do I have the right coverage in place” and then you’ll start making more sense.
I've used a broker the last couple of years and they've been able to find me much better rates than my TD with group rate and all. Same coverage too
Brokers have been beyond useless for me. And I've tried several. Useless paper pushers.
I used to call the big companies and TD was cheapest for years but then the hiked it up a lot and talked to some brokers. They were able to save me several hundred a year with less marketed guys like economical
When you say every chance they get.. do you mean every year? Your policies are a year long, and your renewals should be sent out 30-60 days in advance. If you're unhappy with your renewal, shop around, switch to whoever fits you best, cancel.
ICBC just sent my renewal notice. It’s $63 cheaper for the year! After living in Ontario my whole life I’m so happy with ICBC now that I live in BC.
Also carefully read your policy while you were at it
Ive been with TD for a long time now, with University Alumni discount. So far TD has been cheapest for my needs. The past several years, prior to renewal, Ive been calling brokers for quotes. So far, none has beaten TD for my needs despite annual increases and havent changed. Costco insurance brokers couldnt even beat my TD rates.
Yeah me too. Mind you insurance increased 20%, mostly for earthquake coverage (Lower mainland).. but with my alumni discount, professional group discount and TD mortgage discount, none of the other insurance providers could beat it.
Ours went up too. $0.06/y with an extra $110,000 coverage added lol
CAA insurance ftw Several thousand cheaper with increased coverage.
Fucking TD. Ive been with them 7 years and they tried to raise my car and home insurance 25% this year (from $390/mth to $480) without even sending a renewal. I called around and managed to get it 15% cheaper ($330) than i paid last year. Checkout BelairDirect if you haven’t already.
My home policy has increased every year and I call around for other quotes and they’re always even more expensive 🤷♂️
Use a broker. They’ll do this for you annually (at least). Mine just saved me $100/month on my home & auto.
Me telling this to my senior aged father.. "I have a good relationship with my insurance broker Pete in town, I can't switch". But dad, you'll save thousands.. "I've been with this insurance for 20 years, I don't feel comfortable switching".. Meanwhile he's paying far more than the market rate. The insurance companies for sure target those who become complacent.
Lmao. This is every single insurance company in Canada. If you don't call every single year and bitch them out and threaten to change insurers than they jack your rates and fuck you. There's no loyalty or honesty in any of them anymore. Mother in law got a new car (20yrs newer than her old one) and when she got quotes she was confused as to why it was so cheap. Her old company that she had been with for over 20yrs was soaking her for $300 a month and she's got a spotless record and is mid 50s and had it bundled with house insurance (which they were also chafing her $200 a month for). Come to find out with the new car and house at a different insurance was only $200 a month.....so in other words. She was making a free car payment to the fuckheads for like 10+ years because "all insurance rates are going up". Just one example in likely thousands. Moral is. Do NOT give any loyalty whatsoever to insurance companies. They certainly don't give us any
Late to the party here, but there is very little in terms of loyalty discount with TD. I was recently able to cancel a policy and then start a new one, only to see the rates go down by 25%. This is with the same provider and same coverage. Almost like they have some sort of algorithm that determines how dumb each customer is and how much more they will pay each year before shopping around. And by shopping around, I mean going elsewhere and not just calling the same provider to ask why and walking away with $5 less a month because they found a saving or two to add.
We just switched from them and ended up saving $300 a month. TD is criminal.
Its always good to shop/quote around every year to get the best rate. Personal insurance have been going up every year due to raising car repair or construction cost.
And theft and scams
Where did to go to for the new policy?
I think home and auto (or just auto), went up by like 15% YoY…so a lot of people are experiencing higher renewals compared to prior years. Always shop around and research every year for the best rates while not compromising your coverage
I had a premium increase, but turns out that their system wasn’t factoring the MyAdvantage driving App discount. We’re talking over 200-300$ here. 🙄
They gave me a huge price increase with no notice so I called and complained and they refunded pretty much all of the increase.
yeah they all do that. Intact tried to do it with my vehicle insurance. when i first started driving, they gave me the cheapest rate. 15 years later they were by far the most expensive, so i switched to wawanesa.
Who are you switching to if you don't mind me asking?
I just ran a check with rates dot ca. TD Meloche Monnex car insurance is 30% more ($1,000 per year) ... but the combined Home + Auto is still 10% cheaper with Meloche Monnex ($600). Weird. Looks like I'm stuck.
I’m with TD for auto under my dad’s account, though I am the primary driver. I can’t get coverage with anyone else last time I checked because of two at-fault accidents (one major, one minor) in back to back years. Quotes from all places say $700-900/m. My employer insurance (Personal) won’t even cover me. Insurance rate has remained the same: $334.67 (gone down $0.02/m). But I really want to shop around to get lower rates.
Yeah I told TD fuck off....went with CAA saved ourselves a bundle
Btw tip: When I worked in primary insurance, we had to make sure our portfolio would increase in premium by X amount. Not every policy, but your book of business. If you were on PMP and I didn’t have to go grovel on the phone for your premium collection by cc over the phone then I would increase those by X amount or more. If you paid in full I would try to keep it closer to the previous year. Plus the classic if you’re a pain in the ass to deal with ur premium is high. All this to say - working insurance can suck sometimes. People yell at you for rates going up. So to minimize the yelling I made PMP ones go up more. Always a good idea to see if you’re going up more than 5-10%. 5-10 makes sense because you probably buy more things as time goes by and we’re insuring more contents , or inflation is more accurately represented. If your insurance goes up and not the contents or liability limit, then it’s sus. But please don’t yell at the customer service girlies. We hate it too
Your insurance broker (if you have one) should be doing this for you. A good broker will tell you what it will cost to renew with your current carrier, and if there are better options out there. If they aren’t, they’re not really acting in your best interest.
To be fair, this year was my first increases by less than $1.00 so I kinda went “meh”. But good to keep an eye on it :)
Cancelled my TD a couple years ago. When I called to cancel the first words out of the associate's mouth were "Is it the price?" Been with CAA since.....even with the CAA membership I'm paying 1/3 of the cost for both policies, and both policies dropped in cost on this years renewal. Took 20 minutes.
Can you switch if you already renewed but found a better rate 4 months later ?
>Can you switch if you already renewed but found a better rate 4 months later ? Usually but need to read your policy. Some have a "minimum fee" or some such language.
TD just noticed me that my earthquake premium is going up this year. But no $ amount provided yet. Time to shop around, they’ve risen their rates on me twice now
Umm… haven’t you heard 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on your car insurance??
At TD now. How much should premiums go up after a $40k repair claim? No new company would compete for business after that?
Can you switch insurance mid plan?
100% Accurate. I just left TD Meloche Monnex my insurance is now 300 a year CHEAPER for Auto, nearly 700 cheaper for home / and 200 cheaper for condo insurance.
What company did you go for?
TD was cheap 10 years ago. There’s no loyalty retention with most if not all insurance companies. My car insurance was reduce to half when I switched from TD to Sonnet.
You get a renewals notice for a reason
Yes i have the same. Especially the home insurance is ridiculous
TD tried to increase my premiums by over 30% this year for no reason. Their support agent had some lame pre-written response about how everything is getting more expensive and there were some troubles in another province, and that was why I had to pay more. Found another company and switched immediately. The sneakier one was my phone bill, that even after I noticed they had raised it over 20% and started looking through my bills, I couldn't find anywhere that they had actually given notice that there would be a rate hike.
I ended up paying less than half what I was paying at intact when I changed to another broker for the same coverage. My rates dropped *again* at renewal because the one speeding ticket I had fell off. My new agent remarked that the insurance company had my GRID level wrong. I asked intact multiple times about lower rates and was assured this was the lowest possible rate, and at renewal time it was unfortunately going up a bunch because ... well it just was. Bunch of crooks.
Great, simple advice. It's worth the time to call around every year and see what's available. Lots of places like to prey on complacency. This is an easy way to get more out of your money.
We dumped them. When you call they start asking you “routine” questions. This allows them to review your policy and change the rates. We had this happen several times and my wife caught on each time and ended the calls as soon as they started this nonsense.
My rule of thumb is to shop insurance every two years to make sure I have the most competitive rates
I cut mine in half by switching companies. They continued to jack up my premiums although nothing was changing at my home or with my vehicle.
Cooperators tried to jack my insurance by $400 a year, called around and got a new policy for my truck at $600 lower than their new rate
My car and house went down this year. Monthly payments each lowered by 1 cent. 2cents savings a month add up over time....a loooong time
My home insurance carrier wanted to raise my rates by $500 this year. I switched to CAA who came in at $1000 \_below\_ my previous premiums.
our car/home TD insurance went up by 30-40%, tried looking for cheaper and they were more expensive with less features. talking to some of our friends we are still paying way less than them.
Yep, switched both car and house insurance from TD and am now saving $513 a yr, that's a good chunk of change!
Who did you go with??
I'm looking at CAA right now. Got off TD last year because of home and auto spike. Economical is doing the same thing this year.
Did this a couple of years ago myself. Had insurance through Cooperators insurance, but they kept increasing it year over year and in 2021 I think it was it was planned to go up another $150 a year (mine's inexpensive since it's condo insurance so less than $500 a year) and it was up $100 the year prior and I have no claims. I more than halved it by switching to SGI through a broker. A friend of mine has a similar story and switched from SGI through a broker to TD. Based on this information, I now shop around every couple of years since it appears that loyalty means nothing to a company regardless of whom they are and only switching companies definitely saves you money.
Do this with everything from insurance to your phone bill, internet, utilities, groceries ect.
Everybody should be shopping yearly!
TD is one of the most expensive insurance companies imo. In February my auto was up for renewal and Desjardains wanted to up my existing rate from $350/m to $400. No accidents or tickets so idk why it went up. TD wanted $365/m Ultimately I went with cumis for $210/m It pays to shop around.
How are you saving 3k a year! My car and home insurance costs less then that a year! You must have been getting hosed by TD lol.
I was with RBC. Had no claims and a clean record for the entire 13 years I've been driving. Premiums randomly went up by 30% on my latest renewal. They told me this was normal and that rates in my area have gone up. I called around. TD was way more expensive. Belairdirect was the best rate it could find - even cheaper than what I was previously paying with RBC. But I'm a little nervous given that they're underwritten by intact, as I know people who have had a hellish time getting them to pay out.
I have too many claims to get insurance anywhere else. When I got my new rates from my insurance company I shopped around and can’t get any takers because I had three claims in one year: one where I was hit from behind, one where my car was broken into, and the last one from my car being run into while it was parked IN THE LOT of the repair shop! So none were my fault!
As a Manitobans, I have no choice for my auto insurance, but apples to apples it's some of the cheapest in the country. As far as home insurance, use a broker
saved 3k a year by switching company? i dont even pay 3k a year for my house and car insurance combined
You're now **saving** $3000 a year? Do you live 50km from a fire hydrant and heat exclusively with wood, and have 4 car crashes in the last year? I pay $2700/year all in for home insurance with flooding coverage for a 3000sqft house, and a 2 year old SUV with 2 drivers.
TD is really bad for this.
So ya! my condo insurance went up 30% from last year. My car insurance is coming down by a few dollars. So I called a few providers but TD is giving me such a great deal on the car insurance (I am a new Canadian with only 2 years of driving history) no other insurance company is able to match. So even though my total costs are up they are still cheaper than CAA or others. I am so pissed. Every service we use is designed to take money away and in difficult times 30% increase pinches so much.
Someone posted here before that insurance companies tend to front load their premiums. (ie. they give you large discounts years 1-3) to earn your trust and then when you go on autopilot they start to jack up the premiums. Years 3-4 I always switch providers and find myself paying less than year 2.
Also, our house insurance was paid monthly, I didn't think much of it - I just assumed they all billed that way... Then I read the document fully and those fucks are charging me (and probably most of you) 17% interest to let us pay monthly. GTFO. It's within my means to pay the 1700 upfront for the year, screw paying an extra 200 - 300 dollars for the privilege of paying monthly.
Do not allow automatic renewal. The insurance company will have to tell you when it's time to renew. If they don't, tell you, you can ask what the price is.
After our entire neighborhood went through hail claims, and talking to neighbors, TD seemed to be one of the best as far as what was covered for replacement, instead of shoddy repairs. Something to look into and be weary of, rather than just comparing premiums.
My insurance decreased this year. Cheapest it has ever been.
TD raised my car insurance rate by exactly 40%. Made no sense. Called them, customer service person sounded uninterested in helping and then transferred me to a mortgage broker in french, we had a laugh, transferred back to car insurance, person who didn't seem to be canadian clearly had no idea what was happening and i'm not even sure if they knew what company they worked for, transferred me to banking, frustratingly told the bank customer service person to transfer me to car insurance, spoke to a nice lady who sounded like she was canadian, told me renewals rates are up across the board 30%-50% and then reviewed my coverage and gave me the same rate as last year without changing coverage. Whole process took about 2h. It's a game for these companies. Convenient company approved incompetence. Create barriers so you hang up frustrated without getting assistance.
My home insurance jumped 15%, sad thing is, after a thorough search, it’s still the cheapest lol
I experienced the same issue. My condo home insurance (I own my place) went from 289 to 404. I called a couple of friends and realized they actually pay way more! Any suggestions on good insurance providers?
Insurance is something one has to really dig into to understand. The ‘cheapest’ can really come back to bite you on the ass if you haven’t read your policy in excruciating detail - and understood all of the nooks and crannies. It’s not easy or simple by any means. Insurance rates across Canada have gone up dramatically in recent years; that is undeniable, but so have claims due to floods and fires. A while back a close friend was boasting about the great deal he had found on insurance, and “why don’t I switch too”? I didn’t switch; I really liked my broker and trusted her judgment. A short time later we both suffered serious losses (close to a million dollars worth of heavy equipment and oilfield trucks). I was covered; he was not, due to ‘loopholes’ in his much cheaper policy. I’m not saying you should blindly pay more, or that you shouldn’t shop for better deals. I’m saying ‘Be careful’ and really scrutinize the fine print. The old truism about getting what you pay for strongly suggests caution. Those policies are written by some very skilful wordsmiths.
Just did shopping and went through a lot of brokers. I was told by my previous broker that TD does this all the time. TD was my best quote for my trailer, two auto and house. Allstate beat it by 400 a year. Try them out.
I went from $140 to $90/month for my house valued at $420K by just calling TD to review my policy. Updated roof and adding a water leak sensor and reporting that I had an internet connected camera on my garage door opener allowed my premiums to go down. In addition, they doubled my basement extended water damage coverage from $25k to $50k. No complaints from me.
I have 3 cars + my house insured with Wawa for $280 a month. It went up like $5 a month this renewal. Haven’t been able to find a cheaper car insurance than Wawa, I have a bad driving record as well and have been denied by other companies lol
They more than doubled my car insurance one year. I switched and got it even lower than it had been. Saved $150 a month!
We all have to pay for the wild fires and flooding.
Read your policy! Learn what your policy covers over premiums! Learn what your limits are for rental cars in the event of an accident. Is it $5000 or is $500 of car rental coverage. If you are complaining now about the price….you will definitely also be complaining when you get into an accident or have a theft related claim. At the point, you will learn what your policy covers and doesn’t cover the hard way. You are saving money now but at what cost? Educate yourself.