Brampton no longer has the highest car insurance rates in Ontario

The Ontario city, once infamous for having the highest car insurance rates in the province, has now been surpassed by not one, not two, but three other cities.

A report recently released by RATESDOTCA reveals that Brampton no longer has the highest premiums, with the city’s average rates falling nearly 27% from 2020 to 2021. The highest car insurance rates in the province can still be found in the GTA. However, with a typical premium estimated to be $2,179, Vaughan takes the top spot.

It’s followed by Ajax with a $2,104 estimated premium and Richmond Hill with $2,025. Brampton’s estimated premium now sits at $1,976 — a 26.8% drop from 2020.

RATESDOTCA

High car insurance premiums have plagued Brampton for many years. The City has even lobbied to stop allowing “postal code discrimination,” where insurance companies price premiums based on the claim frequency in a geographic area rather than basing them on a driver’s record.

With drivers across the province commuting and travelling significantly less due to lockdowns and working from home, the number of insurance claims went down in 2021, which lowered drivers’ rates.

“A 26% decrease in Brampton just makes sense because of how expensive the annual rates were there,” said RATESDOTCA expert and chartered insurance professional Tanisha Kishan.

Even though it moved up to the top spot, Vaughan also saw a drop in annual premiums, albeit a smaller one than Brampton, falling 6.7%. Vaughan’s L4L postal code in Woodbridge and L4K postal code in Concord had the highest premiums in the whole city, with an average of $2,584.

According to Kishan, “Vaughan’s claim frequency could have been slightly higher than Brampton for that time period,” leading the city to take this year’s top spot.

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Looking into 2022, Kishan says it’s difficult to predict the future of insurance rates as they rely heavily on whether driving conditions continue as they have during the pandemic or if they begin to return to pre-pandemic levels. Rebates that insurance companies offered during the pandemic as a relief measure, however, are likely to end soon.

“The COVID rebates would probably correlate to what happens in the next couple of months. They came into place because people were laid off or they had to remote-work,” Kishan said. “But at this time, I don’t really see it continuing because we’re still following reopening plan towards the end of this month.”