So you asked around and you found out that a friend of yours pays a lot less for car insurance than you do. So you ask him the name of his insurance company, call them for a quote, and get quoted a rate that’s nowhere near as low as he pays.
What gives?
No one company always has the best rates
Here’s the thing – There’s not one specific insurance company that has the best rate for ALL drivers.
One particular insurance company might have the best rate for one very specific class of driver – For example, it could be a driver with full coverage on his car, licensed exactly 4 years, with one ticket. Take that same driver, remove the ticket, add 1 more year of driving experience, and a totally different insurance company will have the best rate for him. Change the variables and it’ll be a different insurance company that offers the best rate.
Different rates in different cities
Different cities in the province of Ontario have different rates too. Some insurance companies may target drivers in specific cities. For example, one insurance company might historically be very profitable with people that they insure in, say, Guelph but not with people they insure in, say, Mississauga. That insurance company will tend to have lower rates than the competition for drivers in Guelph and higher rates than the competition for drivers in Mississauga.
Following this example, it may be the total opposite with another insurance company. Another insurance company might historically be profitable with people they insure in Mississauga and not so much with people they insure in Guelph. This particular insurance company would tend to have the opposite rates than the first insurance company.
So, if you have a friend that lives in Guelph, for example, and you live in Mississauga and you ask him which insurance company gives him such a low rate, you may not get such a low rate if you get a quote from that same insurance company. That’s just the way it is, unfortunately.
