The Canadian company provides online analysis to help buyers manage their insurance. Survey results are based on an unspecified number of consumer responses and ratings from InsurEye’s new independent consumer reviews platform for insurance, the Insurance Consumer Experience.

Ratings from Ontario, Quebec, B.C., Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan were graded according to three criteria used in InsurEye’s interactive online service: customer experience, value for money and claim experience. Consumers evaluated their auto insurers on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, where ‘5’ represented the positive attitude and ‘1’ represented the most critical attitude.

Quebec led all provinces in terms of customer satisfaction, with an overall ranking of 4.1 out of 5. The province’s drivers seem to be particularly happy with customer service and value for money.

“Quebec has the highest level of customer satisfaction due to lower premiums — the average price of auto insurance premiums is $76 per month,” InsurEye wrote of the result. “The provincial government insures against injuries to people, while insurers cover property damage.”

Following Quebec, drivers in Saskatchewan (3.9) and Ontario (3.88) reported being the most positive about their auto insurance, notes a press release from InsurEye.

“Ontario represents an interesting case,” the company reports. “Overall, consumers are quite happy with auto insurance relative to other provinces. They appreciate their claim experience most of all, but it comes with a higher price tag.

“Ontario auto insurance premiums are the highest in Canada, reaching on average $149 per month, with nearly a quarter of Ontarians paying over $190 per month. As a consequence, Ontarians are not happy about the value for money from auto insurers.”

The survey responses suggest signs of decreasing customer satisfaction in Alberta (3.77) and Manitoba (3.75), where consumers are mostly unhappy with their value for money (in both Alberta and Manitoba) and claims experience (Manitoba only).

B.C. drivers showed the lowest level of consumer satisfaction with auto insurance (3.62). They were critical towards auto insurance across all three measured dimensions.

Drivers in B.C. “feel that they do not have enough choice of providers and cite a lack of competition,” InsurEye wrote of the result. “The same picture can be noticed in Manitoba, where consumers are faced with limited auto insurance choice.

“Both provinces are characterized by having only one, government-run insurance company — for example, in B.C. private insurers can only offer optional auto insurance.”

Is it a $50,000 deductible for one occurrence that is part of a series of related illegal drug activity losses? Or is it a $1.45-million deductible based on 29 separate occurrences?

The answer seems to be who snitched on whom, based on the 2009 B.C. Supreme Court decision, OSP LMS 3904 v. Commonwealth Insurance Co. and St. Paul Fire.

Krista Prockiw of Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP referred to the case in her analysis of insurance deductible issues for strata corporations at the Insurance Brokers Association of B.C.’s annual general meeting in Kelowna, B.C. on May 10.

Commonwealth involved 90 condo units in the Cranberry Lane complex in Richmond, B.C., approximately one-third of which were being used for marijuana cultivation operations known as grow-ops.

The residential condo units used for grow-ops were discovered in a variety of ways. The most spectacular of these occurred in March 2005, when masked gunmen entered Unit #10; the police investigation later revealed they chose the wrong door, intending to break into the grow-op located in Unit #9.

Five days after the armed break-in, an anonymous tipster phoned police to suggest they investigate grow-ops in Units #7, #13, #14, #16, #21, #22, #44, #49 and #60 — nine units in total. Further investigation revealed a final tally of 29 units being used for grow-op purposes.

The strata corporation made a total insurance claim for almost $471,000 to repair damage caused by the illegal operations. The strata’s insurance policy had a $50,000 deductible for each “occurrence” of illegal drug activity losses.

The strata corporation sought a court declaration that all residential units serving as grow-ups constituted a single “occurrence” under the policy, for a total deductible of $50,000. Occurrence in the policy was defined as “a loss and/or a series of losses which are attributable directly or indirectly to one cause, disaster or occurrence.”

In response, the insurer argued each of the 29 units counted as separate “occurrences,” which would have made the deductible slightly more than $1.4 million, thus exceeding total damages.

The court found the tipster’s knowledge of nine grow-op units indicated he was likely part of a common criminal enterprise involving those operations. Therefore, only one deductible applied for all nine units.

However, the court concluded the rest of the 20 units constituted 20 separate occurrences, since no evidence was introduced that they were related to the nine identified by the tipster.

Banning the use of territory as a rating factor to determine auto insurance rates would negatively impact drivers in rural and northern Ontario who benefit from living in areas of the province now classified as lower risk, David Orazietti, MPP for Sault Ste. Marie, argues in a statement.

Lanark, Upper Ottawa and southeast Ontario would be hardest hit, having to absorb a 40% rate hike, Orazietti contends. Not far behind would be northwest Ontario (38.4%), Peterborough, Lindsay and Port Hope (35.8%), Cornwall and Thunder Bay (approximately 35%) and Sudbury and northeast Ontario (30%).

Bill 45, Insurance Amendment Act (Risk Classification Systems for Automobile Insurance), 2012, was tabled by New Democrat MPP Jagmeet Singh on Mar. 7. The private member’s bill seeks to “stop the discriminatory practice of using someone’s geographical location to charge higher rates,” Singh said during a town hall in mid-April.

In a statement to Canadian Underwriter, Singh denied the impact suggested by Oriazetti.

“The NDP’s Bill 45 eliminates the narrow definition of ‘territory’ as a risk classification factor as presently defined in regulations of the Ontario Insurance Act,” Singh says in his statement. “In its place, Bill 45 substitutes a new definition of ‘territory’ that reflects the Statistics Canada definition of a Census Metropolitan Area.

“The end result is that good drivers in what are now considered ‘high risk’ neighbourhoods in larger city centres will be treated exactly the same as good drivers in other neighbourhoods in large city centres. Rates in smaller centres and rural areas will be unaffected.”

The bill states the proposed risk classification system to determine rates for each coverage and category of automobile insurance, which requires an application to and approval from the provincial regulator, must use the following mandatory factors:

• the insured person’s driving safety record, but only with respect of accidents where the person was found to be principally at fault;

• the number of kilometres driven annually by the insured;

• the insured’s years of driving experience; and

• the population of the statistical area in which the insured primarily resides.

“Insurers are prohibited from using a geographical region in which an insured person resides as an element in classifying risks,” the bill adds.

The increase in accident benefit costs in the GTA dwarfed the provincial experience. Between 2006 and 2010, related costs in the GTA increased 169% compared with a provincial hike of 106%, said Phillip Howell, CEO and superintendent of financial services at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, speaking at the CIP Society Symposium 2012 in Toronto on Apr. 26.

The reason behind the dramatic increase in costs “is something that’s not widely understood,” Howell told attendees to a session on fraud. “It’s not that people are getting injured differently in different parts of the province.”

From 2004 to 2009, Howell said the biggest increase in accident benefit costs related to assessments and examinations, perhaps an early indicator that fraudulent activity is at play. Assessments and examinations increased four times while treatment costs almost doubled to about $1 billion, he said. “That definitely woke the government up.”

Efforts have been made to snuff out fraud, including the 2010 auto reforms, the reduction in the standard medical coverage and the cap on minor injuries. “It’s still a little early to quantify accurately what impact the reforms have had,” Howell said. “But, certainly, anecdotally and early evidence suggests it is making a difference.”

The institute’s study offers policy options on how to avoid traffic congestion in the GTA, canvassing the opinions of 1,001 area drivers whose one-way commutes to Toronto took more than half an hour.

Of the approximately 66% of respondents who were open to trying PAYD insurance, 85% indicated they would change commuting habits to find another way to get to work if they had the insurance.

The Pembina Institute report suggests examining “a pilot project for PAYD insurance, ensuring that it is at minimum revenue neutral, but provides strong incentives for drivers to leave the car at home in favour of other cost-effective options.”

PAYD insurance is not currently available in Canada, although Aviva Canada offered a pilot program in Ontario from 2005 to 2010. The Pembina report notes 6,000 Ontarians participated in Aviva’s program, with an average premium savings of 19%.

In the United States, Progressive Insurance offers optional PAYD insurance in 39 states, with an average savings for customers of 10 % to 15%.

The insurance option is most likely to be popular among people who drive less than 10,000 km per year, the report states.

“For insurance companies to offer the program, it needs to have public support — which has been demonstrated by the [Insurance Bureau of Canada] poll as well as by this survey,” the institute reports. It also must be cost-effective and operational at a large scale.

“As the tracking devices can be expensive, the province could implement legislation to reward participating companies, such as tax credits that would be phased out once a specific number of vehicles are covered by PAYD insurance.”

Cost for the app will be $500 for the first year and $300 for each year at renewal, according to IBAO president Rick Orr. The app will work on Blackberry, iPhone and Android platforms.

“As a broker, I want one and only one app to promote – and I want it to be mine,” Orr notes in the April issue of The Ontario Broker magazine. “Once you’re in my app, you can access me and configure the app to any of my companies, since I represent more than one insurer.”

He adds that the forthcoming app will be “branded to look and feel” as if brokers created it themselves, while also being “insurance company-neutral, allowing (consumers) to select their insurer during the initial set-up.”

Accident reporting assistance at roadside and the ability to report property claims along with photos are other features of the soon-to-be-released app.

Ontarians whose birthdays fall after Sept. 1 are supposed to pay the new higher vehicle licence plate renewal fee of $82.

But questions are being raised about whether early birds can nab the old, lower price.

Elaine Gillingham, of Port Perry, said she phoned into a ServiceOntario office Tuesday to ask about the cost of renewing her licence plate well in advance of her Sept. 5 birthday and was surprised when staff told her over the phone that she would have to pay the new fee now.

The 2012 Ontario budget says that transportation-related fees will increase “as part of this budget,” and the document still faces two votes in the Ontario Legislature this month where it might still be defeated by opposition parties.

Since the Ontario budget hasn’t been voted on, Gillingham thought the government might be a little too speedy with its fee hikes.

“Until this is law, how can they charge the new price?” she said. “This may not pass, then what do you do with the people that paid the extra money? I just think it’s illegal.”

When asked about her concern, David Salter, a spokesperson for Transportation Minister Bob Chiarelli, told Sun Media Tuesday that the fee change for licence plate renewals only kicks in when paying after Sept. 1.

It was not immediately clear Tuesday night who, if anyone, might be able to take advantage of paying early to avoid the $8 increase.

Those motorists who renewed their plates for two years starting in 2011 will definitely not pay this year’s fee hike and will not be expected to retroactively cover the difference, Salter said.

As of Sept. 1, the cost of updating licence plates in southern Ontario rises to $82 from $74, and then again to $90 on Sept. 1, 2013 and to $98 on Sept. 1, 2014.

The price tag for renewing a driver’s licence stays at $75 — the price hasn’t changed in eight years — but then pops up to $80 on Sept. 1, 2013.

In Northern Ontario, licence plate renewal rises to $49 from $37 over three years.

The Ontario government noted that the fee increases were the first in 15 years.

“The revenue generated from the fees will help support the maintenance of provincial roads, highways and bridges. Even with the increases, Ontario’s passenger vehicle licence fees will remain lower than many other provinces in Canada,” the transportation ministry says in a statement.

Weather experts at Colorado State University (CSU) predict 10 named storms during hurricane season, which starts June 1 and ends Nov. 30. Four storms are expected to be major hurricanes (sustained winds of 178 km-h or more).

“The tropical Atlantic has anomalously cooled over the past several months, and it appears that the chances of an El Niño event this summer and fall are relatively high,” said Philip Klotzbach of the CSU Tropical Meteorology Project. “We anticipate a below-average probability for major hurricanes making landfall along the United States coastline and in the Caribbean.”

El Niño, which results from an abnormal warming of surface ocean waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, will likely create “conditions less conducive for storm formation,” according to the CSU forecast.

The study uses 29 years of historical data and global oceanic and atmospheric conditions. It estimates a 42% chance that at least one major hurricane will make landfall along the U.S. coastline, compared to the long-term average probability of 52%.

“Despite this below-average forecast, we remain – since 1995 – in a favorable multi-decadal period for enhanced Atlantic Basin hurricane activity, which is expected to continue for the next 10-15 years or so,” said CSU project founder William Gray.