Scarborough resident Cathy Menear was stunned when she found out her home and auto insurance with Certas Direct would increase by double digits, despite being a good driver and responsible home owner.
When she received her renewal policy from Certas Direct and it stated her home insurance would increase by 13 per cent and her car insurance by 26 per cent.
“It’s a good thing I was sitting down or I would have fallen over,” Menear told CTV News Toronto.
Menear said she’s been a good driver with no speeding tickets or accidents and had no claims on either insurance policy. She was under the impression that this would stop her insurance premiums from sky-rocketing.
She was wrong.
“They said it’s because they have more claims submitted in the area I live in,” said Menear.
“I pay insurance for me. I don’t pay insurance to support everyone else’s claims.”
Spokesperson John Bordignon from Certas Direct told CTV News Toronto the increase is due to a hand full of factors including, “claims associated with higher automobile repair costs, increased number of collisions, water damage and insurance fraud affecting the entire insurance industry across Canada."
“We have recently made pricing changes to ensure that we maintain competitive rates for our customers uniformly while we continue to deal with rising claims costs in some communities,” said Bordignon
According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, insurance companies have the right to raise rates when the time comes for renewal. Knowing this, consumers have the option to shop around at different insurance companies to find the best rates, but Menear says she’s tired of doing just that.
“Don’t use me as a scapegoat for costs incurred by other people,” she said.
Menear was able to slightly lower the increase by raising her deductible along with some changes to her policy, but now, she feels like she has less coverage.
