Ontario Budget

Dear colleagues,

What Ontario’s 2023 Budget released yesterday has to say about auto insurance is mostly that the government might have more to say at some future date. In the meantime, it’s a déjà vu situation.

We see (once again) that “the current mandatory insurance product may not offer the choices Ontario drivers deserve. This is why the government intends to propose changes that over time would provide consumers with more options when purchasing automobile insurance.” This may be the third time we’ve seen this or similar language in the budget. Not that we’re in a hurry to see vital accident benefits go into a ‘choose your own adventure’ optional benefits bucket but it would be nice to know what exactly is being considered and if it’s in the cards for the foreseeable future.

And for some déjà vu on steroids we see this old chestnut:  “Fraud is a major driver of costs in the auto insurance system.”  

There is, actually, no data to support this claim. There is lots of data on rising costs (car parts and labour for starters) but there is no comparable data on fraud. But governments (this one, and the previous one) have become habituated to repeating this insurers’ line. How else to justify the unholy trinity of delay, deny and dispute and the maintenance of an expensive regulatory regime (FSRA) put in place to mitigate fraud?

We will as always follow developments and keep you posted as any proposed changes begin to see the light of day.

With thanks,

Laurie Davis
Executive Director

Interested in hearing a lawyer’s take on hot topics in the MVA world, join us on April 19 @ 1pm for our virtual, Q&A event Ask A Lawyer.  Open to all. 

Our Fees Are In The News!

Dear members/colleagues,

Finally – our fees are in the news!

Last week I spoke with Globe & Mail reporter Chris Hannay and his article is in today’s paper.  He also spoke with physio clinics owner Anthony Grande, the Insurance Bureau of Canada  and FSRA.

When asked about my comment that our fees had been “hermetically sealed since 2014” in FSRA’s Professional Services Guideline,  FSRA’s spokesperson said that the Guideline did not prevent insurers from paying more than the stated minimums.

The piece outlined and attributed my point that while individual adjusters may agree on a case-by-case basis to pay out a fee that is higher than the guideline, by and large it is in the nature of insurance companies to reimburse based on the minimum they are allowed to pay.

And I was directly quoted saying:

“It doesn’t prevent them from paying more. Well, right, it doesn’t prevent them giving all their money away to the poor either but they don’t do it”. 

I think it is an excellent article. Mr. Hannay does a great job of covering the big and small picture aspects of this issue.  I encourage you to read and share. If you are a subscriber here’s the link. If you are not a subscriber and wish to access this article, you can purchase access to today’s paper here.

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