Although the Ontario Liberal government says it will meet its 2015 target to cut auto insurance rates, it does admit it is behind schedule.
The Kathleen Wynne government promised to bring down rates by an average of 15 per cent across the province by August 2015, setting an eight per cent goal for August of this year.
But according to Finance Minister Charles Sousa, Ontarians have only seen a six-per-cent decrease as of the month of October.
However, according to CP24, he believes that with legislation the majority Liberals will reintroduce that's aimed at reducing auto insurance rates, they can still meet their 15-per-cent target.
George Kalopsis, president and chief operating officer at
Echelon Insurance, has said that the holy grail of 15 per cent won’t come from a single silver bullet – especially fraud.
“Fighting fraud is important, but I don’t think it gets us to the 15 per cent,” Kalopsis told
Insurance Business. “You can reduce costs for insurers by streamlining the filing process, and develop a clear and sustainable definition of catastrophic impairment. There is no one silver bullet. They are all important, but unfortunately, we’re missing some of those bullets in our gun right now.”
The government has been moving forward on recommendations from the 2013 Anti-Fraud Task Force report, attempting to tackle the some $1.6 billion in fraud that is borne by the province’s insurance industry, and ultimately Ontario drivers.
As for hitting the 15 per cent benchmark, new numbers show rates in the third quarter of this year decreased on average by 0.11 per cent, based on approximately one-quarter of insurers, who had rates approved during that period.
That compares to an average increase of 0.22 per cent in the second quarter.
