As Ontario auto insurers struggle to meet the provincial target of a 15 per cent reduction, one man says the solution is where the rubber meets the road. Literally.
“I think this is one of the ways that you can achieve that provincial target, taking advantage of the winter tire discount,” says Brian Patterson, president and CEO of the Ontario Safety League. “You are basically achieving a deduction, based on the proactive activity of your customer. So if brokers educate their customers to put on winter tires, and you are able to reduce their fees by 6 or 8 or even 15 per cent, you’ve helped them help you meet that goal.”
The governing Ontario provincial Liberal government set an 8 per cent target for August of next year for insurers to reduce auto premiums, followed by further a 7 per cent decrease for 2015 – targets that have been roundly criticized as unreasonable and largely unattainable by those in the industry, given the tight margins already existing in the auto insurance market.
Patterson, who has put winter tires on his vehicle for the last decade, says winter tires is an excellent opportunity for brokers to open a dialogue while raising awareness with clients – something neighbouring Quebec has already done.
“It really is the education by brokers that raised the awareness in the province in Quebec. They didn’t even look at legislation until they were up around 80 per cent compliance,” he told Insurance Business. “They got themselves from where we are, to 85 per cent, with good public education – and that is where we need to continue going.” (continued.)
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Patterson’s renewed focus on the advantages of winter tires has also received a slight nudge as of late, he will admit.
“I now have a licensed G2 driver in my house, so I may look at my insurance bill a lot closer than I did before,” he admits. “Education is going to get us to where we need to go, as only about 50 per cent of the population use winter tires.”
Just from his interaction as president of the OSL, Patterson sees that people want that personal contact with their broker, having been burned by getting insurance online.
"If you tell your broker, they will advise you on what to do, I tell peple," he says. "You don’t want to click a box online, save yourself $17 on your policy, only to find that the court is coming to take your house, because you were volunteering as a hockey coach, or as a scout leader. It frustrates me, because invariably when people talk to me about insurance shortfalls, it was because they bought it online and didn’t realize what they were doing.”
