Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips is demanding all auto insurance companies operating in the province provide insurance premium relief to customers, threatening to call out specific insurers that refuse to do so.
“All the insurance companies have to understand, people haven’t been driving, there haven’t been as many accidents and this is a very difficult time for people in Ontario,” said Phillips.
The finance minister revealed in a media briefing that out of the 14 major auto insurance firms operating in Ontario, 10 have offered insurance rebates, The Bellville Intelligencer reported. He added that the government is not above naming and publicly shaming those companies which have yet to offer rebates.
“We’re going to make sure through the [Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario] that we show Ontarians which insurance companies have been fair and which have not. I think that’s an important step because Ontarians deserve that,” he said.
Phillips cited a recent release from the independent regulator FSRA, which found that auto insurers in Ontario have offered about $685 million in premium relief so far.
FSRA will soon be releasing new information which specifically shows which insurance companies have offered rebates.
“What we need right now is transparency, FSRA has indicated that they are now in a position to publish that information. I think that’s important,” said Phillips. “People need to know which companies are stepping up and which are seeing the opportunity to help their customers now at this time and which aren’t.”
