pjb89

Hi

I have recently moved to Toronto from Australia for work and intend to lease a new 2015 GLK250 for my 2.5 year stay. I have started researching insurance and have been blown away by the high cost of comprehensive vehicle insurance here!

I am sure there are many other expats who have already been through this insurance exercise, so would welcome your feedback and guidance. The vehicle will not be used for commuting as I plan to use public transport, and will be garaged in my apartment building undergound parking area. Note that I am yet to transfer my Australian drivers license, however, am confident that I will recieve a 'G' class license once the supporting documentation arrives from Australia.

From the conversations I have had to date with a few insurers (RBC, MB), the insurance companies in Canada do not recognize my clean insurance history from Australia or the Middle East where I worked for a number of years, so they treat me like a pimply 18 year old newby. The best pricing to date is $4.3K+ premium for the first year, reducing with each claim free year! I was hoping that my many claim free years driving in the Middle East (same side as Canada) would help, but it does not appear so..

HELP!!!

Thanks,

Pedro

VentoGT

$4K a year is ridiculous, even for a 16 year old new driver. I'd just get a beater if you are planning to use public transport anyway and just carry liability. Not sure if GEICO is in Canada but they are very reasonable compared to State Farm, who I had for years and years here in the US.

Alex Bel

I do not remember the numbers, but I've never paid so much for a car insurance in Vancouver, BC ( in 90s) even with my first DL in Canada.

107123210

Pedro,
There are on-line sites that allow you to compare auto insurance. The Toronto Globe & Mail covered three in the link below:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe...rticle4268672/

Another suggestion, would be to contact CAA . This is a link to their site. If you belonged to a similar automobile association in Australia, perhaps that might help in establishing your record? By the way, CAA run their own insurance plan. They are not the cheapest, but not bad. I pay about $1400/yr for our GLK250 - but we are seniors and mileage driven is low (<12000km/yr)

shakygrouch

Sadly, i doubt you'll find anything really below 2K. The ontario insurance system is completely nuts.

I just had the rate jacked on one of my bikes form 900/yr to 3600/yr, no points or anything. Just "this is the new price"

Try TD, State Farm, Belair Direct (they have some computer thing they install for 25% off your rate).

Cheers and good luck.

107123210

I am with State Farm here in Canada. No problem yet, but they have been sold to Desjardin.. I am told that State farm will continue to be run as an independent division. I hope so, because I had a very bad experience with The Personal - another Desjardin company.

pjb89

UPDATE
We ended up getting a reasonable (???) quote from MB Insurance which was a little over $3K versus the quoting from $4.3K to $5K+.

So, we have now picked up the GLK and am looking forward to enjoying our mobility and the Toronto experience!

Pedro