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stouflville suntribune thursday aug 25 2005 motorists paying for own repai rs toavo id rising insurance costs or cancellation nsuring lower premium by patrick mangion staff writer after nearly two decades in the collision repair business there isnt- much mike elliott hasnt seen but even he admitted he could nt have predicted the day drivers insisted on paying thousands for auto body work ratiier than make an insurance claim last month a motorist paid about 8000 for rental vehicles and repairs to two cars after his teenage son was involved in a collision he said but mr elliott owner of elliotts collision service in newmarket said its simply a sign of the times the number of people paying out- ofpocket for collision repairs has been steadily building the past three years we see it huge big claims too he said the company is repairing about 45 vehicles a week mr elliott esti mated 15 of those are paid for by drivers snubbing their insurance company for fear of a spike in their premiums he said most people are willing to pay 2000 to 5000 rather than make a claim mr elliott said we see it every day so too do yorkfc traffic officers york regional police sgt dave mitchell a 17year veteran of the forces traffic unit said in the past five years more and more officers are being turned away by motorists following a collision statistics from the forces annual report show the number of colli sions on york region roads decreased 45 per cent from 18038 in 2003 to 17220 last year but it seems that could be because fewer drivers are making claims than years past sgt mitchell said this biggest concern is people think if you make a collision report the assumption is well auto matically tell your insurance con pany thats not necessarily the case the police arent going to rat you outyour insurance company i only finds out about a collision if a claim is made sgt mitchell said it was widely reported last month that ontario drivers pay as much as 45 per cent more for auto insurance than british columbia motorists the average ontario driver pays an annual premium of about 2383 while their west coast coun terparts are on the hook for 1324 a year for car insurance while he can sympathize with drivers michael lio executive staff photosjoerd witteveen more and more motorists are opting to pay for collision repairs out of pocket rather than going through insurance out of fear of rising premiums director of the consumers council of canada said consumer angst pointed at the insurance industry isnt necessarily justified you have to compare like mar kets he said but ontario switching to a pub- lie system such as that favoured by several west coast provinces isnt the answer rather drivers should focus more on finding a policy that works best for them he said for drivers willing to pay out-of- pocket he suggested raising their deductible to as much as 1000 to help lower premiums theres lots of problems with our insurance system that need to be addressed its a work in progress mr lio admitted earlier this year the financial services commission of ontario which regulates insurance and loan and trust companies and pensions credit unions caisses populaires cooperatives and mortgage bro kers rejected requests for rate increases that came from insurance companies representing nearly half the provinces auto insurance industry ontario drivers on average have been paying 15 per cent less for auto insurance since november 2003 said jane voll chief economist and vicepresident of policy of the insurance board of canada other data suggests fates are expected to drop by about 16 per cent in addition to the 106per cent average reduction during 2004 while the number of insured cars has increased markedly over the past 15 years the number of claims has steadily declined since 1990 ms voll said we dont know why this occurred there could be any num ber of reasons ms voll said those reasons could include insurance adjustments there were 199 billion in auto insur ance claims in canada last year down from 204 billion in 2003 r in the first half of this year there has been 88 billion in claims nationwide for the same period last year there were 85 billion in claims and most auto insurance claims are made in the third and fourth quarter of each year insurance bureau of canada safer vehicles being built better drivers and consumer reluctance to file claims she added i hope ifs not because people are declining to report claims thats the business insurance com panies are in however there are circum stances when drivers can pay the cost of collision repairs ms voll said for instance if you strike a pole no other vehicles are involved and there is minimal damage under the highway traffic act however a collision resulting in more than 1000 damage must be reported the regions only collision reporting centre is in richmond hill failing to report a collision opt ing instead for an outofpocket expense could also turn into a lia bility for drivers for instance if youre involved in a collision and both parties agree to pay for damages to avoid insurance someone in the other vehicle could later submit a claim for an injury a collision must be reported within seven days otherwise your insurer could cancel your policy and refuse to pay damages and the news gets worse when applying for insurance you would be asked to disclose pre vious claims and cancellations of coverage because of material mis representation your choice of coverage could be limited and more expensive during the 2003 provincial elec tion finance minister and vaughankingaurora mpp greg sorbara promised to cut auto insur ance rates by 20 per cent the government froze rates and reduced premiums by 10 per cent which was to be followed by an additional 10 per cent which would be accomplished through cus tomized insurance bundles ajlow- ing drivers to opt out of certain cov erage to save money r however the liberals announced they would be able to save drivers no more than 15 per cent on their auto insurance premi ums as a consumer advocate mr lio said the best advice for drivers look- ing for savings is to use ontarios competitive insurance marketplace to your advantage if you dont like what your bro ker is telling you shop around get five quotes he said dont be afraid to use the mar ketplace to your advantage dr sheldon lazier dr waseema all dr dina ghobrial ed edwards d-d-