Heavy storm coming to North Bay says Environment Canada

snow_plowsEnvironment Canada has issued a special weather warning for a winter storm that is moving into the North Bay area on a northerly course from the United States. The agency said the severe winter storm is likely to effect the entire Northern Ontario region and has issued a weather warning for the following:

North Bay – Powassan – Mattawa
West Nipissing – French River
Burk’s Falls – Bayfield Inlet,
Huntsville – Baysville, Ont
Agawa – Lake Superior Park
Sault Ste. Marie – St. Joseph Island
Searchmont – Montreal River Harbour – Batchawana Bay
Timmins – Cochrane – Iroquois Falls
Wawa – Pukaskwa Park
White River – Dubreuilville

The storm will form in the Great Plains over the United States on Monday before passing over the Great Lakes by the end of Tuesday. By Wednesday evening the winter storm will have descended on Northern Ontario, bring periods of heavy and blowing snow blizzards.
Environment Canada says it expects at least 10cm of snow through Wednesday alone, although the agency says that could change if the storms tracked position shifts.

Accompanied by high winds, the heavy snow storm is likely to make driving conditions extremely hazardous, giving drivers little visibility and biting crosswinds on exposed highways.

As always, we caution about driving in the harshest of winter conditions, but if you must travel, remember to obey safe winter driving practices. Drive slowly and give yourself plenty of breaking distance between your vehicle and a lead vehicle. Collisions can happen more frequently in wintery conditions and adding winter tires can reduce the chances of an accident.

Knox Insurance Brokers now works with its partners to give winter tire discounts to all customers who install winter tires on their vehicles. Head to our online quote to see prices from over 25 auto insurance providers in Ontario, or give us a call and we will do our best to answer your query.

OTLA study shows drivers pay more than they should for insurance

Car insurance policyThe Ontario Trial Lawyers Association recently published the results of a study that found drivers in Ontario pay more for their auto insurance than they should. While the study mostly affects more populated regions, Northern Ontario and North Bay drivers are also overpaying for their auto insurance coverage.

The OTLA found that between 2001 and 2013 consumers overpaid for insurance policies by $3 billion to $4 billion, with each year over that 10 year period seeing drivers pay more and more. It culminated in 2013 when vehicle owners overpaid for auto insurance to the amount of $840 million, according to the study by Fred Lazar and Eli Prisman, professors at the York University Schulich School of Business.

One potential reason for this is the fact insurance companies may be overcompensating for Ontario’s notoriety as the insurance fraud capital of Canada. This fact already results in the highest auto insurance premiums in the country and it seems drivers are being hit harder by overpaying.

“Auto insurance companies in Ontario have had a relatively free ride during the past 20 years,” Lazar wrote in the report.

The study shows that insurance providers could afford to cut their premiums by as much as 7.9 per cent and still make profit to see a return on their investment. The paper was also critical of how the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) regulates auto insurance and how the body dictates how insurance companies calculate premiums.

Lazar pointed out that the auto insurance industry in the province is profitable and that companies could half equity returns to half the current amount, to 5.7 per cent. The OTLA study looked at 18 of the major insurance providers in Ontario and found that those major industry names had 17.5 per cent equity return, higher than the guideline amount stipulated by the province. Any thoughts that this is just a cycle the industry is moving through are inaccurate as auto insurance premiums have been rising for 20 years.

A spokesman for Ontario’s Minister of Finance said the province is still committed to reducing auto insurance rates, but that “reviewing the financial statements and economic activity of private companies is not within the Auditor General’s mandate.”