CARFAX Canada found 393,200 vehicles with at least one past accident on the Canadian vehicle history reports run in the first half of 2026, with damage estimated at about $5.4 billion.
The total is almost 58% of the vehicles found with previous accidents in all of 2025, when more than half a million vehicles were flagged and damage reached an estimated $9.2 billion, CARFAX said in a news release. The analysis covers reports run from January 1 to June 30.
The data reflects damage records on vehicles whose history reports were run during the period, which mostly means vehicles being bought or sold. It is not a count of all vehicle damage across Canada. That helps explain the gap between CARFAX's figures and insurers' own claims counts from this year's storms.
Beyond collisions, CARFAX found 23,700 vehicles with weather damage. By number of weather-related claims, Alberta led with 17,600, followed by Manitoba with 4,300 and Ontario with 3,200. Because a single vehicle can carry more than one damage record, the provincial claims figures together exceed the national vehicle count.
Alberta also led in dollar terms, with more than $150 million in damage, 97% of it from hail. Ontario followed with nearly $23 million, and Quebec was third with $1 million.
For hail alone, the costliest damage was in Alberta ($145.1 million), Ontario ($18.5 million) and Quebec ($829,000). Wind damage was costliest in Alberta ($4.7 million), Ontario ($4.5 million) and Nova Scotia ($796,000).
"Knowing a vehicle's damage history is critical on both the acquisition and selling sides to pay the right price and to disclose previous damage," said Shawn Vording, president of CARFAX Canada. He added that a vehicle's history matters beyond repairs, including in detecting fraud such as odometer rollbacks and liens.
CARFAX advises buyers to check a vehicle's history for past accidents and damage, money owing, odometer rollback and possible VIN fraud, and to arrange a test drive and an inspection by a licensed mechanic.
The data follows a heavy storm season for insurers on the Prairies. Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ) raised its estimate for the June 9 to 10 storm outbreak in southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba to $923 million, up from $850 million at the 45-day mark and $728 million initially. The storms brought tornadoes, hail up to 10 cm in diameter and record rainfall, and the event ranks third by claims count in CatIQ's database.
Manitoba Public Insurance recorded 29,195 hail-related claims from that single event, more than its previous single-event record. The gap between that figure and CARFAX's Manitoba numbers reflects the difference between all claims filed and the subset of damaged vehicles whose history reports have since been run.
CatIQ president and CEO Laura Twidle said the outbreak marked the start of a 10-week stretch in which at least one severe convective storm event reached the catastrophe threshold each week. She said catastrophe claims from Canadian events had topped 100,000 by the end of June.
Alberta has had a major hailstorm every year for the past decade, with damage totalling $8 billion, the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) said in a June news release. The August 2024 Calgary storm alone generated more than 130,000 insurance claims and over $3 billion in insured losses, making it the second-costliest disaster in Canadian history after the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire.
IBC is urging the Alberta government to provide incentives for homeowners to retrofit with hail-resistant materials and to require them in new construction. The bureau said homeowners in high-risk areas can see insurance savings of up to 50% by installing such materials. Aaron Sutherland, IBC's vice-president for Pacific and Western Canada, said the growing frequency and severity of hailstorms are contributing to higher insurance costs.
Swiss Re Institute has cautioned that below-average global insured catastrophe losses in the first half of 2026 should not be mistaken for lower long-term risk, pointing to growing concentrations of homes, businesses and infrastructure in hazard-prone areas, and rising reconstruction costs.
For brokers with auto clients in Alberta and Manitoba, the data reinforces the importance of comprehensive coverage, which responds to hail damage where collision cover does not, and of reviewing deductibles ahead of the next storm season. It is also a reminder for clients buying used vehicles that hail damage may sit on a vehicle's history, and that an independent inspection and history check can reveal it.
