LowestRates.ca has published its list of the top 15 most expensive cities in Ontario for auto insurance, with the results suggesting that many of the suburbs that comprise the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) see the highest rates.
To determine the ranking of Ontario’s most expensive cities, LowestRates.ca referred to data from its auto insurance quoter in September 2020.
The insurance comparison website found that Brampton is the most expensive city in the province for auto insurance. Rates in the city are so high, that they are 123.5% above Ontario’s average price. LowestRates.ca has noted that the high rates are due in part to the higher instances of insurance fraud in the area.
Coming in second is Scarborough, with insurance rates that are 83.6% more expensive than Ontario’s average, followed by third-placed North York, whose drivers pay 77.8% more than the provincial average.
The full list of most expensive Ontario cities for auto insurance is as follows:
A “good chunk” of Ontario’s most expensive cities for auto insurance are the suburbs of Toronto, LowestRates.ca found.
“Drivers in suburbs need a vehicle to get pretty much anywhere, and they drive on bigger highways and more congested roads, each of which would contribute to higher premiums since there’s more risk associated,” the insurance comparison service said in a blog post.
The report also found that many of the cities have a significant percentage of drivers with fewer than three years of driving experience. These types of drivers are likely to be classified as “new drivers” by insurers, and their lack of insurance and driving history means they are usually charged more for insurance.