Another sign of the hardships besetting Canada’s previously prosperous oil-rich province comes in the form of Albertans cancelling or downgrading their insurance, a trend condemned by Leo Regan, an Insurance Broker with Blanket Insurance, when he spoke to an Edmonton radio show late last week.
“We’ve seen more and more people trying to cut corners.”
“We’re seeing almost daily occurrence of people calling in doing a full policy review, trying to save some bucks; looking for ways to make their monthly expenses a little more affordable. We’re seeing more and more cancellations; more and more NSF problems.”
And as the broker points out, this strategy stands to be a false economy.
“There was an instance recently where one of our insurers was in a minor collision in a parking lot. She went to exchange insurance, but the other driver didn’t have insurance and was in a panic. While it was minor, if it was major and someone was hurt, that’s a $2500 fine if you don’t have insurance and you’re involved in a collision.”
Even some homeowners are cancelling their home insurance to save some money. “A $100 policy could save you $700,000 in damages. What if there was a fire or a flood? All of your property would be gone!”
