Only one in four Albertans know Care-First auto insurance is just months away, according to the province's own rate regulator.

That's the headline finding from the Automobile Insurance Rate Board's new Consumer Perspectives report, drawn from a survey of 1,000 Alberta drivers conducted between January 14 and February 3, 2026. Just 25 percent of respondents said they had heard of Care-First, the no-fault system set to replace Alberta's tort-based model on January 1, 2027 with a stronger focus on medical care, rehabilitation and income support.

The AIRB brought in research firm Y Station to run the numbers, mixing online surveys with phone interviews. The awareness gap was not limited to Care-First, either. Only 30 percent of drivers recognized the AIRB itself - though that is up from 26 percent in 2025 - and just as many knew about the Good Driver Rate Cap, the protection that currently limits rate hikes for clean-record drivers and is set to be phased out once Care-First arrives.

Money still tops the list of driver concerns. More than half of respondents - 55 percent - said even a premium bump under five percent would send them shopping for a new insurer. And 51 percent said their rates jumped unexpectedly despite a clean claims and driving record, a three-point rise from last year.

Yet loyalty runs deep: 84 percent of drivers stuck with their current insurer over the past two years, and only 47 percent bothered comparing quotes - though younger drivers were far more likely to shop around than their older counterparts, the survey found.

There is good news buried in the numbers, too. Confidence in choosing the right coverage climbed to 73 percent, up four points, while trust that insurers act fairly during a claim jumped to 59 percent from 52 percent. The AIRB pointed to its recent advertising push and a broker training webinar series as possible reasons why.

Even with awareness still low, many drivers told researchers they are cautiously hopeful Care-First will make coverage more affordable and predictable once it lands. Closing the knowledge gap now falls to everyone with a stake in the system, the AIRB says - government, regulators, insurers and brokers alike. The full 2026 Consumer Perspectives report is posted on the AIRB's website, https://www.airbfordrivers.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Consumer-Perspective_2026.pdf.