Auto Insurance In Canada

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Auto insurance is one of the most widespread utilized insurances in Canada. Insurance provides protection from liability claims after accidents and is required for licensing a vehicle. The concept of why basic automobile insurance is compulsory for modern-day Canadians is justifiable, as it holds the wrongdoer accountable for the potential losses of others that they have inflicted (Lanzenauer, 2006). However, if you live in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, or Quebec, where there is a monopoly of public auto insurance, you probably have a strong distaste for this provincial government-owned enterprise. The public auto insurance is indeed a monopoly that exploits consumers, which seems counterintuitive since it is a government-run …show more content…

The unrestricted rate increases are ultimately abused by the corporations. For example, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia has a system emplace for safe driving. The discount includes a 5% discount for each year you are claims-free, to a maximum of 43% (Claim Rates Scale, 2010). Although that seems appealing, in 2017 ICBC increased insurance rates by 4.9% and 5.5% in 2016, counteracting that discount (Compare car insurance quotes to get the lowest rates in British Columbia). In addition, an increase in insurance rates is predicted to increase by 42% by the year 2020 at the worst-case scenario and 15.8% at the best case. As well, since 2011 the basic rates have increased by 30%, indicating that the worst-case estimate is not that far fetched. ICBC attributes the drastic surge of claims, insurance fraud, injury claims to the source of rate surges. However, numerous sources have doubted this statement as British Columbia has the highest insurance rates out of all the public automobile insurances in Canada (Zussman, …show more content…

268). As seen with the unrestricted insurance rates, where the rate has increased from 11.4% in 2012 and approximately ~5% each following year (Compare car insurance quotes to get the lowest rates in British Columbia). A price parameter should be emplaced to hinder the monopoly power. Since determining the marginal cost would be extremely difficult, a price-cap regulation would be the most effective method of controlling the price increases. Under the price-cap method, the firm is allowed a maximum determined price increase each year. Usually, this figure is inflation minus productivity improvements. The productivity improvements provide incentives to reduce costs and increase efficiency to gain extra profits, promoting innovation. Under this situation, productivity improvements can include new ways to catch insurance fraud (Brander, 2014, p.

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