- Public basic coverage in BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba
- Private market in Ontario, Alberta, Atlantic Canada and the territories
- Québec is split: SAAQ for injuries, private for the vehicle
Insurance jointed province by province.
Auto, home, tenant, condo, life, travel and business. We start by telling you what your province already covers, then we place the rest.
PrivateIn Ontario, auto insurance is a private market. We compare insurers and place the policy that fits.
Minimum third-party liability $200,000. Proof of insurance: pink card, paper or electronic. Broker licensing: Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario (RIBO).
Three provinces sell basic auto insurance themselves. Québec splits it in two. Everywhere else is a private market. It is the first thing we check.
41,200
households and businesses insured
34
Canadian insurers on the book
13
provinces and territories
22
years reading endorsement pages
Coverage
Six coverages, jointed together.
Each card opens on what the policy actually does. What it does not do is on the coverage page, spelled out.
- Guaranteed replacement cost where the market allows it
- Sewer backup and overland water are separate endorsements
- Condo unit owners insure the improvements, not the building
- Contents, liability and additional living expenses
- Most Canadian leases now require it in writing
- Typically $18 to $35 a month across the country
- Term 10, 20 and 30, plus permanent where it fits
- Critical illness and disability, the two people skip
- Death benefits are generally not taxable in Canada
- Emergency medical, trip cancellation and interruption
- Multi-trip annual plans for anyone who leaves more than twice
- Stability periods are the clause that decides claims
- Commercial general liability, property and business interruption
- Professional liability, cyber and commercial auto fleets
- Certificates of insurance issued the same business day
In Canada, auto insurance is not one thing.
It is written into provincial statute, and the thirteen versions are genuinely different. It is the first thing we check, and the quickest way to spot a site that is not from here.
PublicThree provinces
Basic coverage comes from a government insurer. A broker places everything above it.
- British Columbia · ICBC
- Manitoba · MPI
- Saskatchewan · SGI
HybridQuébec
The SAAQ pays for bodily injury regardless of fault. The private market covers the vehicle and your liability to others. The statutory minimum is $50,000 for exactly that reason.
Private9 others
Ontario, Alberta, the Atlantic provinces and all three territories. Insurers compete, rates are filed with a provincial regulator, and a broker can move you.
Getting covered, one step at a time.
You tell us where
The province decides the auto system, the minimum liability and the proof of insurance you carry.
We read your policy
The endorsements page, not the front page. That is where the gaps are.
We go to market
Thirty-four Canadian insurers, plus the public layer where your province has one.
You choose
Two or three options side by side, with the differences explained in plain language.
We stay put
A named broker, an annual review, and somebody on your side on the day of a claim.
Testimonials
What our clients said, in full.
Hover or focus a card to read the whole thing. The wall reflows gently around it.
I had Basic Autopac and assumed that was the whole thing. It was not.
Northwood walked me through what sits above basic, showed me the difference between a $200,000 liability limit and a $2 million one on paper, and moved my deductible down for less than I expected. Twenty minutes on the phone with someone who was not selling me anything I did not need.
Danika OuelletteWinnipeg, Manitoba · Auto
After the storm they called me. I did not have to chase anybody.
Three shingles and a soffit, which is nothing compared to what some of my neighbours had. What mattered was that someone from the brokerage phoned on the Monday to ask whether we were all right and whether we needed the claim opened. That is not a small thing on this coast.
Gordon FerrierHalifax, Nova Scotia · Home
They asked whether I wanted the no-fault plan or the tort plan. I did not know I could pick.
Saskatchewan is the only place in the country where you get that choice, and it had never been explained to me in eleven years of driving. They laid out both, told me which one fit my situation and why, and did not push.
Nolan WhitecalfSaskatoon, Saskatchewan · Auto
They explained the SAAQ split in one sentence. My last broker never tried.
I had been paying for a liability limit that overlapped with something the public plan already covers. That got fixed at the first renewal, and the saving went into an overland water endorsement I actually needed, on a street that floods.
Marc-Antoine BéliveauTrois-Rivières, Québec · Auto and home
Nobody had told me what Enhanced Care actually changed for me.
They sat down with my Autoplan papers, explained what ICBC covers now and what it does not, and then placed the optional layer with a private insurer because it came out better. I did not know that was even a choice.
Wesley TanakaVancouver, British Columbia · Auto
Twenty-six dollars a month for tenant insurance and it covered the whole apartment.
The unit above ours flooded in January. Our furniture, both laptops and most of the kitchen were written off. Everything was replaced, and the hotel for nine nights was paid for. I had genuinely thought the building policy covered us.
Hannah VandersteenSt. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador · Tenant
The sewer backup endorsement they added in March paid for itself in April.
Ninety millimetres of rain in one afternoon and a basement full of water. Northwood had the adjuster assigned the same day and told me not to throw anything out before he saw it, which turned out to be the single most useful piece of advice I got that week.
Priya ChandrasekaranMississauga, Ontario · Home
Our bakery got a certificate in four hours. The landlord had asked for it that morning.
They also caught that our business interruption indemnity period was set at three months, which for a bakery with one oven is not enough time to reopen. We changed it to twelve. It cost less than a case of flour a month.
Sadia RahmanCalgary, Alberta · Business
They caught the beneficiary designation before it became my family’s problem.
I had reused an old Ontario form after we moved to Québec, where naming a married spouse is irrevocable unless you say otherwise. That would have been a genuine mess. Fifteen minutes of somebody reading carefully.
Louis-Félix BeaudrySherbrooke, Québec · Life
What we write.
View all
Public or private: how auto insurance actually works in your province
Three provinces sell you the basic policy themselves. Québec splits it in two. Everywhere else is a private market. Here is what changes when you cross a border.
What a $1,000 deductible really costs you
Raising a deductible is the easiest way to lower a premium and the easiest way to regret it. The number that decides it is not on your policy.
Tenant insurance: what your landlord’s policy does not cover
The building is insured. You are not. The gap between those two facts is about twenty-five dollars a month.
Tell us your province. The rest follows.
A ten minute request, a named broker, and an answer that starts with what your province already covers.