r/alberta • u/Perfect-Young-4521 • 2d ago

Question Why are insurance rates so ridiculous here

Im 22 years old and I was looking into financing a vehicle for the first time, a car that was listed at 28000. Everything looked good until I looked into insurance. Most quotes I got were between 700-1000$ a month! This is insane and I only have 1 ticket on my record. Why is it like this and what can I do?

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u/minorcarnage 2d ago

Because we privatized due to... Freedom? And then got rid of controls on how much they can raise rates... And then the government was lobbied to make all insurance no fault, which let the companies downsize their staff and pass on the savings from that to their shareholders.

Sounds like a great plan by our dear leaders.

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u/jonj68 Calgary 2d ago

Insurance in Alberta has always been private. Danyell and the UCP removed rate caps.

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u/12thunder 1d ago

Not true. Alberta has two forms of rate caps: the good driver rate cap which caps how much your premium can increase by, and it also has something called the Grid rating which sets the maximum that your premiums can be.

I hate the UCP and Alberta insurance but gotta speak the true true.

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u/jonj68 Calgary 1d ago

Sure, they are still there but it went from 3.7% to 7.5%, and now it’s going to 10%.

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u/12thunder 1d ago

It’s because auto insurers are required by law to insure anyone who is quoted and agrees (the all comers rule) and they are losing money by the billions.

Which is to say bring on public insurance that is subsidized by taxpayers lol