IBC sets up task force to tackle soaring commercial premiums
TORONTO, Ont. – The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) has established a task force to examine how rising commercial premiums is impacting Canadian companies and consumers.
The National Commercial Task Force will bring together insurers, brokers, chambers of commerce, small businesses, trucking stakeholders and risk experts to examine the impacts of the hardening global market, IBC said Monday.
The task force will develop recommendations to help keep insurance affordable and available across the country.
It will also examine ways to help consumers mitigate risk and manage costs. The report is due this fall.
“We’ve heard from concerned parties across the country about challenges with finding affordable insurance and we want to know what can be done to overcome the problems,” said Don Forgeron, president and CEO of IBC.
“We strongly believe that if all stakeholders work together, we can find solutions to control costs and, ultimately, improve insurance availability.”
The Canadian Trucking Alliance is a key member of the task force, which will hold its inaugural meeting in Edmonton this month.
“The Canadian Trucking Alliance thanks and applauds IBC for taking leadership on this issue and establishing this process,” said CTA president Stephen Laskowski.
“This is an opportunity to explore with the insurance industry what changes the membership would like to see in the area of commercial insurance.”
In preparation for this process, CTA said, it has begun surveying its membership on potential areas for improvement they would like to see in commercial insurance.
IBC is the national industry association representing Canada’s private home, auto and business insurers.
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You are so right that is why I and other people are protesting at queens park. I have been there since Jan 24 of 2020. The current model does not protect the driver or the person who hit even if they were walking or the home owner. Major delays in payments is very common. We have a person who was waiting to cross a street get hit by a car at between 35 and 40 km p hour sent from the hospital to the shelter when needed more medical treatment and did not get it.
As insurance premiums go ballistic in Ontario and Quebec, I see the companies trying to move into the Maritimes….getting a foothold with one or two units based in NS and NB in preparation for plating the whole fleet here, where premiums are lower. And they will succeed. Meanwhile, the companies already based here are being faced with cancellation because the insurers say there is too much risk here for the amount of revenue generated. I myself am with a company that has already stated that they will not write any more small fleet/single unit business here….and they are also warning that I may not get insurance because my truck is too old. I guess it’s any port in a storm when it comes to insurance companies wanting to dump you…been with this same company for a long time….
The only way to lower insurance rates is too lower frequency and severity of claims. Insurance is a business like everything else and companies that don’t have claims don’t realize the premiums of the many pay the claims of the few. When the premiums of the many aren’t enough to pay the claims of the few…rates go up for everyone..hence the mess in the trucking industry right now. Be hard pressed to find an insurer of transportation who’s loss ratio is under 100%.
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I agree fully. Just count the number of wrecks on the 401 on clear days. And, maybe look at who’s driving them.
There needs to be someone that’s protecting the consumer. Fewer companies that will take you and in turn they want way heftier premiums. So much paperwork to go through and at the end of the day all that paperwork comes down to the insurance company having a way to ultimately not pay the consumer. Insurance is becoming almost like extended warranties. Not worth the paper it’s written on.