Getting an Auto Insurance Quote | Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario

Auto insurance is mandatory to operate a vehicle in Ontario. That’s why FSRA is taking steps to ensure that all consumers can get the best product at the best price available when they purchase or renew their auto insurance policy.

Have you been treated unfairly?

When purchasing auto insurance or renewing your policy, has an insurance company ever done the following:

Required you to complete a written application for reasons that are seemingly arbitrary.
Failed to respond to your request for a quote in a reasonable timeframe.
Refused to quote or renew without explanation.

If so, we encourage you to take action.

Actions you can take as a consumer:

We strongly urge consumers to exercise their right to ask questions when purchasing or renewing their auto insurance policy. For example, ask your broker or agent questions about their incentives and how they relate to products you buy from them.

If an insurer is not responding, delaying or requesting additional information without explanation, we encourage consumers to document the exchange and file a complaint with their insurance company's complaint officer.

If the issue remains unresolved or you feel the insurance company may have breached the Insurance Act, you have the option to escalate the matter by filing a complaint with FSRA. Learn more about how to file a complaint.

Preventing unlawful activity:

FSRA’s “Take-All-Comers” guidance is designed to stop activities that prevent or frustrate consumers efforts to purchase or renew their auto insurance when they would otherwise qualify for a quote or renewal. For example, insurers are required by law to offer the lowest rate available for each consumer’s circumstances and must accept all auto insurance business from consumers that meet their approved rules.

Thematic review:

Early in our mandate as the new regulator, FSRA became aware of certain business practices being used which appeared to contravene the Take-All-Comers requirement. We undertook a broad thematic review which included public consultations, insurer examinations and a regulatory self-assessment.

Our review confirmed that there was intentional non-compliance industry-wide. Instead of filing new underwriting rules for approval by FSRA, insurers chose to engage in non-transparent and illegal practices that made it more difficult for certain types of consumers to get auto insurance quotes. This systemic non-compliance led to consumer harms, unfair competition, and diminished market health.

Read FSRA’s thematic review to learn how FSRA addressed Take-All-Comers non-compliance to better protect consumers.

FSRA will continue to supervise insurers to ensure compliance with the “Take-All-Comers” requirement.

Learn more:

The Insurance Act has consumer protection features supported by specific legal requirements. It seeks to ensure eligible consumers can buy or renew an auto insurance policy at the approved terms and price. When taken together, these consumer protection features comprise Ontario’s “Take All Comers” rule.

Insurers, agents and brokers have legal obligations to:

provide consumers the lowest rate available
offer all eligible consumers a quote or a renewal
accept all auto insurance business from consumers that meet Insurers’ approved rules

A delay in providing a quote is effectively declining coverage and can only be done if they are following rules approved by FSRA.

Protecting consumers is at the heart of everything FSRA does.

Work on Take-All-Comers began as part of FSRA’s 2019-22 inaugural Annual Business Plan. We undertook a thematic review of Take-All-Comers, which confirmed that there was intentional non-compliance industry-wide. FSRA responded by taking immediate action to restore compliance and consumer trust in the system.

Learn more about FSRA’s thematic review.

Following public consultations, and as part of an overall effort to strengthen compliance standards, FSRA examined the largest 12 auto insurers, agents and brokers. Additionally, FSRA released the “Take-All-Comers” guidance. The “Take-All-Comers” guidance reiterates that auto insurance providers must provide all Ontario consumers with access to timely auto insurance quotes and the lowest rates available to them.

FSRA required insurance companies to take steps to get back into compliance in a reasonable timeframe. Their internal audit functions would then validate that they had in fact achieved full compliance with the “Take-All-Comers” requirements.

FSRA identified several practices in the market which contravened the “Take-All-Comers” rule. For example, some insurers avoided issuing auto insurance quotes to people who:

experienced a prior accident benefits loss, including individuals who were not at fault for the prior accident such as passengers and pedestrians
were not purchasing a property policy (e.g., homeowner’s insurance)
reside in certain Ontario municipalities
had less than one year of history as an insured under an automobile insurance policy in Canada

FSRA identified several activities through our public consultation and supervisory assessments that contravened the “Take-All-Comers” requirement, such as:

Failing to offer a renewal to qualifying customers, including customers who had not missed a single premium installment payment.
Requiring consumers to complete written applications for reasons that were seemingly arbitrary or could not be characterized as exceptional and warranted by the risk presented.
Revoking or qualifying underwriting authority insurers granted to brokers and agents for reasons inconsistent with their filed and approved underwriting rules
Failing to respond to qualifying customers’ quote requests in a commercially reasonable timeframe.
Refusing to quote or renew for reasons not listed in the insurer’s approved underwriting rules on file with and approved by FSRA.
Using third-party, web-based quoting systems/aggregators to filter out less-desirable sales leads.

FSRA can take a variety of regulatory enforcement actions, depending on the nature and severity of the non-compliance. Reponses to misconduct can range from education and remediation action to regulatory intervention, which includes administrative monetary penalties, as well as other sanctions such as license revocation, conditional licenses or compliance orders, in order to influence marketplace behaviour.