Ottawa drivers pay $1,000 less for auto insurance than Toronto-area motorists

Motorists travel over the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge connecting Ottawa and Gatineau at the start of the Colonel By Day long weekend. (Natalie van Rooy/CTV News Ottawa)

Ottawa motorists are paying about $1,000 less for auto insurance than drivers in the Greater Toronto Area, according to a new report.

The report by Ratesdotca finds the average car insurance rates in Ottawa is $1,321, compared to the provincial average of $1,744. Motorists in Brampton are paying the highest average rates in Ontario at $2,707, while drivers in Toronto and Mississauga are paying $2,300 a year for auto insurance.

Ottawa ranked 52nd out of 62 municipalities in Ontario for auto insurance rates in Ontario. The cheapest auto insurance rates in Ontario are in Cloyne, at $546 a year.

Ratesdotca says there are a few reasons why premiums in the GTA are more than double what drivers pay in Ottawa, noting insurance companies base premiums on how likely someone is to file a claim based on the following three risk factors:

• Individual risk (which insurers base on age and gender)
• The type of vehicle in question
• Geographic area

The report says insurers get "even more granular with their risk assessment, based on rates on forward sortation area, the first three characters of a postal code."

Ottawa-based insurance broker Claudia Fortin says the fact Ottawa is "less populated" is a reason insurance rates are lower.

"There’s one major highway, the 417, and that’s it. Past that, it’s barely a highway. You have a lot less action going on in a pretty vast area,” Fortin says, noting small cities in the GTA are "all super tight."

The average auto insurance rate increased five per cent in Ottawa in 2023 to $1,321.

Fortin predicts auto insurance rates will increase further for Ottawa drivers, but not as drastic as hikes for drivers in the Toronto area.

"If one day Ottawa gets a super, super amount of claims, we might see it, but I doubt it," says Fortin.