| The insurance industry in Ontario categorize convictions
on your driving record as MAJOR and MINOR offences. Major
offences include all criminal driving offences i.e.. Impaired
Driving, and the following Highway Traffic Act offences:
Fail to remain at an accident, Fail to stop for Police,
Careless Driving, Fail to stop for school bus, Racing,
Speeding over 50 km/h, Fail to report accident, Driving
while under suspension, and any G1 or G2 Drivers license
conditions offences. A major conviction can result in
a premium increase of 50-300% or higher. Your insurance
company may also choose not to renew your policy, you
would then be labelled as a high risk driver, and placed
into facility insurance where the premiums are very high.
You could remain there for 3 years (minimum) or longer.
A drivers license suspension for unpaid fines or any
other reason will appear on your driving record resulting
in an increase in your premiums or cancellation of your
policy.
Fraud or misrepresentation to the insurance company
is also considered a major offence and will be held
against you for up to 6 years.
Minor offences include any other Highway Traffic Act,
Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act, or Municipal traffic
bylaw offences. Speeding convictions between 30-49 km/h
over the limit are treated more seriously than a minor
offence by some insurance companies but not as serious
as a major offence. These higher speeding convictions
can have an immediate premium increase.
By-law parking tickets may not affect your drivers
license and they may not reflect on your driving record.
Some insurance companies will not renew your policy
if you have 3 or more convictions on your record within
a 3 year period. Convictions are held against you by
the insurance companies for a minimum of 3 years before
they forgive and forget. Insurance companies hold all
convictions against you whether they are equipment or
minor offences that carry no demerit points. Insurance
companies are not interested in demerit points in most
instances, but insurers of commercial fleets can consider
drivers demerit and CVOR points. If the driver has 6
or more demerit points on their record, they can be
deemed un-insurable by the insurance company.
All convictions remain on your driving record for the
rest of your life. Only demerit points subtract off
your record after two years from the date of the offence.
Pardons only apply to criminal driving offences, if
granted.
Insurance companies assess fault in relation to accidents.
If you are assessed an at fault accident, it will be
held against you for a minimum of 5 years before the
insurance company forgives and forgets. Additional at
fault accidents within the 5 years will further increase
your risk factor as a driver and further increase your
premiums.
Insurance companies differ on their policies with regards
to number of convictions and time limits etc. A few
things to make note of if you receive a ticket. Before
you act on the ticket consult with someone as to the
repercussions. Some charges carry very high fines, into
the thousands of dollars, drivers license or motor vehicle
permit suspensions, demerit points, and even jail.
It is not unusual for some unfortunate drivers to be
paying several thousand dollars for car insurance because
they didn't react properly to a ticket. Before you pay
that ticket get the facts first. |
