Car Insurance Statistics in Canada (2026): Premiums

Car insurance in Canada rose 36.4% in the decade to 2024 — and the explanation most people reach for, general inflation, does not survive contact with the data. Theft-claim costs hit $1.5 billion in 2023, up 317% from $489 million in 2019, pushing Ontario’s comprehensive claims ratio to 190%: insurers paid out nearly two dollars for every one they collected on that coverage. Premiums followed the thefts, not the CPI. What Canadians pay by province, how the loss ratio moved, and where rates head next — all sourced to Statistics Canada and IBC, with our own calculations labelled (InsuranceXpert analysis).

How much is car insurance in Canada?

The average annual premium ranges from about $1,044 in Quebec to $2,068 in Ontario (Statistics Canada, 2024). There is no single national price, because each province regulates auto insurance differently — and three of them run public insurers. The chart above shows the four largest markets Statistics Canada breaks out.

Province	Average premium (2024)	Insurance system
Ontario	$2,068	Private
Alberta	$1,818	Private
British Columbia	$1,522	Public (ICBC)
Quebec	$1,044	Hybrid (public injury + private property)

Source: Statistics Canada, study 11-621-M2025003 (written premiums, December 2024).

These are true market averages — total premiums collected divided by vehicles insured — so they run a little higher than a sample quote. By mid-2025, Ontario’s average had risen further, to roughly $2,120 (FSRA). The public-insurer provinces (Manitoba’s MPI, Saskatchewan’s SGI) generally sit lower, but their “average premium” is a basic-coverage rate figure that isn’t strictly comparable to a private market.

Your own premium, of course, depends on much more than your province. Age, driving record, exactly where you park, the vehicle you drive and how many kilometres you cover all move the number. Young drivers pay the most — 15-to-24-year-olds are involved in road crashes far out of proportion to their share of the population — while a clean record, a lower-theft vehicle and a short commute pull premiums down. That’s why two neighbours can pay hundreds of dollars apart for what looks like the same coverage.

Source: Statistics Canada (study 11-621-M2025003), written premiums

How much have car insurance rates risen in Canada?

Premiums rose 36.4% over the decade to 2024, and 91.6% since 2004 (InsuranceXpert analysis of the Statistics Canada index). The trend line above tells the story — a steady climb, one pandemic-era dip, and a sharp acceleration since 2022.

December of year	Premium index (2002 = 100)	Year over year
2018	176.3	+5.1%
2019	189.7	+7.6%
2020	197.5	+4.1%
2021	185.2	−6.2% (pandemic rebates)
2022	194.1	+4.8%
2023	205.6	+5.9%
2024	223.5	+8.7%
2025	235.1	+5.2%

Source: Statistics Canada, Table 18-10-0004-01 (December values).

The 2021 dip is the only time premiums fell in two decades — insurers issued rebates when driving collapsed during lockdowns. Since then, theft and repair costs have driven the index up nearly 27% (185.2 to 235.1). The latest monthly reading, May 2026, was 239.6.

Source: Statistics Canada, Table 18-10-0004-01 (CPI, passenger vehicle insurance premiums, Canada)

Why is car insurance getting more expensive in Canada?

Because claims are getting dramatically more expensive — and premiums follow claims. Statistics Canada’s 2025 study on auto-insurance profitability lays out the drivers with hard numbers.

Cost driver	Change	Period
Auto-theft claim costs	$489M → $1.5B (+317%)	2019 → 2023
Vehicle maintenance & repair (CPI)	+22.3%	2019 → 2024
New-vehicle median price	$40,386 → $65,219 (+61.5%)	2019 → 2024
Used-vehicle price	$18,900 → $34,445 (+82.2%)	2019 → 2024
Average EV repair vs gas car	$6,795 vs $5,122 (+33%)	2023
Ontario collision claim cost	$8,320 → $10,955	2019 → 2023

Source: Statistics Canada, study 11-621-M2025003.

The single biggest force is auto theft. National theft-claim costs more than tripled to $1.5 billion in 2023, with 49,679 theft claims averaging $31,156 each. In Ontario, theft claims rose 524% between 2018 and 2023 and topped $1 billion for the first time — pushing Ontario’s comprehensive-coverage claims ratio to 190% in 2023, meaning insurers paid out $1.90 for every $1 of premium on that coverage. There’s a glimmer of relief: Équité Association reported thefts fell 18.6% in 2024, though claim costs remain historically high at around $900 million a year.

The second force is the cost of fixing and replacing vehicles. Cars are pricier and harder to repair — modern sensor-packed bumpers and driver-assist tech make even minor collisions expensive, and electric vehicles cost about a third more to repair than gas cars. Since 2019, new-vehicle prices have risen 61.5% — far faster than the 36.4% rise in premiums over a similar span (InsuranceXpert analysis) — so insurers have been playing catch-up on replacement costs.

A third, growing force is extreme weather. 2024 was a record year for insured catastrophe losses in Canada at $8.6 billion — most of it property damage, but hail, floods and storms also total up auto write-offs. Catastrophe claims average about 2.3% of all auto claims and are trending upward, adding another layer of cost pressure on top of theft and repair. The through-line is simple: every dollar of extra claim cost eventually shows up in premiums.

How many Canadian drivers are uninsured?

Uninsured driving is relatively rare in Canada — roughly 2% of drivers in Ontario — but the cost of it lands on everyone who does pay. Auto insurance is mandatory in every province, and enforcement (plus mandatory-coverage requirements at registration) keeps the uninsured rate low compared with some countries. In Ontario, regulators estimate about 2% of drivers are uninsured, with more than 2,000 uninsured vehicles involved in collisions each year — costs that get spread across the insured pool through uninsured-motorist coverage.

Broader “1 in 7 uninsured” figures circulate online but are weakly sourced, so we don’t treat them as reliable. What is clear is that affordability pressure is real: home and auto insurance together make up about 3.6% of the Statistics Canada consumer-price basket, and in the priciest provinces a single premium can rival a month’s rent. That affordability squeeze is exactly what the provincial rate caps below are meant to address.

Are insurers actually making money on car insurance?

Barely, at the peak of the crisis — the auto loss ratio hit 90.4% in late 2024. The loss (or claims) ratio is the share of every premium dollar paid back out in claims; add expenses and it explains why rates rose.

Quarter	Auto loss ratio
Q3 2020	74.4% (pandemic low)
Q1 2023	81.2%
Q3 2024	90.4% (peak)
Q4 2024	71.4%

Source: Statistics Canada, study 11-621-M2025003.

The loss ratio climbed from a pandemic low near 74% to a peak of 90.4% — a 22% deterioration — before easing (InsuranceXpert analysis). The wider industry’s return on equity fell to 9.1% in 2023, its lowest, before recovering to 12.6% in 2024. When claims eat 90 cents of every premium dollar, higher premiums are the near-inevitable result.

How big is Canada’s car insurance market?

Auto insurance is one of the largest lines in a property-and-casualty industry that writes roughly $100 billion in premiums a year. Total P&C direct premiums written in Canada are estimated at about $99.8 billion (2024), with auto the single biggest personal line. More than 196 private P&C insurers compete nationally (plus the three public auto insurers), and the industry employs around 140,500 people. Auto is the largest personal line by premium volume, and it’s a competitive market — no single insurer holds more than about a fifth of it, which is why comparing quotes across insurers can move your premium so much.

Note: the $99.8 billion figure is an industry estimate; definitive company-level market data (MSA Research) is not public. See our biggest car insurance companies in Canada page for who leads the market.

What is the outlook for car insurance premiums?

Increases are slowing, but premiums are still rising. After the 2024 surge, the pace of approved rate hikes has been decelerating:

• Ontario (FSRA): the rate of premium increase fell 2.6 points between late 2024 and early 2025, and another 1.2 points into mid-2025.
• Alberta: the 2025 “good driver” rate increase was capped at 7.5% (5% base plus 2.5% for natural-disaster costs), and a new Care-First system takes effect in January 2027 with a 5% average cap on rate increases and a 10% cap for any individual driver.

So the trajectory is higher premiums for now, moderating as theft falls and reforms bite.

Can telematics lower your car insurance?

Usage-based insurance can cut a careful driver’s premium by 25–30%, and it’s one of the fastest-growing parts of the market. With telematics, an app or plug-in device measures how you actually drive — speed, hard braking, cornering, time of day and distance — and prices the policy accordingly. Canada’s usage-based-insurance market was estimated at about $1.98 billion in 2025 and is growing more than 20% a year.

It’s available from most private insurers in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and the Atlantic provinces (BC is piloting; the public-insurer provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba have no plans). The trade-off is real: a calm, mostly-daytime, low-mileage driver stands to save meaningfully, while frequent hard braking, long commutes or late-night driving can shrink or even reverse the discount. For drivers in the highest-premium provinces, it’s the single biggest lever within their control — see how each insurer’s program compares in our car insurance ratings.

Why do car-insurance figures disagree?

Different sources give different numbers, for reasons worth understanding:

• The premium index changed method in 2025. With its April 2025 release, Statistics Canada moved to a hedonic-regression method that unbundles premium quotes into individual characteristics. It publishes a continuous spliced series, but monthly changes before and after that date aren’t measured identically — worth noting when citing month-to-month moves.
• Public vs private premiums aren’t comparable. BC, Manitoba and Saskatchewan run public insurers whose “average premium” is a basic-coverage rate figure, not a private-market written premium — so cross-province comparisons need that caveat.
• Theft claims vs vehicles stolen. The count of insurance theft claims (49,679 in 2023) differs from vehicles stolen (about 70,475 that year, Équité) — different datasets counting different things.
• Written premium vs the price index. A dollar “average premium” and the CPI premium index measure different things — one is what people pay on average, the other is the change in price for a like-for-like policy.

Related statistics

• Biggest car insurance companies in Canada
• Car ownership statistics in Canada
• Car accident statistics in Canada

To compare what specific insurers charge and how they’re rated, see our car insurance ratings and provincial guides.

Using these statistics

You’re welcome to cite these figures in articles, research or presentations. Please reference the original source (Statistics Canada, FSRA, AIRB or Équité as noted); figures labelled “InsuranceXpert analysis” are our own calculations derived from those sources, and a link back to this page is appreciated.