Alberta auto-insurance companies took in millions during pandemic: report
The spotlight is on Alberta auto insurance companies after a new report shows they took in over a billion dollars through the start of the pandemic.
Since the removal of the insurance rate cap placed by the previous government, the report for 2020 finds the industry saw about $400 million more in premiums.
In 2019, the car insurance industry collected over a billion dollars more in premiums than it had paid out in claims, the report finds. The next year, that number increased even more so.
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“In 2019, the car insurance companies collected $1.151 billion more in premiums than they paid out in claims. In 2020 they collected $1.324 billion more than they paid out,” said NDP Energy critic and Calgary-Mountain view MLA Kathleen Ganley.
She claims the United Conservative Party has cost Alberta drivers more, despite people driving less when the pandemic hit.
On Thursday evening before a long weekend, as Albertans were getting in their cars, the UCP dropped a report that told them why the insurance on those cars has skyrocketed.
It’s because insurance companies are generating record profits with UCP help.
???? #AbLeg
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— Kathleen Ganley (@KathleenGanley) April 15, 2022
“Many Albertans parked their cars and barely drove in 2020. But they still watched their bills get bigger, thanks to the UCP. They are charging Alberta and Alberta families and businesses hundreds of millions of dollars more at a time when the UCP is making everything more expensive,” she said.
Ganley says the United Conservatives have argued these companies needed help to survive.
The report was released on Thursday — a questionable time, according to Ganley, who claims the UCP was trying to bury the report by releasing it at the start of the long weekend.
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In a statement, a spokesperson for Finance Minister Travis Toews says the province is committed to “examining ways to improve the system” and they’ve introduced a bill to stabilize auto insurance rates.
According to the statement, seven insurers, including Intact, Belair and the Alberta Motor Association, filed for rate reductions since the fall 2020 announcement of new measures.
“In fact, when you visit the Auto Insurance Rate Board’s website that details the quarterly rate filings,” the statement reads, “You can see which have filed for reductions, and also the weighted average of approved rate changes. This shows that across the board, auto insurance for private passenger vehicles is down -0.83% over the past 12 months.”
