THE TORONTO STAR
Your Business
June 26, 1999

It still takes a lot of leg work to find the best car insurance rate.

While searching for cheaper auto insurance is easier than before, it's still not a one-stop shopping dream.

A few automated rate guides available by telephone or on the Internet will sample far more insurers more quickly than you can by calling several sellers. An Ontario motorist who bothers to check can find differences of hundreds of dollars - or even thousands - between the rates that companies charge.

Unfortunately, no one source can give you a complete picture. To make matters worse, comparisons among services are difficult. More detailed discussions with a broker or agent will often alert you to issues you have missed.

A company with the cheapest new-client rate under one set of criteria may be farther down the list once you disclose additional details or alter your coverage preferences.

The first thing to note is that services that compare rates of more than one company generally cover only those insurers that sell through brokers. And it's not just because brokers finance these services in return for client referrals.

Some of the direct-sellers that flood the airwaves with advertisements about exceptional savings get hostile if anyone else reproduces their rates.

(Gosh, wonder why?)

Spunky Lee Romanov says she has gone to the extent of applying to the government under freedom-of-information legislation to get missing rates for her free telephone service, Consumer's Guide to Insurance (416-686-0531).

Now, she says, she loads the rates of only a sampling of direct-sellers, and then only when there's a chance they will beat rates available through her broker clients.

These days she notes that Scottish & York is offering the hottest rates to many of her callers who say they have clear records, but results will vary by rating criteria.

Other company names that popped up in five different client and vehicle profiles she shared with me were Halifax, GAN Canada, Guarantee Co. of North America, Dominion of Canada, Allianz, Royal, Lombard, York Fire and Pilot.

A determined consumer could try more than one service for reassurance.

But, as I found this week, results from one service may not compare exactly with another service because of minor differences in the questions asked.

I tried to compare one of Romanov's survey results with rates available at the www.thebrokernet.com Web site operated by Bank of Montreal subsidiary Cebra Inc.

This is by far the quickest, easiest and most complete of the Internet services. (I never got a response from Vector Insurance Network's www.vector.ca. Only three insurers are compared at the www.imoney.com site.) As quick as it is, the problem I found with Cebra's site is that the rates available from all of its client brokers are not compared at once. You have to run your information at several brokers' sites or you may miss a lower rate.

That's still quicker than trying to call all of the brokers.

But, the time it took me to do this was much greater than the 16 minutes I spent listening to Lee Romanov's recorded message and punching in answers on my touchtone telephone.

Her script is much improved from when she charged clients for the service, although you have to wait until she finishes speaking before punching in your numbers. If you don't, you get to listen to her again.

In the end, a search of seven brokers on Cebra's site did give me one rate cheaper than the third-cheapest rate reported by Romanov's site from Canadian Group Underwriters.

When I checked with a helpful person at a broker used by both Cebra and Romanov - Aon Reed Stenhouse in Toronto - I discovered quoted rates are not always as good as they could be.

For example, Dominion offers an extra discount for drivers who have been claims-free for seven years. The two comparison services ask only whether people have been claims-free for six years.

Neither of the services will allow you to get a quote with a $1,000 deductible charge, which would further reduce rates and possibly change rankings. Cebra allows for only a $300 deductible, while Romanov also allows for $500.

Additional discounts may be available if you buy home insurance from the same insurer.

Brokers Robert Cundari of Amesbury Insurance Brokers in Toronto and Tom Talbot of IC Insurance say both services are useful, but that they work best in conjunction with a good broker.

One day a visionary government may design a more comprehensive service that anyone could access at the public library.

Until then, these are the best we've got.

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