Car Insurance in Ontario: Rules, Coverage and Rates by City

Ontario has a private, regulated car insurance market: you can buy from any licensed insurer, and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) approves the rates insurers charge. The province’s rules are more detailed than most, with three mandatory coverages plus direct compensation property damage, which is included by default but can be declined, a set of statutory accident benefits that changed on July 1, 2026, and standardized fault rules. This page explains those rules and how rates vary between Ontario cities. For how Ontario compares with other provinces, see our car insurance guides, and for the insurers and discounts that cut an Ontario premium, see cheap car insurance in Ontario.

Why Ontario costs more

Among the six provinces the General Insurance Statistical Agency measures the same way, Ontario had the highest average premium in 2024, about $1,928 per vehicle, all coverages combined; its 2025 figure was about $2,117. Premiums follow claims costs, and Ontario’s come from a few structural features:

Mandatory coverage

Driving an uninsured vehicle in Ontario, or letting someone else drive it, is an offence under the Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act, with heavy fines and possible licence suspension and vehicle impoundment. In Ontario, third-party liability coverage of at least $200,000, statutory accident benefits and uninsured automobile coverage are mandatory. Direct compensation property damage (DCPD) is also included by default.

Liability limits

The $200,000 minimum can be exhausted by one serious injury claim, after which you are personally responsible for the rest. You can choose to buy a higher limit than the minimum.

DCPD can be declined. How the opt-out works:

• Since January 1, 2024, insurers must offer the OPCF 49 agreement, which opts a driver out of DCPD.
• You agree not to be compensated by your insurer or anyone else, including the at-fault driver or their insurer, for damage to or loss of use of your own vehicle from a collision, so you pay for it yourself even when another driver is at fault.
• Signing it also rules out a claim under collision or upset coverage.
• You can reinstate the protection at any time with a premium adjustment, but not for damage that already happened.
• Most lease and financing contracts require physical damage coverage.

With a financed or leased car, the lender or lessor is worth checking with first.

Statutory accident benefits (SABs)

From July 1, 2026, under O. Reg. 383/24, Ontario split the statutory accident benefits into mandatory and optional parts:

• If you buy or renew a policy on or after July 1, 2026, you choose which optional accident benefits to buy.
• Medical, rehabilitation and attendant care benefits remain mandatory on every policy.
• All other accident benefits became optional: income replacement, non-earner, caregiver, lost educational expenses, expenses of visitors, housekeeping and home maintenance, damage to personal items, and death and funeral benefits.
• An existing policy renews automatically with its current coverage and limits unless you agree in writing with your insurer to decline the benefits or change them.
• Optional benefits cover only the named insured, their spouse, the dependants of either, and the drivers listed on the policy.
• Mandatory benefits still apply to all passengers and to uninsured pedestrians and cyclists.
• You can change your optional benefits at any time, but a claim is paid under the coverage in place at the time of the accident.
• Auto insurance pays medical and rehabilitation benefits (except medication costs) first, before a workplace or private health plan.
• Supplementary medical, rehabilitation and attendant care benefits, indexation and dependant care benefits stay optional, as they were before.
• The changes apply to every Ontario auto policy, including those for commercial vehicles, motorcycles, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles.

The Declarations Page shows which benefits a policy includes.

Amounts from Co-operators’ summary of the reform (FSRA’s own pages could not be retrieved). Confirm your coverage with your insurer.

Income replacement and caregiver coverage matter most for the self-employed and for anyone without group disability benefits at work, since neither is mandatory any more.

Optional coverage

Collision and comprehensive protect your own vehicle; a lender or leasing company will usually require both. The difference between them is explained in collision vs comprehensive insurance. Common Ontario add-ons (endorsements) include:

If a newer car is totalled without a depreciation waiver, the settlement is its depreciated value: see what happens when your car is written off.

Ontario’s no-fault and fault rules

No-fault does not mean nobody is at fault

Ontario’s no-fault system means your own insurer pays your accident benefits and, through DCPD, your vehicle damage when someone else caused the crash. You do not claim these from the other driver’s insurer. Fault is still decided, and it is fault that determines whether your premium rises at renewal.

Under Ontario’s standard owner’s policy, DCPD works this way:

• The accident takes place in Ontario.
• Your vehicle is insured in Ontario.
• At least one other vehicle involved is insured by an insurance company licensed in Ontario, or by one that has filed with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) to provide this coverage.
• It pays for damage to your vehicle, its equipment and contents, and for loss of use of the vehicle or contents (such as a rental), from an accident another person would have been legally responsible for.
• It pays to the extent you or the driver were not at fault, as set by the Insurance Act and the Fault Determination Rules.
• It pays no more than the vehicle's actual cash value at the time of the damage, less the applicable percentage of your DCPD deductible.
• It does not apply to a vehicle described in another motor vehicle liability policy: damage to a borrowed car is claimed under DCPD on its owner's policy.
• It does not apply if you opted out by signing the OPCF 49 agreement.

Fault Determination Rules

Insurers assign fault using the Fault Determination Rules in Ontario Regulation 668, which set percentages by collision type rather than by negotiation. Weather, road conditions, visibility and the point of contact on the cars are not taken into account, and a collision the rules do not describe is decided under the ordinary rules of law.

Reporting a collision

Since January 1, 2025, Ontario drivers must report a collision to police when anyone is injured or when total damage exceeds $5,000 (the threshold was $2,000 before then); smaller collisions do not have to be reported to police, although drivers must still exchange information with anyone whose vehicle was damaged. Your insurer should be told promptly either way. Photos of both vehicles and the scene, the other driver’s licence and insurance details, a police report number if there is one, and witness contacts make the claim easier to settle. Whether a small claim is worth filing at all is covered in our guide to how car insurance works.

High-risk drivers

Drivers with several tickets or at-fault accidents may be declined by standard insurers and insured through the Facility Association, the non-profit association of insurers that guarantees auto insurance is available to eligible drivers in Ontario and several other provinces. Its premiums are typically well above standard-market rates.

How rates vary between Ontario cities

Where you live is a rating factor everywhere in Canada, and in Ontario it produces some of the widest gaps, because insurers price each area on its own history of claims, fraud and theft. The same driver and vehicle can be quoted very differently in two Ontario cities. Province-wide averages are on the average car insurance by province page; what differs in each city is below.

Toronto

Toronto combines dense traffic, street parking and high auto theft, and rates vary considerably between neighbourhoods. It has its own page: car insurance in Toronto.

Brampton

Brampton is among the most expensive places in Ontario to insure a car, regardless of a driver’s own record. Injury claims, fraud and vehicle theft in Peel Region, and heavy highway traffic, all feed into its area rates. Because the area sets such a high starting point, a telematics program, which reflects how the driver actually drives, can matter more here than elsewhere.

Mississauga

Mississauga is part of the higher-cost GTA, and the spread inside the city is wide, because each area is rated on its own theft and claims history.

Hamilton

Hamilton sits between the GTA and southwestern Ontario, and rates within the city differ by area, reflecting local claims and theft. Regional insurers compete here alongside the national companies, which is one reason quotes can differ widely.

Ottawa

Ottawa’s rates reflect its own claims history rather than the GTA’s. Within the city, denser areas with more street parking and theft tend to rate higher than the suburbs. Drivers who work from home or commute by transit can declare lower annual mileage, which insurers can take into account.

London

London’s rates reflect southwestern Ontario’s claims experience rather than the GTA’s, and, as elsewhere, denser central areas can rate differently from the suburbs. Regional and national insurers both compete in the city.

Barrie

Many Barrie residents commute to the GTA on Highway 400, and whether you drive to work or school is a rating factor. A driver who commutes less than before can declare a lower annual mileage, which insurers can take into account.

Special situations

Moving to Ontario

Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation recognizes driving experience from some other countries through reciprocal agreements. Whether insurers counted foreign insurance history has varied by insurer; FSRA expects Ontario insurers to use foreign driving experience verified by the Ministry in their rating before January 1, 2027. A letter of experience or claims history report from your previous insurer can show your insurance history.

New drivers

Ontario’s G1, G2 and G licensing stages, and what they mean for insurance, are covered in car insurance for new drivers.

Related reading

• Car insurance cost by age
• Best car insurance companies in Canada
• Car affordability calculator
• Best time to buy a car
• Lease vs buy calculator