Car Insurance in Saskatchewan: How SGI Plate Insurance and Extension Coverage Work

Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) sells the province’s mandatory car insurance through the Saskatchewan Auto Fund. The basic coverage, called plate insurance, is bought with your vehicle registration, so it cannot be shopped. What you can choose is extension coverage (often called an Auto Pak or package policy), which raises your liability limit, lowers your deductible and adds optional coverages, and you can buy it from the insurer, broker or agent of your choice. This page explains how the two parts fit together, how the Safe Driver Recognition program affects your price, and what differs in Regina and Saskatoon. For how Saskatchewan compares with other provinces, see average car insurance by province and the car insurance hub.

Plate insurance and extension coverage

Plate insurance is attached to the licence plate, not the vehicle: it follows the plate. Registering a vehicle buys it automatically.

SGI CANADA is SGI’s competitive insurance company and is separate from the Auto Fund, which provides the compulsory plate insurance. Because extension coverage is sold on a separate policy by the insurer, broker or agent of your choice, its price varies between insurers in a way plate insurance does not.

What plate insurance covers

What extension coverage adds

Because plate insurance already covers collision and comprehensive damage, extension coverage in Saskatchewan mostly changes the deductible and the liability limit rather than adding physical damage cover. What collision and comprehensive each pay for is explained in collision vs comprehensive insurance.

Safe Driver Recognition (SDR)

SGI’s Safe Driver Recognition (SDR) program rates every driver on a safety rating scale that runs up to +25, where a rating of -20 or lower carries the maximum financial penalty. The discount applies to vehicles you own or lease that are registered in Class LV, PV or F (one ton or smaller). Drivers start at 0 and earn one safety point for each incident-free year. At-fault collisions, certain traffic convictions and roadside suspensions cost points, and a rating below zero brings a financial penalty.

Each incident-free year in the penalty zone moves you one point back toward zero, and after three consecutive incident-free years a driver still in the penalty zone returns to neutral. A driver in the great drivers zone who loses points but stays at +10 or higher keeps the 20% discount, which is the cushion the zone name refers to.

No-fault injury benefits

Saskatchewan residents are covered by No Fault injury coverage unless they file a declaration choosing Tort coverage; both are priced the same. Under No Fault, injury benefits are paid whoever caused the collision, and you can still sue for economic losses above the benefits, but you cannot sue for pain and suffering except in limited cases: when the responsible driver is convicted of impaired driving, criminal negligence or deliberately using the vehicle to cause harm, or against a vehicle manufacturer, repairer, parts supplier or licensed drinking establishment whose negligence contributed to the collision. A driver who was responsible for the collision while impaired, or is convicted of criminal negligence or of deliberately causing harm, loses some No Fault benefits. Tort coverage pays a smaller benefit package and, for anyone not totally at fault, keeps the right to sue for pain and suffering, subject to a $5,000 deductible.

Regina and Saskatoon

SGI’s plate rates do not use where you live: its rate calculator prices a vehicle from its body type, make, model year, registration class and use, plus the owner’s safety rating. The same vehicle therefore costs the same to plate in Regina, Saskatoon or a rural area, unlike in the private-market Prairie cities of Calgary and Edmonton, where location is a rating factor. Any difference between the two cities shows up in extension coverage, which each insurer prices its own way.

• Theft and wildlife: with only plate insurance, the deductible applies to theft, vandalism and collisions with animals. Extension coverage may waive it for a collision with an animal or the theft of the whole vehicle. Contents stolen from a car are claimed on home or tenant insurance, not auto.
• The vehicle itself: because plate rates follow each make and model’s claims history, the vehicle you choose moves the plate premium more than the city you live in.

Ways to lower a Saskatchewan premium

Plate insurance cannot be dropped, so on an older, low-value car the question is whether the extension’s lower deductible is worth its cost. The general discounts are covered in our guide to lowering a car insurance premium.

Filing a claim with SGI

Report a claim to SGI online at sgi.sk.ca, by calling the claims centre closest to your home, or at 1-844-TLK-2SGI (1-844-855-2744). Collisions involving injury, death, hit and run, an impaired driver, a vehicle that has to be towed or an out-of-province vehicle must also be reported to the police. An SGI appraiser or an SGI-accredited repair shop assesses the damage; once your adjuster confirms coverage, you can have the vehicle repaired at the shop of your choice. Injury benefit claims must be filed within 2 years of the collision, and SGI’s Personal Injury Representatives handle income replacement, medical and rehabilitation benefits. A vehicle SGI declares a total loss is settled on its actual cash value: see what happens when your car is written off.

Related reading

• Car insurance in Manitoba (MPI Autopac)
• How car insurance works in Canada
• Car insurance for new drivers