The best insurance companies for female drivers in Ontario (2021)

What are the best auto insurance companies for women in Ontario? Well, if you’re going strictly on price, it’s CAA Insurance. But that doesn’t mean every woman in Ontario should switch to CAA. Depending on your age, where you live, and your driving record, there are four different companies that could have your best rate. Shopping the market with an insurance broker is the best way to find it, and the only way to keep it in the long term.

Insurance companies tend to specialize in particular types of risks. Some look for drivers with perfect driving records, some target people over 40 or 50 years old, and some target new drivers or those with spotty records. So, which are the best auto insurers for women? To find out, we did a side-by-side comparison of rates from some of the most popular insurers we work with. The simple answer for most women right now is CAA Insurance, but as usual, the answer is more complicated than that.

Note that the rankings in this piece are based solely on price. There are a number of factors that you should consider when shopping for auto insurance, but price is the only one that varies by gender. Learn more about the best car insurance companies in Ontario for more detailed information.

In the insurance world, there are “regular market” insurers that insure maybe 95% of all drivers, and then there are “high-risk” or “residual market” insurers that insure the rest. The two can’t be compared in terms of rates, because obviously, high-risk insurers charge more. Here are the rankings for both.

In order to get a good idea of the kind of rates that female drivers across the province can expect from different insurance companies, we created seven different driver profiles, all female, that vary in age, relationship status, location and driving record. We also gave each one a different vehicle. Then we ran quotes for each in our online auto insurance quoter. The people are fictional, but the prices below are an accurate reflection of what a driver with the same rating factors would pay in the real world if they called us for a quote today.

So that we could compare apples to apples, all the quotes were run based on the same coverages, policy limits, deductibles and discounts.

Meet the ladies:

¹ Note that Althea is considered a high-risk driver, and so her quotes have not been included in the averages, because she will only get quotes from high-risk insurers.

The reality of the insurance market is that one company is never the most affordable for long. Each company closely monitors its claims costs, and compares them to its premium revenues. The idea is that the premiums should be enough to pay for all the claims, with a little left over (ideally 10-15%) for profit.

Right now, because CAA Insurance has the lowest rates for women, they will win a lot of new female customers. Over the next few months and years, they will find out whether the premiums they charged were enough to cover claims. If they’re not, you’ll see their rates go up gradually until they reach what we call in the business “rate adequacy”.

But even if CAA’s claims costs stay low and their rates don’t go up, the likelihood is that one of the other insurers will realize that their claims costs are also quite low, and they will reduce their rates hoping to attract more customers, while still making a profit. So from year to year, it’s likely that the best insurer for you will change over and over again.

The only way to always have access to the best rates is to work with an independent insurance broker like Mitch. We work with most of the top insurance companies in Ontario, so although their rates may go up and down, YOUR rate will always be the best available at that time. Call us today to talk to one of our experienced brokers about all your insurance requirements. We may be the last insurance provider you’ll ever need.