Toronto, Ontario — December 18, 2013 — A recent online poll has found that eight per cent of drivers say they had driven without any car insurance. The poll was commissioned by Allstate Insurance Company of Canada and conducted by Abacus Data.
The survey results also showed that people may be putting their coverage at risk without even realizing it. Fourteen percent of drivers who have been in a collision said they hadn’t reported it to their insurance company. This could invalidate a future claim.
“If you were to get into a collision, assume that the damage isn’t too bad and pay for the damages out of pocket, you could be in serious financial trouble down the road if you are asked to pay more money because the damages to the other vehicle were more extensive than first realized,” says Ryan Michel, VP and Chief Risk Officer, Enterprise Risk Management, Allstate Canada. .
Even if one of your customers plans to pay for damages on their own, they should still inform their insurance company of the incident. This way the company has accurate information in case a larger claim is made later on.
“There are some typical things that people may forget or might not know they need to talk to their agent about, so we encourage you to give your agent a call and review your policies at least each time they are up for renewal,” says Michel.
The poll also found that men were more likely to drive a car without auto insurance than women (10 per cent vs. 6 per cent) and were more likely not to report a collision to their insurance provider (21 per cent vs. 8 per cent).
Allstate commissioned Abacus Data to conduct the online survey of 1514 Canadians aged 18 and older. The total sample was weighted by age, gender and region to be proportionately representative of the Canadian population of adults ages 18 and older.
