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’I’m concerned about the people,’ says Premier Danielle Smith, on not allowing insurers to hike yearly premiums on good drivers beyond 7.5 per cent
‘I’m concerned about the people,’ says Premier Danielle Smith, on not allowing insurers to hike yearly premiums on good drivers beyond 7.5 per cent
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Can you imagine?
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Yes, you probably can imagine the UCP government of Premier Danielle Smith coming out and telling Albertans they would let auto insurers hit good drivers with a $400 insurance premium hike this coming year.
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I can imagine it but I can also imagine Alberta government politicians just might not want to commit political suicide.
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Lifting the cap on how much auto insurers can increase premiums on good drivers would have been political dynamite.
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Come on, they are still allowed to hit good drivers with a 7.5 per cent yearly premium hike. That ain’t chump change.
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For some time it looked like Premier Smith and her crew might surrender to the insurance companies.
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After all, the insurance outfits whine, they cry, they arm-twist, they say they might leave Alberta but end up staying, they moan about government interference, they plead poverty.
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They forecast an insurance armageddon. They cash the cheques and they play the victim.
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When a tiny insurance company exits Alberta there is hand-wringing. A story is published. People click on it until they realize it’s not a big deal.
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If there is an auto insurer heaven it is a place where they charge what they want and there are no lawyers.
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I’ve heard this song and seen this dance for too many years. A constant pity party.
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On Wednesday we get a small win. I repeat it is a small win. The fight with auto insurance companies is not over.
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Still, the cap on insurance premium increases for good drivers will stay at 7.5 per cent.
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Premiums will go up but not by somewhere in the neighbourhood of $400, a figure the Smith government once talked about if there was no cap on how much auto insurers could charge yearly.
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Just so you know, the Smith government has tightened their definition of a good driver.
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If you have one minor traffic conviction in the past three years you are not a good driver.
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What is a minor traffic conviction? Failing to wear a seatbelt or having an obstructed licence plate are two examples the government provides.
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There was a battle. Giving the insurance companies what they want was on the table. Some in the UCP fold thought insurance companies needed a break.
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These individuals forgot who put them in office.
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The official Smith government line is they came down on the side of keeping good driver insurance premiums to a 7.5 per cent hike because they didn’t want cost pressures to fall all at once on Albertans.