Warning About The Personal Insurance Company - CF Members Posted to Edmonton

[Western Acorn]

By way of background, I'm a serving Army officer at CFB Edmonton and am currently insured with The Personal Insurance Company of Canada (and have been for over 10 years). I'm sure that there are a number of other CF personnel currently serving in the Edmonton area or who are posted into the area this APS who may also be dealing with The Personal for automobile or home insurance. Following a conversation with The Personal today regarding my automobile insurance policy, I feel compelled to warn my fellow CF members about what I believe to be rather spurious conduct on their part. My wife and I have lived in St Albert, a community northwest of the Base, for the past five years. We have just sold our home and are moving approximately 1 km into a newly constructed home in another sub-division in St Albert. I contacted The Personal today to square away insurance for our new home and to change the address on our automobile policy. At this point I was advised that The Personal and some other insurance companies had recently adopted a new practice of calculating insurance premiums based upon your postal code, rather than upon the area you lived in as a whole. In our case, moving 1 km from the sub-division of Deer Ridge to the new sub-division of North Ridge was going to result in a premium increase on our two vehicles of $811.00 per year! Yes, that's correct, $811.00!!! We currently pay approximately $2,200.00 per year to insure our two vehicles so this represents an increase of close to 30 percent over what we are paying now. I should point out that both my wife and I have perfect driving records and have both been insured continuously for over 10 years. I was shocked and appauled by the increase and couldn't believe that this practice had been adopted throughout the industry. When I got off the phone with The Personal, I opened the Yellow Pages and phoned the first company I came across, which happened to be Allstate. Ten minutes later I had a quote from Allstate of $1949.00 to insure us with the same coverages provided by The Personal. I've never dealt with Allstate in my life and they've quoted me a rate that's $250.00 cheaper, in North Ridge, than what I'm paying The Personal now for coverage in Deer Ridge. I found out from the Allstate rep that they consider St Albert as a whole, hence the lower rate. After receiving the quote from Allstate, I called The Personal back and asked to speak with a manager, thinking in my head that if I had a lower quote from another company, that at the very least they would try to match it. No joy. All I got was a "we're terribly sorry but the rate quoted is the best we can do, and we understand if you choose to purchase insurance elsewhere." Talk about trying to secure customer loyalty. I've never seen such a poor effort in my life. What is most shocking though, is that I've been with The Personal for over ten years and have always thought that they provided better rates to CF members than any other company on the market. Please don't believe this - I've seen first hand that this is not the case. My advice to anyone planning to move to St Albert is to shop around for auto insurance. You'll be glad you did.

 

[beach_bum]

It's not just in Edmonton.  I've had issues with them before as have others I know.  Just a case of buyer beware.  Always look around before buying.

 

[George Wallace]

I had a wood stove in my house in Petawawa.  The Personnel was going to revoke my Insurance on all my policies unless I removed the stove or did major improvements to it to meet the Code.  This was the second time an inspector was sent by them to inspect the wood stove and the second time I had to make improvements.  There was no 'Grandfather clause' to cover stoves installed prior to changes to the building codes, which seem to be constantly changing.

Anyway, I have since moved and sold the house to a Fireman.  Hopefully he has not the grief I have had with the Personnel and their practices.

It sure keeps the building/remodelling trades in business.

 

[Gunner98]

Getting a quote from Allstate doesn't mean that is what you will end up paying once they send an inspector around.  Once insurance companies attract you they often slowly creep rates upward.

I was sued the other day over an accident - the Personal has been great for the last 10 years for me as well.  I will let you know if they continue to provide good service and rates after this case is resolved.

 

[Fdtrucker]

Earlier this year after getting back fron  Afghanistan and moving from LP to Bon Accord my insurance for both my both wife's and mine vehicle went up slightly due to the amount we were travelling (over 20 kms vice under under 10 Kms). Still paying less then we were we paying in On, Yu have to shop around here. I am with Primmun Insurance Company out of Calgary. I saved $1000.00 on 2 vehs and $220.00 from my motorcycle the first year.

 

[X Royal]

Its been my expierience that many insurance companies (read agents) will give you a better deal to get you to change to them. After a few years the rates start to clime. My best advice is if you feel your rates have jumped to much - shop arround for a better deal. The reason for the rates jumping is most will believe the agents bull & bend over and take it.

Good Luck

 

[danny1222]

i have recently taken out a policy with the personal insurance company in august.  my previous insurance company (johnson insurance) had cancelled me for 2 NSF payments.  i tried calling AMA and they wanted a vehicle inspection report, bill of sale among other documents that i could not provide at the time (i was on course in borden and all these documents were in edmonton).  i heard about personal insurance through a co-worker and decided to call for a quote.  All they needed to start a policy was a claim experience letter (stating that i owe no money to my previous insurer), VIN number, drivers licence #, bank account #, previous insurance policy #, and my military service #.    very easily done.  my insurance papers were faxed out in 2 hours.  i now am paying $90.00 less per month for the same insurance coverage.
have i had any problems with the personal insurance company?  no.........    but one thing i have learned is that all insurance companies are the same so i wont be surprised when problems arise

i hope this helps to anyone who is reading

 

[Infanteer]

When I got off the phone with The Personal, I opened the Yellow Pages and phoned the first company I came across, which happened to be Allstate. Ten minutes later I had a quote from Allstate of $1949.00 to insure us with the same coverages provided by The Personal. I've never dealt with Allstate in my life and they've quoted me a rate that's $250.00 cheaper, in North Ridge, than what I'm paying The Personal now for coverage in Deer Ridge.

Ahh...the wonders of capitalism.

 

[retiredgrunt45]

I came across this topic and thought I'd leave my 2 cents. Over the past 15 years I have used the Personal Insurance Company to insure 2 cars and my house, even after I retired and went on the Sub reserve list I still use them. I've had two accidents in 15 years, both were not my fault. The company was quick to get my vehicle fixed, gave me a rental while mine was being repaired, provided taxi's for my family etc. In all its been a very good experience thus far. no red tape one phone call and all was taken care off.

My 2 cars cost $1700.00 annually full coverage on both with 3 drivers on each.

More out of curiosity than anything, I phoned AllState they quoted me at $2250.00 for both vehicles because my daughter is under 25
State Farm was $2050.00 for the same reason.

Because my daughter was taught how to drive professionally and not by "dear old dad", the Personal gave me a break on her coverage insurance, the other two companies refused.

I think I'll stay with the Personal, Thank You. My rating with them would be 8/10, this ecompasses rates and service.

 

[exgunnertdo]

The Postal Code thing is not new to the industry - our home insurance in Winnipeg (not the Personal) was based on postal code.  We were paying significantly higher insurance than those on the next block, since we were on the north-most corner of what is considered "North End" (translation - high crime) of Winnipeg.  Our neighbours a block over were in West Kildonan and paid much less.

In the Personal's favour, my car insurance rates went down significantly on posting from Borden (living on base) to Ottawa (living in the 'burbs of Barrhaven).  The discussion I had with a co-worker was that she was told by her insurance company that Borden/Barrie is considered "Toronto" for insurance purposes, hence the high rates (obviously hearsay not verified by me).  This posting was this year, so maybe the Personal's postal code policy helped me?  Don't know, didn't ask why, just was happy when I saw the rates. 

And - our insurance on our house in Ottawa with the Personal is about half of what we were paying with Red River for our house in Winnipeg.  Real dollars, not even adjusted for inflation!  $90,000 house in Wpg, 10+ years ago, $300,000 house in Ottawa today, and the insurance is about half of what we were paying back then.

I'm happy with the Personal - I've had no claims, so can't comment on their service in that regard.

 

[Northern Ranger]

I used a broker and the rates that they gave me with ING, beat the personal by 200.00+ a year for 2 cars, house , sled and boat.  Might not seem like much over the year but its two wings nights to me.

 

[Rusty_Poth]

I too believe that the Insurance industry uses the "Postal Code" system to get rates. I know an individual who moved here to Airdrie from Calgary and his rates are quite a bit lower.

We have been using them for several years now, we have our home, Truck, minivan, 5th Wheel trailer all insured by them, my son had been insured with them for a few years as well. The only problem we had was they canceled our glass coverage years ago due to the fact that we had two windshields replaced twice within three months. On a recent cross-country trip we clipped the roof of the trailer and so far they have been good, mind you the trailer hasn't gone on for the replacement of the rubber roof yet, but we should find out what kind of service they give when I drag the trailer in to get fixed.

 

[Greymatters]

The crime here is the price of the insurance!

A friend is moving to Nova Scotia and there he got quoted as paying $990 bucks a year for: A large pickup truck, medium sized car, trailer, and a goldwing motorcycle.

Now thats WTF!

 

[Strike]

I used to be with a broker, until I moved to Ontario.  The people I was with wanted to cancel my policy and then start a new one because I was changing prvinces (was NS).  Their excuse for the exorbitantly high rate was that I was moving to the country and the accident rate was higher.  ????

I got a quote with Meloche Monex, who gives a discount to members of the RMC Club, and it was drastically lower than what I was paying in NS.  To top it off, I got a bigger discount because I also insured my house with them.  Moving to Kingston, my rates went down even more.  More cars and higher chance of accidents, but closer to work.

 

[a78jumper]

The Personal was the pits. In 1996 upon release from the Reg Force on FRP I wanted to travel around North America (which I did. Given I had no fixed address they dropped me, despite having an unblemished driving record, the letter being sent to my Gagetown address from which I had moved. About three weeks later it was forwarded to my parents place and I found out I had been driving around with no insurance for the interim. Finding a new policy was not difficult, though I had to come up with an address. I also was not impressed with their adjuster who inspected damage done to my truck in the parking lot around the corner from NDHQ; the other guy left me a note acceting full resonsibility(honest John) but this fool somehow made me feel like it was my fault I had chosen to pay to park there that day.

 

[medicineman]

This happened to me when I moved to Borden - they consider it part of the GTA and now I'm paying more for one car than I have since I bought my first car at 21 in Borden.  Strange, I thought my rates were supposed to go DOWN with age and lack of experience with accidents and police pullovers...

MM

 

[startbutton]

I find that strange as I live in Borden (have been for 2 years now and i moved here from London ,and my rates have actually gone down  twice for a van and my rental insurance  since I have lived here (by the way I am with statefarm ) I had heard that some companies consider Borden?Barrie Toronto but they haven't done so with me and yeah I am older and no tickets and only one claim when a snow plow clipped my parked veh
The other thing I like about Statefarm is the fact that they take military driving experience into consideration especially if you have not had a veh insured in your name for a while I was told that some companies will nail you as a new driver if you go more then a month as not being insured  but they took a look at my military driving and gave me the tier one level

 

[maniac779]

I agree with the original poster... The Personal is junk.

My insurance just came up and I shopped around before hand. Ever hear of Belair Direct? Well, I switched, as they offered me over 40% less than I was paying at The Personal, and they didn't do a damn thing to try and keep me. Needless to say I jumped ship.

 

[x-grunt]

I had the good fortune to come across this nifty site, perhaps it will be useful to others here.

http://www.insurancehotline.com

I had shopped around considerably for my auto insurance, and had what I considered a darn decent rate.
This site coughed up a broker with a rate about $200 lower, with more coverage.

I was skeptical, but it has turned out to be a valuable resource. It's free at the consumer's end, they charge the brokers for the referrals.

 

[BinRat55]

Here's my "Personal" horror story...

Several years ago I was insured with The Personal (approx 10ish)  Like some, I was going through a divorce and a tour at the same time.  Time passed and I made it through both.  When I arrived back in Canada, I collected my mail from the orderly room.  Remember when you could go through the OR for a pay allotment for the Personal?  Not sure if it's the same still, but I digress.  In my mail were 4 "notices" from the Personal telling me I needed to add $120.00 more a month to my insurance (see, my new ex-wife had taken the car and informed the company that it was now in a different town, so the insurance went up)  The problem I had when I called them was that I was no longer insured by them - yup, I had been dropped for non-payment.  I tried to explain to the higher-up there that I had been deployed and was not aware of all that had transpired.  They were quite sympathetic and offered to take me back, conditionally of course.  I would have to pay the arreers (fair enough I said) and the remainder of the year PLUS all of next year up front.  The total bill to get re-insured through the Personal would be approxamately $4000.00.  I was appalled mostly by the comment - I was told that if I had a better grip on my personal life and chose NOT to go on tour while being divorced then I would still be insured!!!  I wrote a letter to the chairman of the board of directors for the Personal.  I'll bottom line the reply - tough luck, so sad and go away.  I then found out the hard way that if any insurance company finds out you were "dumped" due to non-payment, they either won't touch you or charge you all up front and the highest rate possible.  I went two years not being able to get insurance anywhere.

Needless to say I would NEVER send a friend to the Personal Insurance.

Sorry for the rant!!