I don't know what its like getting car insurance in the United States but in Canada it is complete bullshit.

Ontario province especially is a place where insurance companies have been privatized and are doing as they please, making the rules as they go along. Yet we can't drive without it so we have to eat their BS...

For example, I recently purchased a 1993 Camaro which has been upgraded slightly (pic below). Upgrades include (bolt on) exhaust, spoiler, custom hood and wheels. Engine is stock, no 10000 dollar stereo...etc.

My insurance company(major bank) damanded that they take a look at the car as its 15 years old, they told me that they want to make sure it is safe for the road. Knowing that the car is in better condition than most 2 year old cars, I took it in to their service shop. They took 3-4 photos and filed their report and said car passed all safety checks that they needed to perform. My car wasn't examined, wasn't driven, wasn't even turned on.

2 months later(last week) I get a letter in the mail telling me that my insurance has been canceled. Apparently the Camaro has been modified in such ways that it would provoke street racing. Now that is rediculous. I am almost 28 years old and have had 2 speeding tickets all my life. I drive this car to work wearing business atire for christs sake...I'm not going to race some punk in a honda civic. I've been paying these guys 2500 dollars a year (or more) for as long as I remember and this is what they give in return?

In any case, I called a different insurance company and they said that they will gladly insure me, but because my old insurance declined to insure the Camaro(its on my file which all insurance companies have access to), they need to see it first before they can insure it. I've been blacklsited basically...

I have no clue what I am supposed to do at this point. Some pencil pusher in an office will see the pics of my car again and say that the car looks like a racer...not knowing anything about cars or what racing cars have.

Does anyone have any ideas how to deal with BS like this?

Sounds like bullshit to me.

Its a double whammy from the government and the free market. The government makes you get car insurance to drive, forcing to get screwed over by the free market and insurance companies that do as they please.

Manus, that's not a free market. A free market doesn't force you by law to purchase a product. These guys would be out of business in a free market.


Disolitude, keep shopping around and explaining your story. Not every insurance company has the exact same policies so while 1 company may say your car could "provoke street racing" another company may not feel that way at all and your BS cancellation won't have any adverse affects.

Private insurance really likes to stick it to young men who drive fast cars. They're just profiling demographics, and young men with fast cars are a big risk.

My provinces public system doesn't discriminate by age like that. I would say it's nice, but I don't own a car. :p

I highly doubt it.  Insurance companies tend to act like oligopolies.

http://www.economist.com/research/economics/alphabetic.cfm?term=oligopoly#oligopoly

Yeah, I will most likely take my car to the inspection of this insurance company. They gave me an even better rate than the company that booted me so all is good if they accept my car as is.

While these insurance companies change rules change from day to day...it bothers me more that no one really checked my car. they just looked it... one feels so powerless when some dude with a cushy office job gets to say Yay! or Nay! for no apparent reason other than how things apper to him.

Hopefully the new insurance company actually has a mechanic look at the car before they deem me as a threat to society...

When I was 17 I paid £1125 for my car. I paid £1800 for my first year of insurance. So basically they were saying that I was going to write off my car 1.5 times in one year.

Car insurance shouldn't be compulsary.

When you take it in to them, be sure to tell the guy what the last company did and ask him to personally peruse the car in detail. Your earnestness in ensuring the car is road legal and properly inspected may bode well for your chances of approval.

Can you purchase Insurance from the United States which covers you in Canada? I've heard of people doing that though im not 100% sure as im not a native of that country.

That's rough. In BC we have to use ICBC (Insurance Corporation of British Columbia). Generally speaking they are okay, I guess.