Around $5 Could Save You $36,000 After an Auto Insurance Claim

As most drivers in Ontario learned last September, the standard accident benefits limits for car insurance was basically cut in half. This will never affect most people as the coverage needed for short term injury is still there for the most part, but there is a coverage that was changed that could end up costing you up to $36,000 if you are seriously injured in a car accident.

Before I go on, there are many important coverage areas in the accident benefits section of your auto insurance policy; I am just focusing on one specific coverage in this post.

Attendant care coverage is used when after an accident you need to hire somebody to help take care of you in your home.

Pre September 2010 Coverage:

Before the Accident benefits reform the insurance company paid out $3,000/month over a two year period. After two years you could qualify as permanently disabled and get ongoing long-term attendant care coverage.

Post September 2010 Coverage:

The new standard coverage was reduced to $3000/month for only one year while the time you must wait to qualify for permanently disabled remains unchanged at two years. This means that at the end of year one, you are on your own to cover the costs of attendant care for the entire second year while you wait to be approved for permanent coverage.

All drivers have the option to buy back the second year of coverage on their auto insurance policy. The cost ranges between companies but is normally around $5/year. That works out to $0.42/month to get back that extra year of attendant care coverage.

If you are my client and reading this, if I wrote your policy after September 2010, you already most likely have this option added to your policy. If you have been a client with the same insurance company since before September 2010 and would like this coverage buy up option added to your policy, simply email me and let me know.

If you are not a client, the best advice I can give you is to call your broker/agent/insurance company and ask them to add the attendant care buy up option.