Auto Insurance Changes Announced

By Kym Geddes

Ontario will lower the minimum medical and rehabilitation coverage for auto insurance to $50,000 from the current $100,000 in an effort to keep premium increases to a minimum. Drivers could still purchase $100,000 or even $1 million in medical and rehabilitation benefits if they chose after the changes come into effect next summer. Finance Minister Dwight Duncan is proposing a series of updates to auto insurance regulations to give consumers options to lower their costs and counter rising premiums. Drivers will be able to pay less to get less coverage, but Duncan says Ontario's new basic level of coverage would remain ``the most generous of any province'' with private auto insurance. Motorists will also be given options on the level of coverage they want for attendant care, housekeeping, death and funeral expenses and compensation for property damage. Duncan says there are also 17 new consumer protection measures, including one that prohibits using a driver's credit score to determine how much to charge for auto insurance.