New! Revised report now available! – MAY 2018

In the updated report, Dr. Fred Lazar includes the auto insurance industry data for 2015 and 2016, and you guessed it, profits are sky rocketing! In the last five years, consumers overpaid by $5 billion in excess premiums, which on average means every motorists has overpaid by $143 each year! Profits in Ontario have soared to $1.5 billion in 2016! To read more about auto insurance and to download a copy of the report, click the “Download The Report” icon on the right side of this page. 2014 DATA NOW AVAILABLE Dr. Fred Lazar and Dr. Eli Prisman have updated the 2013 report to include data for 2014. The update found that consumers likely overpaid by $1.5 billion in the last two years alone. This includes overpayments of $700 million (or about $100 for each insurance policy) in 2014 on top of the $840 million in 2013. In addition to overpaying for insurance, the report concluded that the total industrywide profits in 2014 alone were 10.6 per cent – or nearly twice the levels considered reasonable. To read more about auto insurance and to download a copy of the report, click the “Download The Report” icon on the right side of this page.

THE TRUTH REVEALED ABOUT INSURANCE COMPANIES’ PROFITS IN ONTARIO

Dr. Fred Lazar and Dr. Eli Prisman, from the York University Schulich School of Business, conclude in a recent study that for the period of 2001 to 2013, consumers in Ontario have likely overpaid for auto insurance between $3 billion and $4 billion. This money has not gone to accident victims or to lower premiums for consumers – instead this money has gone straight to the insurance companies’ coffers. In 2010, deep cuts were made to auto insurance benefits payable to those injured in auto collisions. Those cuts resulted in $2 billion in costs savings for the auto insurers. A large percentage of this windfall to the insurers was the reduction of medical and rehabilitation benefits payable to injured auto accident in victims. The standard coverage was reduced from $100,000 to $50,000. But equally troubling was the introduction of the Minor Injury Guideline that in practice has seen medical and rehabilitation benefits slashed for almost 80% of injured victims from $100,000 to $3,500.

Ontarians have likely overpaid for auto insurance by between $3 and $4 billion.

In 2013, the Liberal government promised to bring auto insurance rates down by 15 percent by August 2015. This report clearly demonstrates that this target can be met without further sacrificing benefits to accident victims. In Ontario, auto insurance is mandatory – if you drive you must buy insurance. The mandatory nature of auto insurance provides a guaranteed market for insurance companies – they always have a customer who will pay to drive. In an effort to manage the auto insurance industry, Ontario’s insurers are regulated by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (“FSCO”). One area for regulation has been the acceptable profit margin for insurance companies. FSCO has historically set the benchmark for auto insurer profits at 12 percent return on equity (“ROE”). In the independent study prepared for FSCO, Drs. Lazar and Prisman concluded that the 12 percent benchmark ROE was much too high given the low interest rates that have prevailed for the past several years. They concluded that based on the economic evidence, a more realistic and appropriate ROE benchmark is in the range of 5.8 percent. In response to the economic evidence, FSCO reduced the benchmark, but only to 11 per cent.

Drs. Lazar and Prisman concluded that the 12 percent benchmark ROE is much too high …. a more realistic and appropriate ROE benchmark is in the range of 5.8 percent.

As a result of the inflated ROE benchmark that has been in place in Ontario for the past 20 years, notwithstanding the economic realities of a low interest rate environment, Drs. Lazar and Prisman conclude that as result of the inflated ROE, auto insurance companies in Ontario have had a free ride during part of the past 20 years. In 2013, if the ROE was 5.8 percent, premiums could have been reduced by $685 million. Insurer operating costs are also a factor that Drs. Lazar and Prisman target. As they explain, in setting the benchmark ROE for auto insurance companies, FSCO assumes operating costs of 25 percent. This assumption has not changed in over 15 years. However, as Drs. Lazar and Prisman conclude, with the use of the Internet and multiple distribution channels and overall increased efficiency, a reasonable move would be to reduce the cost assumption from 25 percent to 23 percent.

Auto insurance companies in Ontario have had a free ride … in 2013, if the ROE was 5.8 percent, premiums could have been reduced by $685 million.

Combining a ROE cap of 5.8 percent and an operating cost assumption of 23 percent, auto insurance premiums could reasonably be reduced by at least $840 million, or 7.9 percent based on 2013 data. Most importantly, this reduction can be done without further reducing auto insurance benefits! As part of their report , Professors Lazar and Prisman reviewed a study conducted by KPMG in 2014. OTLA has called into question the independence of the KPMG study in light that firm’s recent work for the Insurance Bureau of Canada. There should be no concern that reducing the benchmark ROE to 5.5 percent for 2015 will result in auto insurance companies fleeing Ontario. As Drs. Lazar and Prisman reveal in their report, the study by KPMG suggested that auto insurance companies ROEs were well below the 5.5 percent recommended benchmark for the years 2008 to 2012. This being the case, if the ROEs were as low as KPMG believes, auto insurance companies should have been leaving in Ontario. However, this does not appear to have happened. Indeed, according to KPMG, capital investment by auto insurance companies in Ontario increased steadily between 2008 and 2010. While capital levels decreased slightly in 2011, they have recovered in 2012, despite very low ROEs, according to KPMG. As stated by Drs. Lazar and Prisman:

For all companies in our sample, there appears to be a surplus of capital (i.e. equity) allocated to auto insurance in Ontario. It does not seem as if the companies in this industry have been earning uncompetitive ROEs on their auto insurance operations in Ontario; otherwise, they would not have allocated excess capital to the auto insurance line in Ontario.