Best and Worst Sites to Compare Car Insurance Quotes (2023) (Canada)

Shopping for car insurance can be one of life’s more frustrating experiences.

Comparison-shopping is a crucial part of buying auto insurance policies. A wise shopper will compare at least four or five different insurance providers to make sure they’re getting a good deal. But going through a list of insurance companies one by one to compare car insurance quotes can take hours and may not get you accurate results.

That’s where insurance comparison sites can be a major help in your quest for affordable auto insurance coverage. Auto insurance comparison sites let you instantly compare quotes from multiple insurance providers. They provide accurate, personalized rates, discounts, and coverage options all on one site.

See More: Best Car Insurance Companies

How Auto Quote Comparison Sites Work

There are two types of insurance comparison websites: quote-comparison sites and lead-generation sites. Quote-comparison websites present users with rates based on information submitted during the shopping experience.

You can then decide which quote to pursue, and the data you entered is transferred to the agent or company website, greatly shortening the purchasing process. These sites do not sell your information to insurance providers or agencies.

Unlike true quote-comparison sites, lead-generation sites simply sell your information to their advertising partners—typically insurance companies. These sites are not built to provide you with personalized quotes and are not much help when trying to compare car insurance premiums.

Avoid these sites unless you’re eager to receive tons of cold calls from insurance phone banks and desperate agents.

Insurance comparison websites can be further broken down into sites that provide real-time insurance quotes and those that provide estimated ones. The benefit of the former is that you get a more reliable quote; if you follow up on an estimated quote, you could be in for a big disappointment.

See More: Car Insurance Quotes

Car Insurance Comparison Sites with Real Quotes

The following comparison websites offer Canadians real-time, accurate insurance quotes.

RateHub.ca

RateHub is a personal finance review and information website. The site provides quotes for auto insurance as well as home, life, and travel insurance. You can also get rate comparisons on bank accounts, investment accounts, mortgages, and credit cards. RateHub has education centres for each type of financial product, with tips on choosing and using these products wisely.

How It Works

RateHub asks shoppers to answer a series of questions that it uses to produce real-time, accurate quotes. These questions are typical for quote-comparison sites; the quoting tool will ask about your driving record (particularly past insurance claims), the type of vehicle you drive, license type, postcode, etc.—all questions the tool needs to generate accurate quotes. The site requires you to enter your full mailing address, phone number, and email address to proceed.

It also requires you to opt in to text messages and/or phone calls but also allows you to opt out of receiving future updates and news from RateHub.

Results

In Insurify’s test, RateHub produced five quotes that ranged from $2,140 per year to $5,238 per year. You can adjust the comprehensive and collision deductibles and the third-party liability coverage level to generate new quotes, as well as tinker with the endorsements (optional coverages) included in the policies.

Most of the quotes came through insurance broker InsuranceHero.ca; the last was brokered by Begin Insurance. In each case, I needed to call the broker to proceed with getting the policy.

Kanetix.ca

Kanetix is a comparison site for various types of insurance, plus mortgage and credit card rates. It’s been around since 1999 and is part of the Kanetix Ltd. family of companies. It offers car insurance quotes for drivers in Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec. Kanetix claims to check rates for over 50 different auto insurance providers.

How It Works

Kanetix asks shoppers to answer a typical set of questions required to produce accurate quotes, including whether you want comprehensive coverage. It also asks if you are willing to have your driving habits tracked in exchange for a discount. The site also insists on having both your phone number and email address to proceed.

The questions were easy to answer, and the process was straightforward—you can submit your information and get personalized quotes in under five minutes.

Results

Kanetix produced 12 quotes that ranged from $2,143 per year to $5,233 per year. However, the site didn’t include any details about the policies that came with those quotes. The only option was to call Kanetix or (in a few cases) apply online.

Calling in causes the call to be routed to the insurance provider through Kanetix’s “priority phone queue” (which presumably earns Kanetix a commission for sending you to the insurer). The page included a quote number and the option to log in later to retrieve the quote.

LowestRates.ca

LowestRates.ca is an online insurance comparison tool that generates real-time quotes from multiple insurance providers. The site provides quotes for auto and home insurance, as well as rates for mortgages and credit cards. There’s also a blog and knowledge centre with information on insurance and other financial topics.

How It Works

LowestRates.ca’s shopping process will ask you to enter the same general information that other auto comparison websites did. Entering the information was fast and straightforward. LowestRates.ca requires you to enter a phone number and email address to proceed.

Results

LowestRates.ca produced 17 quotes ranging from $2,156 per year to $5,578 per year. The site allows you to customize the deductibles for comprehensive and collision and liability insurance coverage. Changing those three options does allow you to immediately bring up a new set of quotes.

In order to get one of these policies, you have to call LowestRates.ca’s partner insurance company. The site provided no information on the quoted policies aside from the provider name and monthly and annual premiums.

InsuranceHotline

InsuranceHotline is another Kanetix company. This particular site, not surprisingly, focuses just on insurance quotes and information. InsuranceHotline launched in 1994 and provides quotes on auto, home, motorcycle, life, commercial, and travel insurance.

How It Works

You have to answer a fairly typical set of questions, which includes providing your phone number and email address. InsuranceHotline does let you opt out of future communications from it, offering a chance to win a prize if you elect to opt in instead.

Results

InsuranceHotline produced three quotes ranging from $1,917 per year to $3,779 per year—the top quote was from Kanetix.ca (another comparison site from the same family of companies). You can adjust your deductibles, coverage levels, and endorsements such as roadside assistance, but only by going back to the beginning of the questionnaire.

See More: Cheap Car Insurance

Lead-Generation Sites

Unlike quote-comparison sites, lead-generation sites are paid when they send customers’ personal information to external agencies.

These sites often attract your interest with competitive rates but then transfer you to a different site to continue shopping and complete your transaction, often at a far less attractive rate. This is because lead-generation sites are paid to sell your information to an agency, not to present you with the best rates on car insurance.

You can sometimes get auto insurance quotes on lead-generation sites, but expect them to be far less reliable than quotes from comparison sites. Using lead-generation sites most likely means that you’ll end up wandering from one auto insurance website to another in pursuit of the best rate, which rather defeats the purpose of using a quote-generating site at all.

The easiest way to tell quote-comparison sites from lead-generation sites is the questions they ask. In order to give you an accurate quote, comparison sites need to collect a range of information, including:

1. Your car’s make, model, and age (including whether it has winter tires)

2. Your annual mileage, including the length of commute

3. How you use the car and where you store it at night

4. Your driving history, including how many years it’s been since you last had a car accident or driving infraction (needless to say, a good driving record earns you lower rates)

5. Personal details for yourself and any other drivers on the policy, including name, age, postal code, and type of work

Any site that asks for just one or two details, such as your phone number and postcode, is a lead-generation site and is best avoided.

See More: Best and Worst Sites to Compare Car Insurance

How to Compare Car Insurance Quotes Online

Insurance experts suggest that you compare car insurance policies every time your current policy is up for renewal (typically every six months to a year). Before you launch your quote hunt, review your existing policy and see if your needs have changed. For example, you may want to increase your comprehensive and collision coverage deductibles to reduce your car insurance rates, assuming you can afford to pay more up front in case of an accident.

When you’ve worked out just what car insurance coverage you need, an insurance comparison site can be helpful in finding the best price for your desired policy. However, you’d be advised to stick to reputable comparison sites that give you real quotes rather than lead-generation sites that will leave you at the mercy of cold-calling insurance agents.

Frequently Asked Questions