Before You Head South: What Canadian "Snowbirds" Should Know About Car, Home and Health Insurance.

Flocks of Canadian “snowbirds” head south to warmer parts of the U.S.A. and abroad to avoid the freezing temperatures at home. Before you travel, however, you should take a moment to review your car, home and health insurance to make sure that you are properly insured in the event something happens to you (or your car or home) while you are on vacation.

Car Insurance

If you have an Ontario car insurance policy and plan to drive your car south to a vacation in the U.S.A., your Canadian car insurance policy should cover you in the event that you become injured in a collision while on vacation.

You can apply for accident benefits with your Ontario policy and, depending on your policy, may be eligible to receive funding from your car insurer. This funding may include funding for medical and rehabilitation expenses, attendant care expenses, housekeeping expenses. It may also include caregiving expenses or an income replacement benefit if your injuries prevent you from returning to work. If you are injured in a car accident while traveling in the U.S.A., an experienced personal injury lawyer in Ontario can help you.

If you are flying south and will be renting a car when you arrive in the U.S.A., your Ontario insurance policy should respond to your claim for accident benefits and should also provide you with coverage for injuries that you may have caused to others or property you damaged. Your car insurance may not automatically cover the cost of damage to the rental car. You can contact your insurance company to ensure that you are covered while driving your car or a rental car in the U.S.A. and you may be able to purchase an additional endorsement to cover the cost of damage to a rental car. You can also see if your credit card offers insurance that will cover property damage to a rental car.

You may need to purchase extra insurance if you will be gone or using a rental car for more than 30 days or if you are making your southern destination your exclusive place of residence in the winter.

Home Insurance

Home insurance policies in Ontario differentiate between homes that are “vacant” and homes that are “unoccupied”. Home insurance policies are not all the same and the definition of “vacancy” and “unoccupied” that applies to you will be included in your insurance policy.

The definition of “vacancy” in a policy usually applies to situations where the occupants of the house have moved out and the house is empty. The definition of “unoccupied” usually applies where you are away from home for 4 or more consecutive days. If your home is going to be unoccupied for a period of time, you need to arrange for someone to check in at your home (the frequency of required visits may be included in your insurance policy) and you should also drain your pipes and shut off your water supply to reduce the risk of flooding.

If damage occurs to your home while it is unoccupied and you have not complied with the requirements in your policy, your insurance may not cover you for certain types of losses, like flood damage caused by frozen pipes or appliances like dishwashers. Some policies will still cover your while your home is unoccupied, provided you make special arrangements to monitor the home while you are gone. If your home is vacant for 30 or more days and you have not advised your insurer of that fact, your entire insurance policy could be void.

Before you go on vacation, you should contact your insurance company or broker to confirm what you need to do to ensure that you will be covered if anything happens while you’re gone.

Health Insurance

It is always a good idea to obtain travel medical insurance before going on vacation to help protect you from huge and unexpected health expenses. Almost all health insurance policies have an exclusion clause stating that if you have a certain pre-existing health conditions which are not “stable” in the three months before the effective date of the policy, the policy becomes void.

Definitions of medical stability are very strict and being referred to a specialist or changing your medication could be enough to trigger the exclusion. If you have pre-existing medical issues, you can still purchase health insurance but you must ensure that you answer all of the insurer’s questions truthfully and candidly so that your policy will cover you in the event of an unexpected health expense.

As with your car and home insurance, you should speak with your insurance company before going on vacation to confirm that you are covered for the duration of your trip.

By: Lara Fitzgerald-Husek

Accidents with Uninsured Drivers: What Happens Now?

What happens when you are injured in Ontario as a result of a motor vehicle accident and the driver of the vehicle who struck you did not have insurance coverage? You may be asking yourself: Will I be able to obtain medical and rehabilitation assistance, income replacement, and other benefits that I require?

The answer is yes. If you have automobile insurance, an Application for Accident Benefits will have to be submitted to your own insurer. It is your own insurer who will be responsible for providing you with reasonable and necessary accident benefits. It is also important to note that applying for these no-fault benefits does not affect your insurance premiums. If, however, you do not have your own automobile insurance, and no other automobile involved in the accident has insurance, or can be identified, you may be eligible for accident benefits from the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund (MVACF).

The MVACF is a government fund. It is considered the payor of last resort. This means the fund provides accident benefits and other coverage to people injured in automobile accidents when there is no other automobile insurance that exists that can respond to a claim. Benefits for injured persons provided by MVACF are:

• Statutory Accident Benefits directly to persons involved in an automobile accident, who have no other recourse to automobile insurance.

• Compensation for personal injury or property damage to victims involved in an automobile accident with an uninsured or unidentified driver, or stolen vehicle when no liability insurance exists. This coverage is capped at $200,000.

It is important to note that the MVACF will not provide Accident Benefits when the accident was outside of Ontario or, in most cases, if the accident was in Ontario but the injured individual(s) does not reside in Ontario.

If you or a loved one find yourselves in this situation, a personal injury lawyer can help with this complex claim. They can ensure that forms, documentation, and information are supplied in a timely manner so that you or your loved ones can obtain access to the much needed Accident Benefits required in order to rehabilitate back to health after suffering serious injury.


By: Josie Skelly