Kanetix study suggests hardening of soft market

A kanetix.ca study suggests that the soft market in auto insurance is hardening, and that consumers may soon get hit with higher auto insurance premiums, according to a company release.
Rates quoted for auto insurance over the past year have increased on average 1.5%, according to kanetix’s quarterly auto insurance premium study results.
Kanetix compared the average of the lowest auto insurance premiums quoted online for Ontario shoppers in Q3 2007 with the average from that same period in 2006 and found that the average lowest price had increased.
This is a first auto rate increase observed since the study’s inception.
“Every quarter since we introduced the study in 2006 has shown that for insurance shoppers, the average lowest premium quoted was cheaper than the previous year’s respective quarter,” Gregory Ellis, co-founder of kanetix.ca, said in the release.
“That is, until now, because Q3 2007 showed us something altogether different; that the competitive auto insurance market in Ontario looks to be swinging in the other direction.
“With a 1.5% increase in the price of the average lowest quote, it suggests that insurance consumers are perhaps going to see increases in their annual auto insurance renewals.”