Former epileptic getting her license back in Ontario; insurance?

July 2, 2014 12:41 PM

My wife, clean from seizures for about two years, is getting her license back soon and I need to know if there's any pitfalls regarding insurance.

Hey, remember my wife? She's actually been seizure free for a good long while now and boy let me tell you that is some awesome stuff. Awesome awesome stuff. What is of questionable awesomeness is that she wants to get her driver's license back; she's taken the written test and will be taking the driver's test shortly and after that I expect I'll have to put her on my insurance. This is Ontario we're talking about, so insurance for me is already highway robbery (around 160/mo), and I'm dreading having to put her onto it as I'm afraid the cost will skyrocket to like 500/mo or worse. I've thought briefly about asking the insurance company about it before I put her on it, but I'm afraid that if they even get a whiff they'll jack my rates just 'cos.

How do I approach this? What if they ask why she, a middle aged woman, is getting her license back now? Do I have to tell them about the epilepsy? Is there any magic law or regulation I can cite that will help? Should I threaten to shop around? Other tactics?

posted by the dief to Travel & Transportation (3 answers total)

Best answer: Hooray for your wife! I know you did not ask about the US. However my sister who got her license only after being seizure free for two years did not have any interaction between her license and her insurance. I (briefly) lost my license for a similar thing and since the license-losing was informal (i.e. my doctor said "Don't you dare drive" and I didn't) there was no official record of my non-driving and so there was no thing with me starting driving again. Same for my sister.

So, I know you are asking about Canada and it looks like she may have premium issues if she's had a gap in coverage for more than two years or if her license was suspended (was it?) but health concerns otherwise don't seem to be a cause for rate increases. This is from the Automobile Insurance Rate Board for Alberta which I am aware is not your province. These folks are people who are grumpy about the reforms that have been done to Ontario insurance and even though they are mostly concerned with people getting accident injuries covered, I bet a phone call to them would connect you with someone knowledgeable about your specific situation.
posted by jessamyn at 12:53 PM on July 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Insurance companies in Ontario are not allowed charging more for car insurance based on someone's health status, and cannot require information about someone's health status as a requirement for coverage.
posted by Jairus at 12:53 PM on July 2, 2014 [6 favorites]

Response by poster: Hey everybody, so she went and took the test and passed and I called the insurance folks and it was still bad but not *nearly* as bad as I was expecting. Not even double what I'm paying now, so either I'm paying way too much now or I got a great deal. Everything's cool.
posted by the dief at 6:58 AM on July 4, 2014