We often get questions from customers who want to know how moving to a new place can affect their insurance costs.

What if I’m just moving to a new neighbourhood – that shouldn’t affect my insurance rate too much, right?

Well, that depends on a number of different things. If you’re moving to an area with older homes, those houses are more likely to have old wiring or old plumbing. Your insurance company will look at whether or not the area is prone to flooding or how safe it is. All of these things help determine your home insurance price. For auto insurance, your insurance company might look at the area’s traffic patterns – if it’s a neighbourhood where there are a lot of accidents, it could affect your auto insurance rate.

What if I want to move to a new city?

This depends on where that city is located – for example, is it close to a body of water that has the potential to cause flooding? Also, if you’re in a bigger city with higher crimes rates and more traffic, you’re probably going to have a different home insurance rate than if you were in a small rural town. When it comes to auto insurance, moving to a larger city will likely increase your rates because with more traffic, you’re more likely to have a claim.

What if I’m planning on making a move to a different province?

A different province often means you’re dealing with regulatory differences which can have an effect on rates. The more regulated the province is (like Ontario, which also has a very complex approach to auto insurance) the less flexibility there is with pricing. With home insurance, environmental considerations of a region can affect your rate. For instance, you might need to top up your policy with hail coverage if you live in Alberta or earthquake coverage if you’re in B.C.

How about if I were to move from an apartment to a house? How would that affect my home insurance price?

You’d definitely need more coverage for a house than you would for an apartment, so your payments would likely be higher. The coverage itself would be different as well. With tenant insurance, you’re only covered for your belongings. But with homeowner insurance, you’re now covered for your building. In other words, if a fire occurs and burns down your apartment building, your tenant insurance would cover the cost of your stuff. Homeowner insurance, on the other hand, would cover the cost if the building needed to be rebuilt (or it would be paid out for the equivalent cash value).

How would my rate change if I’m moving from a house to a condo?

If you own the condo and you’re not just renting, condo insurance is less expensive than home insurance. You’ll pay a bit extra if you want to add flood coverage (if you have a storage unit that’s at ground level) or if you have certain items like artwork or a high-end bike that you want to insure separately. But overall, it’s less than what you’d pay for a home with property.