“How to get out of Facility” topic of September 26 CTA Zoom

Program may enable Taxi drivers to get back to standard insurance

Facility Association (FA) now offers a telematics program for taxi drivers in Ontario designed to help the drivers find a way out of Facility and back to the standard auto insurance market.

Representatives from Facility’s team will be the guest presenters on the Canadian Taxi Association’s monthly Zoom webinar on Thursday, September 26.

Launched in 2022, the program uses video enabled telematics device to help taxi drivers and operators improve their driving and correct poor driving behaviours.

Enrollment in the telematics program would qualify participants to an incentive reduction in premium, and more important, may qualify them to return to the standard market where they would enjoy more choice and better prices for coverage.

“Poor driving habits or behaviors are often why drivers end up in Facility Association, and it’s also the reason insurance premiums are higher than the standard market,” said Saskia Matheson, President & CEO of Facility Association.

“We are always looking for ways to try and get drivers back into the standard market and for the first time in the history of FA, we have created an incentive reduction in premium for those who enroll. For those who choose to participate, we believe it will help not only improve driving habits, but also allow customers to earn their way out of FA and back into the standard market.”

Here is how the program will work:

FA has partnered with Foresight Insurance Analytics Inc who install the telematics device, and manage all the data received. A score is generated on a daily basis and shared online with the customer with the objective to improve the score over time and correct poor driving habits that have been observed.

The score is based on multiple incident types interacting with each other. These incidents are typical for telematics programs and include risk factors such as red light violations, distracted driving, following too close, hard braking, late braking, weaving in and out of lanes, hard on gas, harsh turning, no seatbelt, and lane violations.

FA does not access or receive any of the data that is generated, which protects the privacy of the driver. The data enables the operator and taxi owner to monitor the good or bad habits and make improvements.

“Since 2016, FA’s taxi market share in Ontario has increased significantly, even while there was a decrease in the overall number of public vehicles in the industry over the last two years. The trend started at the onset of the pandemic and continues to be a concern for FA as we strive to enhance market stability by minimizing our market presence in an effort to provide consumers with the benefits of a healthy and competitive standard insurance market,” said Fadia Charbine, Vice President, Underwriting, Claims & Operations.

Jagtar Singh Chahal, Chairman & CEO of Hamilton Cab added, “This is a good program for taxi drivers to participate in. It will promote safety, reduce accidents and most importantly, we will be able to see how our drivers are operating behind the wheel and weed out those who do not show improvement. Hamilton Cab will definitely support this program.”

“As a Broker who has been working with taxi Industry over the last several years, any product that can help improve the overall risk performance is a good thing. Even better when it helps to move the customer out of the FA and is helpful in creating risk appetite in the standard market,” said Gord Fergusson, Principal Broker, Youngs Insurance Brokers Inc.

Facility Association is an unincorporated non-profit association of insurers. FA operates in Yukon, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. Every insurer licensed to write automobile liability insurance in these jurisdictions is a member of Facility Association. The affairs and business of FA is managed and controlled by a Board of Directors with authority Canada-wide. The President and CEO is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the organization and management of staff.

Facility Association ensures the availability of automobile insurance to owners, lessees and licensed drivers of motor vehicles who are eligible.