See car insurance rates in Kingston, Ontario.
Part of a series on car insurance rates in Ontario.
Fast facts about auto insurance in Kingston
Average annual car insurance rate
Regular drivers in the city
Collisions per year (approximately)
%
Collision rate for the city
Average age
Average household income
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Unemployment rate
Population
Understanding car insurance in Kingston, Ontario
Kingston is a classic Ontarian city with a history of loyalists and an academic pedigree to boot. While many think that the city would have higher auto rates because it’s a university town, the average is actually quite modest.
A big part of that comes from the fact that the workforce doesn’t have to drive very far to reach their offices or job sites. Being outside the GTA means that people commute within the city instead of travelling hours away, which reduces exposure to risk on the road by quite a bit.
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Get your bundle on & save!
Want even cheaper insurance? Save up to 50% on home and up to 18% on car insurance when you bundle them.
Busting myths about driving and insurance in Kingston
Myth: Kingston’s rates are higher because it’s a university town.
This one’s not true, as you can see by the average car insurance rate for the city. Having said that, we need to put an asterisk on that statement because car insurance is different for everybody. Students will probably see higher rates than a 30-year-old woman (especially men under 25). Drivers in their 40s, 50s, and 60s will likely have lower rates too (all else being equal).
Myth: North of Princess hasn’t been safe to live for years.
Wrong; that’s a stereotype from over 30 years ago. Neighbourhoods north of Princess are just fine.
The area did go through an economic transition from industrial to post-industrial workforces, but the area is on the rise as an up-and-coming neighbourhood.
Myth: Rideau Heights is a dangerous place to live.
Rideau Heights does have a reputation for higher levels criminal activity, which could correlate to claims related to theft or property damge. However, the community crime map from the Kingston Police indicates that far more reported crimes occur in the neighbourhoods between Queen Street and Johnson Street. Even with Rideau Heights itself, the vast majority of occurances happen north of John Coulter Blvd.
Myth: Kingston’s pot holes are worse than most cities in Ontario.
Some of Kingston’s roads did feature in CAA’s annual list of the worst roads in Ontario in 2017 and 2018 (shout out to Country Road 49!), but it didn’t make the list in 2019. However, some residents around here were so fed up with the pot holes that they tried to spur authorities to fix them faster by drawing inappropriate images around them.
How Kingston’s rates compare to other cities in Ontario
- North York: $4,261
- Etobicoke: $4,199
- Brampton: $4,071
- Scarborough: $3,825
- East York: $3,605
- Woodbridge: $3,603
- Richmond Hill: $3,579
- Mississauga: $3,473
- Markham: $3,389
- Niagara Falls: $3,321
- Bowmanville: $3,308
- Peterborough: $3,259
- Pickering: $ 3,245
- Newmarket: $ 3,216
- Hamilton: $3,201
- Brantford: $ 3,158
- Maple: $3,150
- Whitby: $3,087
- Ajax: $3,053
- York: $2,999
- Toronto: $2,983
- Barrie: $2,924
- Thornhill: $2,871
- Waterloo: $2,867
- Caledon: $2,780
- London: $2,765
- Fort Erie: $2,720
- Oakville: $2,720
- Sault Ste Marie: $ 2,713
- Kitchener: $2,705
- Milton: $2,680
- St Catharines: $ 2,550
- Windsor: $2,536
- Woodstock: $2,513
- Innisfil: $2,505
- Burlington: $2,476
- Kingston: $ 2,360
- Cambridge: $2,297
- Oshawa: $2,295
- Guelph: $2,268
- Gloucester: $2,256
- Stoney Creek: $2,222
- Nepean: $2,196
- Ottawa: $2,195
- Sudbury: $2,005
- Kanata: $2,002
- Thunder Bay: $1,973
- Wasaga Beach: $1,958
Quick tips on insurance and driving in Kingston
Avoid Kingston’s most dangerous intersections to keep a clean claims record.
Driving through dangerous intersections raises the odds of being involved in a collision. That’s bad for your auto insurance rates, so avoid these particularly bad intersections:
- Woodbine and Bayridge
- Centennial and Cat Woods Drive
- Norman Rogers and Sir John A. MacDonald Boulevard
Winters on the lakeshore can be harsh. Invest in winter tires for better safety (and rates).
Kingston sits right on the body of water where Lake Ontario flows into the St. Lawrence River. That means Kingston gets a fair amount of precipitation in the winter with little in the way of wind barriers.
Not only do winter tires improve your car’s grip on the road for better braking performance, but Ontario’s insurance companies are also required by law to give you a discount for using them.
Drive more cautiously at intersections, because red light cameras are coming.
Kingston’s “Vision Zero” plan includes tapping into automated enforcement, which can penalize you with a $325 ticket if your vehicle is caught running a red light.
If approved, Kingston wills start with cameras in 10 of the most high-risk intersections and consider more from there after evaluating their performance. Data from other cities indicates that they reduce instances of running red lights by 50%, so it seems likely that you’ll see more around town as time goes on.
Sources for facts about Kingston:
- Statistics Canada, Kingston 2016 Census Profile
- Ministry of Transportation, 2016 Road Safety Report
- Kingston Whig Standard, ” Red light cameras for ‘worst of the worst,’Kingston city staff say”
- Global News, “Pedestrian hit when crossing Sir John A. MacDonald Blvd. without crosswalk”
- Global News, “Kingston council ponders intersection cameras to catch red light runners”
- Global News, “Red light cameras part of Kingston’s ‘Vision Zero’ strategy”
- City of Kingston, “Vision Zero – About”
- Swamp Ward and Inner Harbour History Project
- TVO, “A café’s broken windows reflect tensions over gentrification”
- Kingston Police, Crime Map
- Global News, “Kingston, Belleville, Prince Edward County make CAA eastern region’s list of worst roads”
Source for average insurance rates by city:
- Survey of 2,800 auto insurance policy holders in Ontario
Google Rating: 4.8
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