Car insurance Oshawa, ON
Part of a series on car insurance rates in Ontario.
Fast facts about auto insurance in Oshawa
Average annual car insurance rate
Regular drivers in the city
Collisions per year (approximately)
%
Collision rate for the city
Average age
Average household income
%
Unemployment rate
Population
Understanding car insurance in Oshawa, Ontario
Oshawa sits on the eastern edge of the GTA’s borders, relying on its own ecosystem for employment instead of its residents driving into Toronto every day.
That pays off for car insurance because it drastically reduces residents’ exposure to risk on the road, contributing to the low annual car insurance rate for the city.
The city has also made noticeable comeback since the years before 2,000. While still tied heavily to the manufacturing industry, it has grown into a more diverse economy.
It has also become an important halfway point between Toronto and Ottawa, making it lucrative for those looking to get away from Toronto’s property market.
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.
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 Oshawa
Myth: Living in Oshawa means you’ll need commute outside of town.
Not exactly true. While Oshawa does have a very high unemployment rate, those who do work have an incredibly short commute to work (according to Statistics Canada).
Specifically, 38.4% of the city’s workforce work within the city. The next 33% works outside of Oshawa but still within Durham Region. With all that in mind, there is a good chance that you’ll be able to work close to home.
Myth: Oshawa isn’t a safe place to live or raise children.
Wrong. According to Statistics Canada, the crime severity index for all of Durham Region sat just above 41 for 2019 (but there’s no specific number for Oshawa). While that has risen from 38.58 since 2014, it’s still an impressive number.
London’s CSI score was 78. Calgary’s was 81. The top 10 most dangerous places in Canada scored between 175 and 372, so we’d say 41 represents a pretty safe number.
Myth: Southern Oshawa is polluted and unhealthy to live in.
False. Southern Oshawa did grow as an industrial hub for south-eastern Ontario, when Canada didn’t have the same kind of policies in the late 1800s and early 1900s that it does today to protect public health and the environment. Obviously, things have changed significantly during the last century.
Local historian Amanda Robinson has done the research to identify that period in history as the root of this myth.
Myth: Oshawa’s roads will damage your car and raise your claims rate.
Oshawa has cleaned up its roads considerably in the last 10-20 years, but it certainly earned a reputation for poor road maintenance in the past.
Ritson Road and Harmony Road are frequent offenders. That matters, because filing a claim for car repairs can still raise your rates even if it had nothing to do with a collision or traffic violation.
How Oshawa’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 Oshawa
Avoid Oshawa’s most dangerous intersections to protect your auto rates.
Dangerous intersections with low visibility increase your chances of beiing in a collision. That’s bad for your safety and your car insurance rates. Avoid these ones in Oshawa:
- Ritson Road and Bond Street
- Park Road and Bloor Street
- Harmony Road and Taunton Road
- King Street East and Ritson Road
- Mary Street and Rossland Road
Move where claims and reported crimes are lower.
According to the Durham Regional Police’s community crime map, there are noticeably more reported crimes south of Adelaide Avenue, especially along Simcoe Street South.
Move away from that area, opting for these areas with lower reported crime rates instead:
- Stevenson
- O’Neil
- East Central
- Northglen
Oshawa gets plenty of precipitation. Invest in winter tires.
Everyone knows that you’re supposed to slow down while driving in winter conditions, but not everyone puts that knowledge into practice.
That goes double for Oshawa, which can get pretty harsh winters. It’s also home to a busy section of the 401 between Toronto and Ottawa, making it all the more important.
You can buy winter tires to give yourself more traction on the road, both for snow and for ice. They work better than summer or all-season tires below 7 degrees celsius even if there’s no snow or ice on the ground.
The best part? You get an insurance discount for using them.
Don’t be like the drivers in the video, here (watch it to the very end).
Sources for facts about Oshawa:
- Statistics Canada, Oshawa 2016 Census Profile
- Ministry of Transportation, 2016 Road Safety Report
- Oshawa Police Crime Map
- Maclean’s, “Canada’s Most Dangerous Places 2019”
- Statistics Canada, “Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, police services in Ontario”
- DurhamRegion.com, “Durham’s Top 10 Most Dangerous Intersections”
- DurhamRegion.com, “The best and worst roads in Oshawa”
- DurhamRegion.com, “Ritson Road in Oshawa ranks second worst road in Ontario”
- Ottawa Citizen, “Video of Highway 401 pileup shows why you need to slow down in winter conditions”
- DurhamRegion.com, “Local historian explores myth of ‘dirty south Oshawa’”
Source for average insurance rates by city:
- Survey of 2,800 auto insurance policy holders in Ontario
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