Owning and driving a vehicle is an exciting milestone. It brings about a level of independence that you might not have enjoyed before when you had to rely on others or public transport to get around. With car ownership comes the complex process of getting the right motor vehicle insurance. Several factors have to be taken into consideration when deciding which one works best for you.

Here’s a list of things to consider when getting motor vehicle insurance:

1. Paperwork

Before you look into the kind of insurance to get, make sure that you have the correct paperwork required for the process. This usually includes a valid license and registration. Remember, the one who is registered is the one who has to apply for the insurance and drive the car majority of the time. You can’t have another party apply for insurance for you .

2. Research

Once you have your documentation in order, dedicate some time researching different insurance providers. Familiarize with  Nova Scotia insurance laws and the standard insurance policy form. Knowing your local laws and how insurance works allow you to understand what you’re signing up for and what you’re entitled to in case an accident occurs.

The insurance dynamics you need to look into include the type of insurance and what exactly it covers. For instance, during your research, you’ll encounter a third party, third party fire and theft, and fully comprehensive car insurance options.

Third-party insurance is the minimum insurance required by the law, covering damages in an accident caused by another person. Third-party fire and theft insurance packages cover the basic legal requirements of insurance as well as damages caused by fire or theft. The fully comprehensive policy covers different types of damages, events, and scenarios. Different insurance companies cover different scenarios and factors for their fully comprehensive policies. You can get more information by requesting for a quote from the insurance company.

Once you research the various insurance dynamics that are provided by various providers, you’ll be able to figure out which one offers a policy that best suits your needs.

3. Calculate Mileage

Every insurance policy application includes information about your mileage. This information is required because the further or more frequently you drive, the higher the risks of you getting involved in an accident, making your premiums more expensive. Make sure to be accurate about the information you provide about your mileage. In case you’re involved in an accident and the mileage recorded doesn’t match with the mileage assessed at the time of the accident, you might not get paid out.

Mileage costs are factored in differently depending on the insurance provider you choose. This can be calculated through quotes and consultations.

4. Online Reviews

Independent online reviews about specific insurance motor vehicle providers can indicate whether they’re reliable or not. You must however use your discretion when analyzing online reviews as not all are authentic. The more positive the reviews, the more likely you’ll have a positive experience when you choose that specific provider.

5. Consultation

Now that you’ve already come up with a list of your top options, it’s highly recommended to have a consultation session with these potential insurance providers. You can discuss and ask about certain details during this time, such as what the insurance company doesn’t cover. You can also get information about what they explicitly cover to avoid any assumptions or confusion. Give them a call, visit their office, or use the various contact channels provided by the insurance providers on their websites.

6. Financial Means

When getting insurance, you must factor in your personal finances for monthly payments. Choosing an insurance provider and policy that can fit into your budget is advisable. It’ll be tough to commit to a policy only to find later on that you’ll be struggling to pay it off. Compare the different insurance policy costs and choose one that you can reasonably handle along with your other expenses.

Conclusion

Finding the right motor vehicle insurance requires effort on your side. You want to make sure that you’re securing the insurance policy and insurance provider that is right for you. Before you start the process, make sure that you have the correct documentation in order. Take the time to calculate your mileage as this is information that will be required from you. Research about the local motor vehicle insurance standards and regulations to know exactly what you’re signing up for. Once you’re familiar with the legal dynamics, don’t forget to factor in your finances and make sure you’re choosing one that budget.

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TORONTO —
A map released by the federal government Tuesday as part of new COVID-19 modelling data shows that over the last 14 days, the rise in cases has been far from even across the country, with several hotspots bumping up numbers nationwide.

Canada has been experiencing a worrying uptick in new cases recently, leading federal health officials to recommend that we re-adopt earlier, more strict levels of health precautions.

Dr. Theresa Tam stopped short of calling it a second wave on Tuesday, noting that it’s too early to tell whether cases will continue trending upwards or go back down, but cautioned that a new jump in cases could “overwhelm our health system capacity and significantly impact social and economic systems as well.”

According to the latest modelling data, the hotspots across Canada are largely centred around metropolitan areas, but also, in some instances, include regions that saw far lower case levels in the first wave of the pandemic.

WHERE ARE THE NEW CASES?

The map of recent case data shows that the three territories in Canada’s north have had zero new cases over the past two weeks, along with Labrador, northern Manitoba, and some regions of northern Quebec.

The Atlantic provinces have also fared well, with regions ranging from zero cases to four for every 100,000 people.

The darkest regions of the map, which represented areas with 50 to 99 new cases per 100,000 people, were northern Alberta, the Edmonton region, several regions around Quebec City and up the St. Lawrence River, the Gatineau region directly across the river from Ottawa, and in B.C. the region around Vancouver.

One difference from the first wave is that across the country, more cases are thought to be due to community spread, as opposed to outbreaks in long-term care facilities, which pushed numbers up earlier in the pandemic. This likely reflects the fact that Canadians have been returning to workplaces, retail spaces and larger gatherings as provinces have loosened restrictions over the last few weeks.

The map was put together with data from the COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group.

QUEBEC

In Quebec, 489 new cases were confirmed on Tuesday.

The province’s health minister, Christian Dube, announced on Tuesday that two more regions in Quebec were moving from yellow (denoting regions in Level 2 – Early Warning) to orange (Level 3 – Alert). Laval and Outaouais joined Montreal, the Quebec City region and Chaudiere-Appalaches to make five regions of Quebec in Level 3.

Regions in Level 3 have extra measures to “target specific sectors of activity and settings where the risk of transmission is deemed higher,” according to the province.

Outaouais, which has had 1,157 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, is one of the regions with the highest levels of new cases in the province (50 to 99 per 100,000), according to the map released Thursday, along with the Quebec City area, Chaudiere-Appalaches, and Bas-Saint-Laurent.

Bas-Saint-Laurent has had 274 total confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic. Capitale-Nationale has had 3,153.

Dube pointed out that the new cases are not necessarily following the same path as the first wave.

“We see that regions that have been spared such as Capitale-Nationale, Chaudiere-Appalaches during the first wave are now very affected by the virus,” he said.

Quebec’s public health director Dr. Horacio Arruda said on Monday that the province had officially hit a second wave after they reported 586 new cases.

ONTARIO

Although vast swaths of Ontario are seeing barely any new cases, in the most populated regions of the province it’s a different story. The province recorded 478 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, which is the highest number for a single day since May 2, when 511 cases were reported.

Most of these new cases are in Ottawa, Peel region and Toronto, with 90, 95, and 153 new cases respectively.

ALBERTA

In the province’s capital, the COVID-19 case count reached the highest it has ever been since the start of the pandemic last week. Including the region around the city as well, the Edmonton area had 751 active cases of COVID-19 last Thursday, which was more than half of Alberta’s active cases at the time.

Within the city, the neighbourhoods with the highest active case count were Northgate with 109 cases, Northeast with 104 and Eastwood with 74.

The province as a whole reported 150 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing them to more than 1,500 active cases. 

BRITISH COLUMBIA

On the map showing hotspots, it appears as though two separate regions on British Columbia’s coast are experiencing a surge, but they actually are counted together — both fall under the Vancouver Coastal Health region, and are assessed as one area.

There have been nearly 3,000 cases recorded in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, with more than 4,200 recorded in the neighbouring Fraser Health region. The new modelling showed that the Fraser Health region has had 20 to 49 new cases for every 100,000 people over the last two weeks, putting them in the second highest category on the map.

A new outbreak at Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital was discovered Tuesday, according to provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

Over the weekend, 366 cases of COVID-19 within the province were recorded, and 96 new cases were identified on Tuesday.  

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As Canada grapples with rising novel coronavirus numbers, experts say mounting evidence points to young people as the driving force behind the spike in cases.

The data doesn’t lie. The latest available data from the Public Health Agency of Canada showed 56.6 per cent of those who tested positive for the virus were younger than 50 years old.

People aged 20-29 accounted for “the largest proportion of cases,” the agency said in its weekly epidemiology report.

“Incidence rates in those 20 to 39 years of age remain consistently higher compared to all other age groups.”

The agency wrote this could be due to having to return to work, where that age bracket makes up a majority of the service industry, as well as reduced social distancing among young people or general “fatigue with physical distancing and other public health measures.”

“This is not a surprise,” said Colin Furness, an epidemiologist with the University of Toronto. “That’s the group that has suffered socially the most in a lot of ways.”

Furness said he’d noticed trends among servers, but that young people may have also become complacent to COVID-19 measures in trying to “make the most” of the end of their summers.

With restaurants, bars, smaller workplaces, universities and other schools reopened, there is more opportunity for youth to get sick, he said. But when it comes to returning to work, for businesses able to work remotely Furness said “it’s better to stay put.”

While the PHAC noted most confirmed diagnoses reported in schools and daycares were individual cases, rather than examples of community transmission, the agency said confirmed infections have been increasing since August.

Furness said going back to school was “very important” for children’s mental health, and would be economically beneficial for parents — “predominantly women who then get excluded from their jobs.”

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From an infection control standpoint, Furness said it was more likely that schools were going to reflect how the pandemic had been affecting each school’s community.

He also said some provinces should have either chosen to reopen bars or schools — but not both.

“We can do a lot,” he said. “We just can’t do it all at the same time.”

“It’s risky to open schools, so we should be doing something to compensate for that.”

Cynthia Carr, a Winnipeg-based epidemiologist with EPI Research Inc., said it was inevitable that — even in Canada, where community spread is under control in most provinces — returning to school would at least in some part drive up COVID-19 cases.

“Once you put people together in a room for a long period of time, there’s opportunity for infection to spread,” she said.

Carr said the surging numbers may look daunting, but are actually on par with Health Canada’s projections, which estimated the country would see a fall peak in September.

This is important, she said, as according to Health Canada, the country should expect to see a rise in diagnoses, but low rates of hospitalizations or deaths due to the age demographic making up the majority of people getting sick.

The challenge, said Carr, is what she called an “epidemiological lag.”

“In a week or two, will we see an increase in outcomes such as hospitalizations and deaths? That’s what we want to avoid, because this increase in cases (can lead) to infection within our vulnerable residents,” she said.

Experts warned Canadians may not have seen the end of surging cases.

1:46
Quebec headed toward second coronavirus wave as cases soar

Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada’s deputy chief public health officer, said Tuesday it would be difficult for him to declare whether or not the country was in the midst of its second wave of the virus.

“Canada is a big country. All regions are different,” he said, adding that officials have confirmed a second wave in Ottawa.

Dr. Andrew Morris, infectious disease physician at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto, said the influx in cases the country was seeing now “will probably go on steroids in the next couple of weeks — unless something is drastically done.”

“We will see increasing and accelerated growth over the next couple of weeks despite any measures that the government may do over the next week,” he said, identifying initial provincial challenges with testing, contact tracing and isolating patients as factors leading up to rising numbers.

On whether the country was prepared for a second wave, Morris said: “Not a chance.”

In order to successfully navigate through a second wave, Morris said federal and provincial governments were going to need to step up their testing, open more COVID-19 assessment centres and stock up on ventilators and personal protective equipment.

“Without a proper surveillance and screening strategy, it makes it very difficult for us to properly use our testing capacities,” he said.

“If you don’t have one of the fundamental aspects which is testing and that is both collecting the tests, assessment centre abilities and lab capacity… then you’re in trouble,” he said.

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