If you haven’t changed your car in several years, you might be a little surprised when you change your old model for a new one. Let’s be honest, cars are not what they used to be.

Though you may be delighted by many of the technological advances, some of them may be more difficult to understand and some may even leave you a little confused and frustrated. To be honest, the most confusing new gadgets are those you never get the hang of using and you simply give up trying.

However, like most people, you probably enjoy and appreciate backup cameras, alerts and blind-spot monitors.  All valuable features.

Technology is expensive to repair

If the goal of adding all these technological advancements has been to improve the safety of vehicles and the comfort of the drivers, the multiplication of technologies in vehicles has also come at cost.  Most important is the costs to repair things when they become defective or break in an accident.

• Difficulties finding replacement parts
• Much more complex repairs
• Longer repair time
• More expensive replacement parts

Of course, this has a significant impact on you as the driver and owner of the vehicle, but it also affects your insurance and premium because, for an insurer, claims settlement is no longer what it used to be:

• First, there are many more vehicles on the road.
• Drivers are more easily distracted. Need we mention cell phones?
• SUVs have become the most popular vehicle on the road, and they are more expensive to repair than sedans.

All these elements make for a new reality for insurance.  The payouts for losses have drastically increased, so much so that it is sometimes better for an insurer to declare a vehicle a total loss than to pay for its repair.

In closing, in the first quarter of 2018, Canadian  insurers incurred $ 535 million more than the previous year in automobile claims reporting.

One thing is certain, this new reality will require everyone to adapt: you, your car mechanic and your insurer.

Jackie Beaudoin, Leclerc Insurance and Financial Services
Source :  RSA