Privilege 50 Auto & Home Insurance Programs

Frequently Asked Questions | Insurance Glossary

Am I legally required to buy auto insurance?
• If you drive a vehicle in Canada, you are required by law to have the following minimum auto insurance coverage:
• Third Party Liability of at least $200,000 ($500,000 in Nova Scotia) – Covers you for damages awarded in court if you are sued in the event that you or anyone else driving your car injures or kills someone else or damages someone else's property.
• Accident Benefits - If you are injured in a car accident, whether you were at fault or not, Accident Benefit coverage will pay for medical, rehabilitation and attendant care expenses, caregiver and dependant care benefits, death benefits and funeral expenses and provide you with income replacement benefits.
• At Zenith, we recommend that our customers carry more than the minimum insurance coverage required by law as protection from common claims such as the cost of repairs or replacement if your car is damaged or stolen.

Will my insurance cover me if I'm sued?
• If you are sued because you or anyone else driving your car injures someone or damages someone else's property, your Liability Insurance will cover you up to the amount that you have purchased.
• In the event of a serious accident, the injured party(ies) may be awarded damages in court that are greater than your Liability Insurance coverage and you will be required to pay the balance out of your own pocket. We recommend that you protect yourself from this situation by buying at least $1 million of Liability Coverage.

If I'm injured in a car accident what type of Accident Benefits am I covered for?
• Income Replacement Benefits - Provides you with weekly income replacement benefits if you become disabled as the result of a car accident. Additional coverage may be available.
• Medical, Rehabilitation and Attendant Care Benefits - Covers the cost of medical and rehabilitation expenses such as physiotherapy, chiropractic treatment, dental expenses and/or attendant care.
• Caregiver Benefits - If you are providing full-time care to dependants and are disabled as the result of a car accident, you are eligible for weekly caregiver benefits.
• Dependant Care Benefits - You can only claim optional dependant care benefits if you are employed at the time of the accident and you have to pay for childcare expenses as a result of the accident.
• Death and Funeral Benefits – If you are killed in a car accident, a specified amount will be paid to your eligible spouse, to each of your dependants, and for funeral expenses.

Can I increase my coverage limits beyond the basic plan?
• Yes. You can choose to increase your level of coverage for Liability Insurance and in some provinces your Accident Benefits. Call an agent for more information.
• In Ontario, you can also add an Indexation Benefit to your accident benefits coverage - Indexed accident benefits are kept in line with the Consumer Price Index to account for inflation.

What are some of the optional coverages I should consider?
1. Physical Damage - Covers damages to your own vehicle. This coverage can include collision insurance, comprehensive insurance or both. If you finance or lease your car, your bank or leasing company will likely require you to have physical damage coverage.
• Collision insurance - Covers damage to your car when it is involved in a collision with another car or object. Collision coverage also covers single-vehicle accidents.
• Comprehensive insurance - Covers damage to your vehicle caused by perils such as vandalism, theft, fire, falling or flying objects or extreme weather conditions.
2. Endorsements - Optional coverages you can choose to add to your insurance policy for additional protection.
Examples of popular endorsements:
• Transportation replacement (Loss of use coverage) - Covers the cost of a rental car in the event that your car is in the shop due to a covered physical damage claim.
• Family protection coverage - Provides limited protection for you and your family in the event of bodily injuries or death caused by another motorist who is inadequately insured or unidentified.
• Limited waiver of depreciation - In the event that your car is written off in an accident within 24 months of buying it new, you will be reimbursed for the car's original purchase price.
Please call us at 1-888-440-4876 for more information on optional coverages.

How will the deductible that I choose affect my coverage?
• Your deductible is the amount that you are required to pay out of your own pocket toward the cost of repairs in the event of a claim.
• You may not have to pay any deductible amount in certain situations such as fire, lightning, theft of the entire vehicle, or accidents where the other driver is 100% at fault. This may vary from province to province depending on provincial legislation.
• The standard deductible for Collision coverage is $500 and $300/$250 for Comprehensive, depending on your province. By choosing to pay a higher deductible than standard, you can lower the total cost of your car insurance premium.

What is CLEAR?
• Your auto insurance premium is partially determined by the vehicle that you are insuring.
• Before CLEAR was developed, vehicles were rated solely on the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price – more expensive cars would cost more to insure.
• The Canadian Loss Experience Automobile Rating system (CLEAR) was developed by the Vehicle Information Centre of Canada (VICC) to increase the fairness and accuracy of the method that insurance companies rate makes and models of cars for insurance purposes.
• CLEAR vehicle ratings are based on predicting insurance loss costs for each vehicle, based on its characteristics, with the use of statistical modeling.
• For example, certain vehicles are more likely to be stolen or involved in a collision than others. As well, a car that is less expensive to buy is not necessarily less expensive to fix or replace.
• CLEAR takes all the insurance claims information from insurance companies across Canada and develops a statistical model for how each specific vehicle make, model and model year should be rated for insurance purposes.

Does Zenith use CLEAR?
• Yes. Zenith was one of the first Canadian insurance companies to implement full CLEAR.

How is my car insurance premium determined?
Insurance companies consider many personal factors before they determine what your rate will be. These factors include:
• Age *
• Sex *
• Marital Status *
• Where you live
• Type of vehicle
• How you use your vehicle (business or personal use)
• Who – and how many people – will be driving your vehicle
• Your driving record and accident claim history
• How much you drive
• The specific coverages and deductibles on your policy will also affect the price.
* Where permitted by provincial regulation.

What to do in the event of an accident or loss.

What is a Collision Reporting Centre?
• In some larger Ontario cities, the police have set up facilities called Collision Reporting Centres where drivers can report minor, injury-free accidents.
• The cost of the facility is paid by Ontario's insurance companies – there is no fee for usage.
• Collision reporting centres are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• If you are involved in a minor accident and you live in a jurisdiction with Collision reporting centres, you must visit one in order to complete your accident report.

When should I go to a Collision Reporting Centre?
• If you are involved in a property damage collision where there are no injuries and damage is less than $1,000, you can go directly to a Collision Reporting Centre to report the accident, without calling the police.
• The Highway Traffic Act requires that all collisions where persons are injured, or damage valued at more than $1,000 to vehicles or property, or damage to highway property be reported to police forthwith.

What is "No-Fault" Insurance?
• Under the "no-fault" auto insurance systems in Ontario and New Brunswick, each driver involved in a car accident deals with his or her own insurance company for injury or damage compensation - regardless of who is at fault.
• After you obtain the at-fault driver(s)' information (please see What to do in the event of an accident or loss), you do not have to have any further dealings with them or their insurance company.
• Similarly, any passengers in your car who are injured will go to their own insurance company for benefits. If your passengers do not have their own car insurance, then your insurance company may pay benefits to them.

How does a "No-Fault" insurance system affect my insurance rates?
• A "No-Fault" insurance system does not have any effect on your rates. In the event of a car accident, "fault" - whether partially or fully - is always allocated to one or more of the drivers involved in the accident.
• Insurance companies use the "Fault Determination Rules", which are set out in a regulation under the Insurance Act, to assign percentage of fault for each of the involved drivers.
• The "Fault Determination Rules" were created to allow insurance companies to deal with accident claims quickly, consistently, and economically.

Do I have to pay the full deductible even if the accident wasn't my fault?
• No. The percentage of fault allocated to you for the accident determines the amount of deductible (if any) you have to pay. You may be able to purchase a deductible for Direct Compensation-Property Damage. Call an agent for more information.
• You only pay your full deductible when the accident is completely your fault. For example, if your insurance company determines that an accident is only 50% your fault, then you are only responsible for paying 50% of your deductible.

What happens if I'm involved in an accident with an uninsured driver?
• If you are involved in an accident with an uninsured driver, you can make a claim under the mandatory uninsured motorist coverage of your policy.
• In order to do this, you must be able to identify the other vehicle involved in the accident.
• You will be protected with coverage of up to $200,000 ($500,000 in Nova Scotia) or an additional amount that you purchase as an option.

What types of coverages are available to protect my home and property?
• Broad Form provides you with "all risk" coverage on your dwelling structure and named perils or limited coverage on your contents (Named perils include damage from events such as theft, windstorm, fire, lightning, etc…)
• Comprehensive or "All Risk" provides you with more extensive coverage than broad form. This includes "all risk" coverage on both your dwelling structure and your contents.

What would happen if my house burnt down?
• Privilege 50 from Zenith provides you with Guaranteed Replacement Cost coverage (Building). If your home is destroyed, Zenith will cover costs to rebuild it with materials of similar kind and quality, even if your policy coverage is less.
• You must insure your home to 100% of the estimated replacement cost to qualify for this coverage.

What if my roof leaks and damages my furniture?
• Privilege 50 from Zenith provides you with Replacement Cost coverage (Contents). Zenith will reimburse you for the cost to replace or repair a claimed item with another of a similar kind and quality – even if it costs more now than it did when you originally bought it.
• You can also add special coverage for computers, furs, jewellery, fine art, coin or stamp collections and watercraft depending on your needs.

I have a home-based business. Am I covered?
• Zenith's standard home insurance package covers personal property only.
• If you operate a business from your home, you should consider the additional property coverage offered by Zenith called Homework.
• Homework is designed to meet the needs of the small, low risk, non-manufacturing type of home business operation and can be added as an endorsement to your existing package policy coverages.
• A broad array of business-related exposures are covered under the Homework endorsement, at less cost and without the potential coverage gaps/overlaps of a separate business owners' policy.

Do I have to wait until my renewal date to switch insurance companies?
• You have the right to terminate your insurance policy at any time, for any reason. However, if you cancel your policy before it’s' expiration date your insurance company is entitled to charge you a penalty to compensate for administrative costs.
• The amount of the penalty will vary from company to company and will depend on how many months are left on your policy when you cancel it. The more months remaining, the higher the penalty. Before you instruct an insurer to cancel your policy, and before you agree to coverage elsewhere, find out how much the penalty is.

How do I change insurance companies?
• To change insurance companies, you must notify your current insurance company or your broker – in writing - that you do not want to renew or are cancelling your coverage. Look for the cancellation form included with your current policy information for quick and easy notification.
• Never simply stop paying your premium or ignore a renewal notice - otherwise your policy will be cancelled or suspended on negative terms which may affect your future insurance premiums.

Does my driving record travel with me if I switch insurers?
• Yes. Your record belongs to you. However, be aware that insurance companies have the right to verify your driving record and insurance claims history before issuing you a new policy.

What is "You're forgiven"?
• An accident can happen to anyone, at any time. We recognize your years of safe driving, so in the event of a first accident following your enrolment with Zenith, "you're forgiven". Your insurance rates will not increase as a result of the accident.
• To qualify for premium protection, you must not have had any "at-fault" or "partially-at-fault" accidents for 7 or more years immediately preceding the policy effective date. An accident accompanied by any bodily injury or a serious conviction will not qualify for premium protection.
* Not available in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick

Does "You're forgiven" apply to previous accidents?
• No. Zenith will only disregard ("forgive") your first accident as a Zenith customer.

Where does Zenith operate?
• Zenith provides auto and home insurance coverage in Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Alberta.
• For more information, please call the Zenith toll-free hotline at 1-888-440-4876

Ontario
Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Alberta
Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Nova Scotia, New Brunswick
Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

For BC unclaimed property please go to Claims Information at www.lombard.ca.