Toronto, Ontario — Car insurance rates have risen 4.10 percent in Ontario, according to the 2025 Ontario Auto Insurance Market Overview study released by the Toronto-based Insurtech company MyChoice. 

This study analyzed year-over-year car insurance inflation across Ontario municipalities to understand how costs are evolving, numbers that represent the growing strain on Ontario drivers. 

Kingston is the city with the highest car insurance premium increase in 2025, with a 14.73 percent increase from 2024, raising the average cost from $1,378 to $1,581. Barrie, Windsor, Innisfil and Belleville also make the top five cities with the highest average premium increases year-over-year, rising by 13.78 percent, 12.69 percent, 12.15 percent and 11.92 percent, respectively. 

Rising premiums are driven by surging repair costs, vehicle theft, insurance fraud and increasing claim payouts, the study found. 

Brampton remains the most expensive city, with drivers now paying an annual average of $3,341. A recent study found that Kingston, Brantford, Burlington and Brampton were the most dangerous cities to drive in Ontario based on accident and infraction data.

Improperly calibrated advanced driver assistance systems, often caused by collisions, may fail to function properly, and do not meet the criteria for lane departure warning, forward collision warning, crash imminent braking and pedestrian automatic emergency braking scenarios, reports Ascential Technologies in its 2024 report on ADAS calibration for collision prevention and road safety. 

A survey by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that nearly 75 percent of drivers who had ADAS-equipped cars repaired after a collision reported problems with their ADAS afterwards. The consequences of this are deadly, as IIHS research concluded a 0.6-degree misaligned forward camera reduced an AEB system’s effective reaction time by 60 percent.

But some Ontario communities experienced only small increases and a few even witnessed slight declines, reflective of local accident rates, theft trends and claims activity. Markham experienced a decrease of 7.05 percent, reducing costs from $2,327 to $2,163.

“Even within the same province, insurers calibrate their rates based on very localized risk data – everything from collision frequency to vehicle theft patterns – which is why drivers sometimes see sharp differences in premiums between neighbouring communities,” explained MyChoice chief executive officer Aren Mirzaian. 

However, premiums continue to rise due to the auto theft crisis, repair inflation, rising liability claims and fraud and staged collisions. 

On June 17, Ontario’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority introduced a new Fraud Reporting Service rule mandating insurance companies to report detailed data on auto insurance fraud on an ongoing basis, according to MyChoice. 

Drivers can reduce their premiums by installing anti-theft devices, bundling policies, installing winter tires and shopping around to compare car insurance quotes. 

MyChoice used thousands of quotes from January to June 2025 and compared them to the same period in 2024. Quotes focused on were reflective of the most common driver profile: a 35-year-old married individual who is currently insured and maintains a clean driving record, Insurance-Canada summarized. Analyzed costs were also based on the most popular vehicles in the province, which included Honda Civic, Mazda CX-5, Ford Escape, Toyota Corolla, Honda Accord and Chevrolet Equinox.