Compare car insurance quotes in Barrie for free. Get the best rates.

The cost of car insurance in Barrie will vary from driver to driver. We don’t recommend paying too much attention to the average car insurance price. Why? Because no one pays the average exactly. Everyone's insurance and driving histories are unique. Your insurance needs will be unique, too.

Plus, there are a lot of factors that insurance companies use to calculate your rate in Ontario that are totally out of your control — your age and gender, for example.

Instead, we say this: focus on what you can control. There are many strategies you can use to avoid paying a lot for car insurance, including practicing defensive driving on Barrie roads and comparing auto insurance rates to find the Barrie auto insurance company that can provide more affordable coverage.

According to LowestRates.ca’s database, the Barrie postal code that receives the highest quotes for car insurance is the L4M region which encompasses downtown Barrie.

According to LowestRates.ca’s database, the Barrie postal code that receives the lowest quotes for car insurance is the L9J region.

The price of car insurance in Barrie is quite a bit more expensive than the Ontario average of $1,505, according to LowestRates.ca data.

Here’s how Barrie car insurance rates compare to the average rates in surrounding communities:

1. Newmarket: (Barrie rates are 6% higher)
2. Angus: Barrie rates are 18% higher)
3. Innisfil: (Barrie rates are19% higher)
4. Orillia: (Barrie rates are 36% higher)
5. Wasaga Beach: (Barrie rates are 54% higher)

Here’s how Barrie car insurance rates compare to the average rates in Ontario’s most populous regions:

1. Brampton: (Barrie rates are 40% lower)
2. Scarborough: (Barrie rates are 32% lower)
3. North York: (Barrie rates are 29% lower)
4. Mississauga: (Barrie rates are 18% lower)
5. Toronto: (Barrie rates are 9% lower)

These calculations are based on LowestRates.ca user data. Your mileage may vary.

There isn’t one car insurance company that offers cheap auto insurance quotes to every Barrie driver that applies for a policy.

Car insurance premiums are highly customized products. Some factors that insurance companies consider are out of your control (such as the company’s loss ratios, which are influenced by the driving histories of their other customers as well as their underwriting standards).

There are, however, some factors you can control and use to your advantage, which in turn will help you find cheap car insurance in Barrie.

Factors that are under your control include the type of car you drive, your driving record, the number of kilometres you drive each year, your eligibility for discounts, and the amount of coverage you decide to buy.

In general, buying a utilitarian car that isn’t a target for thieves and has good safety ratings will bring down your rate, as will being a defensive driver, limiting your mileage, and opting for a basic car insurance policy.

You can drive down your rates a bit further by making yourself eligible for more discounts. For example, installing winter tires, or even maintaining a GPA above a certain level if you’re in school.

When comparing rates, we recommend focusing on the factors you can control, rather than what you can’t — but that’s only the first part of our strategy for finding the cheapest car insurance rates in Barrie.

The next step involves comparing car insurance quotes in advance of your policy renewal date. Since every insurance company’s tolerance for risk is a bit different, it’s highly likely that one may favour you more than your current auto insurance company.

Once you compare quotes, you may be surprised by the variation in prices. We can help you find a car insurance company serving Barrie that can offer you a lower rate.

Car insurance companies factor in your annual mileage when calculating your rate. The more time a driver spends on the road, the greater the likelihood they’ll be involved in an accident.

If you use your car on a daily basis and have a long work commute (daily mileage varies by insurer, but a ballpark figure for a long commute is anything over 25-30 km a day), your premium will be higher than someone with a shorter commute.

If you only use your car to run quick errands (about 6-9 km a day), you will pay slightly more than the bare minimum.

If you’re only using your car for pleasure driving (3 km or less), your premiums won’t be affected at all.

When you do need to use your car, combine your trips as often as you can.

Adults between the ages of 50 and 70 get some of the lowest car insurance rates in Barrie. If you belong to this demographic, you probably have a long history of being insured and you might even have bundled your home insurance policy with the same provider of your auto insurance. After age 70, you might see your rate begin to creep up because people in your age group are more statistically more likely to need to file a claim and need longer to recover from an injury. If you do see your rates begin to climb, it may be time to shop around for new automobile insurance in Barrie.

Car insurance for new drivers in Barrie is expensive. Young people pay, on average, the highest insurance premiums of any demographic (adults with driving convictions notwithstanding). For drivers who’ve been insured since the age of 16, rates start declining in the mid-twenties and typically persist until their thirtieth birthday.

Here are some ways student drivers can trim the price of their auto insurance rates in Barrie:

• Avoid getting your own car, if you can. Instead, opt to get listed as the secondary driver of your parents’ car. Insurance for secondary drivers costs less than it does for the primary driver.
• If you’re in school (high school or post-secondary), insurance companies offer discounts to students who maintain a certain GPA.
• Take a driver’s education course and make sure you get a certificate of completion. Showing that to an insurance company will lower your rate.

It can be challenging for new drivers to find cheap car insurance in Barrie. However, we’ve found that the demographic that finds the most savings on LowestRates.ca are young drivers — the more you’re expected to pay, the more dramatic the savings you can find when you compare Barrie car insurance quotes.

If you’ve recently immigrated to Ontario, you cannot drive without the proper licencing and insurance.

You must trade-in your licence from the country you’ve emigrated from within 60 days for an Ontario driver’s license. The provincial government recognizes licences from several countries as equivalent to an Ontario license, which makes your transition smoother and spares you from going through Ontario’s graduated licencing system. Ask your old insurance company to provide a reference to your new Ontario insurer. This will go a long way to nab you a lower car insurance rate and you’ll have a better chance at securing a lower car insurance rate because you have proof of your insurance and driving history.

Having several traffic convictions will put you in the high-risk category with most insurance companies. If you’ve ever had your licence revoked, you are pushed further into the high-risk category. Being high-risk means that insurance companies think that the likelihood of you needing to file a claim is high.

Since insurance companies are betting that they will need to provide you financial assistance, they will charge you more. It’s hard to find cheap auto insurance rates in Barrie as a high-risk driver. There are, however, insurance companies that cater to high-risk drivers.

Failing that, you can purchase facility insurance, which is a pool that is funded by Canadian insurance companies to offer coverage to high-risk drivers.

Owning and driving a vehicle is an important part of life in Barrie. According to the 2016 National Household Survey, 81% of Barrie residents commute to work by vehicle. A car is basically a necessity in Barrie. Here are some ways you can keep your rates down if you live and drive in Barrie:

• If you're driving in Barrie during the winter, buy snow tires — now. Barrie lies in Ontario's snow belt, and it regularly gets over 100 inches of snow annually — that's more than on some ski slopes. Ontario auto insurance companies offer discounts for havings snow tires.
• Barrie is one of the seven train lines of the GO Transit system in the Greater Toronto Area. To keep your annual mileage low, try substituting some of your out-of-town trips with public transit.
• When you know your car insurance is up for renewal, compare car insurance quotes from new insurance companies. A car insurance calculator for Barrie drivers won’t provide an accurate quote, since they only require minimal information about your driving history. Insurance companies need more data than that. Take three minutes to complete a quote on LowestRates.ca and we’ll connect you with a Barrie car insurance broker.