Kicker: Postal code premiums

NICK EICHER, HOST: You know how you feel when your insurance premiums go up?

Not so good. Particularly when you think, nothing’s changed to justify it.

Well, a couple in rural Oshawa, Ontario, found out their homeowners insurance would cost them $600 more this year than last year. And they’d not put in any claims or anything like that.  

So Christine and David Pindar called up their insurer to ask what’s up?

Well, they were told, you have a new zip code. Well, new postal code, as they call it in Canada.

But the Pindars hadn’t moved!

Last year, the Canada Post decided to change the last three digits of their postal code.

Why does this matter? Insurance companies consider those codes among other factors in figuring premiums. And this new code, even though they didn’t move, put their home in a higher risk area.

Christine Pindar says, this is a slap in the face!

The trouble has prompted lawmakers in Canada to try to fix the problem by changing the law.

I can hardly wait to find out what unintended consequences flow from that.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

(Photo/Creative Commons)

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