Hi,
when I initially came over I went to Allstate for insurance since I had a pretty good experience with them in US. However, after I got the insurance I found that there was a mistake in the information I had provided and voluntarily called them to correct it knowing that it would probably increase the premium. It did .. by a ridiculous amount. Since then I shopped around for other insurance and found a more reasonable one. Before I did go shopping for the next insurance I studied the allstate manual to see the termination policy. They mention that they would terminate using a "short rate" policy to cover handling fees, but does not give any details about how much that is or how it is calculated. Since there was a significant difference in the premium I decided to go ahead with the new carrier. Allstate wants to charge me a month and a half of premium as the "short rate". This does not mean that if I give them a month and half of notice they won't charge me anything. They will still charge me a slightly less amount. My mistake was I did not research more about this when I took their insurance, but then this is a totally new concept to me after 6 years in US. I called my current carrier CAA to inquire about their policy, they charge only 25 dollars for termination which is totally reasonable and is similar to the experience I had in the US.
This is not meant to be a cribbing session, but more to inform other people(specially new immigrants) about Allstate's policy in Ontario. I would like to hear from other people having insurance with other carriers regarding what termination charges their auto policies have. Hopefully we get enough answers to be able to make better decisions in the future when it comes to auto insurance.

This seems to be a common rider in nearly all auto insurance policies in Ontario. Only state farm allows early termination without penalties.

I was in a similar situation as you ... but I was lucky as I was dealing with state farm and I could get out without penalty.

You will see the same with mortgages as well. A 5 year fixed mortgage has a penalty if you refinance within the 5 year period. Something that was easily possible in the US (+closing costs).

Same with Rogers Internet. You have to give a 2 month (or 1 month?) notice before cancelling else they charge you for that month.

Having some kind of a time bound contract seems to be a fairly standard practice in Ontario for various services.