Hi All,

I have landed as immigrant earlier this wek and I would like to know which would be a good auto insurer in Canada to begin with who can not only provide a decent premium but take into account the U.S. Driving experience as well.

Would appreciate u providing, if possible, insurance agent contacts. Also what are the average premiums in downtown Toronto, Toronto suburbs versus Mississauga?
Do they differ within the suburbs like east york versus Etobicoke?

Also, looking for recommended driving schools around here and how much do they roughly charge to get a decent idea about when talking to them.

Would appreciate ur response.

TIA

Hi Pramesh,

Welcome to Canada.

To answer second part of your question, I would say that if you have US driving experience and US Driving license then you do not need any driving school or instructor as your license should be transferred/changed with a Canadian License.

Rest of your questions would be answered by other members.

Good Luck.

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Pramod Chopra
Senior Mortgage Consultant
Mortgage Alliance Company of Canada

Hi Vinod,

Thanks for ur quick response. But i was told by MOT that one needs to give all the tests and one can directly give the G2 exit road test without waiting for 1 yr[becoz of U.S experience]. Sounded wierd to me but this was told by the phone rep. When i had called earlier from U.S., was told by another rep. that one can exchange just like what u indicated.

I was surprised to hear this rep saying that they exchange licenses from only 22 states of U.S and not all states.

Not sure if i should just walk in to the MTO center and hope for the best.

But when i do so, they may either accept it or tell me the same thing as above which incase i am stuck waiting for the road test appointment which may be immediate or few weeks later. Till that time , i cannot even drive my own car which currently can be done with the U.S license.

Not sure whether this is an issue with Ontario only and if this is another money making business from immigrants like us.

Hi All,

Can someone answer my below questions?

Would appreciate u providing, if possible, insurance agent contacts. Also what are the average premiums in downtown Toronto, Toronto suburbs versus Mississauga?
Do they differ within the suburbs like east york versus Etobicoke?

If possible, insurance broker contacts will be really helpful.

Hi All,

Can someone answer my below questions?

Would appreciate u providing, if possible, insurance agent contacts. Also what are the average premiums in downtown Toronto, Toronto suburbs versus Mississauga?
Do they differ within the suburbs like east york versus Etobicoke?

If possible, insurance broker contacts will be really helpful.

As per Ministry of Transport's website, driving license from USA should be exchanged without much trouble and it does not say about acceptance or non-acceptance from any particular state of USA.

Follow this link http://www.drivetest.ca/en/license/ExchangeOutProv.aspx

However, you can either call them again or go personally to find out the truth.

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Pramod Chopra
Senior Mortgage Consultant
Mortgage Alliance Company of Canada

I can tell you from my personal experience...

I've lived in Chicago most of my life (until, of course we moved to Canada). And my license was easily transferrable. It does have to be a year old atleast.

So what I did was take that license and walk in to the motor vehicle's building and presented it. They had me take the eye-coordination exam and tested my peripheral vision, etc.. Then snapped a photo and handed me a temp license. I got the real one in less than two weeks in the mail.

Yes, you do have to take two proof of residences. (Passport, citizenship card, healthcard, phone bill, etc.)