EDMONTON – Barbara Wellensiek knew her son’s insurance bill would be steep because of his driving record, but when the renewal notice arrived she was shocked to see the annual premium was $104,566.63.“I thought it was a typo,” Wellensiek said today. “I didn’t panic – I thought it was a mistake.”
When she phoned her insurance broker, Access Insurance Group, she got confirmation that the figure on the notice was accurate, the rate having been hiked from $1,300 per month
Towers has all the factors going against him that add up to a high premium, even under the new grid system brought in when auto insurance reforms took effect in 2004.
He’s 19, and has a “tendency to speed,” Wellensiek said.
He got his first car at age 16. His licence was suspended twice. Since May 2005 he has received 10 speeding tickets, and has been in two minor “fender benders” and a rear-ender that totalled his car.