Prominent Insurance Company Accused of Denying Auto Insurance to Brampton Residents

Published December 20, 2018 at 2:09 am

There’s no denying that Brampton residents have had a hard time getting cheaper auto insurance rates, as previously reported by inbrampton.

There’s no denying that Brampton residents have had a hard time getting cheaper auto insurance rates, as previously reported by inbrampton.

But now it seems that even insurance companies may find Bramptonians too risky…at least one company allegedly does.

According to this article from an online insurance publication, Medha Joshi, a former agency manager for an Allstate in Milton, said she was terminated after she confronted supervisors about an unwritten managerial directive to stop offering auto insurance policies in Brampton.

Joshi alleged that the directive is discriminatory and motivated by the high number of visible minorities in Brampton’s community. She is seeking seeking some $600,000 in total damages for wrongful dismissal and violations of the Ontario Human Rights Code.

In Ontario, insurance companies are bound to follow what is known as the “all-comers rule.” This means that car owners cannot be denied insurance if they meet an established set of criteria approved by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO), regardless of ethnic background.

Even so-called ‘high risk’ drivers who have had too many claims on their record can obtain coverage through an entity called the Facility Association.


We all know about the high costs of auto insurance in Brampton. As previously written, premiums for residents in the Flower City can be as high as over $2,000 annually. According to Kanetix.ca, in 2017 Brampton drivers paid 70 per cent more per month for their insurance than the provincial average.

NDP MPP Gurratan Singh recently put forward a bill which would stop insurance companies from charging GTA residents different insurance rates solely because of where they live within the region, which he repeated when inbrampton.com asked him for his thoughts regarding the Allstate story.

“While I don’t have enough information to be able to comment on the Ontario Superior Court case in question at this time, I do believe that drivers in Brampton shouldn’t be singled out or treated any differently than drivers anywhere else, simply because of where they live. That is why I introduced a bill this year to end automobile insurance discrimination in the GTA, and lower insurance costs for Brampton families,” Singh said in an email statement.

Although Allstate has refused to provide comment, but Joshi’s lawyer Andrew Monkhouse said he expects the company to file a statement of defence in the new year, according to this CBC report.

We will provide an update on this story as more information becomes available.

insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising