Manitoba’s new Driver Safety Rating System will become effective March 1st with all driver’s being under the system by March of next year.
The new system will have 32 active levels and if you get the highest (25%) discount on your insurance now, you will keep that discount when you move to level 10 on the new system. However, in the next few years you will have the opportunity to earn an extra 5% (to the maximum 30%).
Click “Read More” to follow the rest of my rant.
You will also earn 1 merit per year as opposed to every 2 years as it stands now.
Here’s the kicker for you bad drivers. The current maximum you can pay for your license is $1000 (I’ve had my share of bad years but have never paid that much). Well, it’s being bumped up 150% to $2500. You will also get bumped down more for separate offences, one of the worst being “Intoxicated driving causing death” (I believe you should just lose your damned license). In that case you would lose 15 points.
So there’s some of the good and the bad. But wait, there’s more (not sure if this is good or bad … but it definitely doesn’t seem fair)!
If a good driver has another good year of driving, they’re bumped up the one level (or merit as I mentioned above). If a bad driver with 20 demerits has one safe year of driving they’re moved up 7 levels!!!
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As it stands now, I have one merit on my license and 4 years of accident-free driving so I have a 20% discount on my insurance. This past weekend I had a single-vehicle accident that initially appears to have very little damage. According to the new system, I stand to lose 15% of my discount and drop 5 levels!!! A bad driver is rewarded for being safe however a good driver such as myself is penalised because of one accident. I’m not liking this so much.
The good part of my story is that you remain under the “old” system until 60 days before your anniversary date (which is 4 months after your birthday) which is just 2 months after your birthday. Why bother making things straight-forward when it’s so much easier to add an extra level of confusion in?
To read more about the new system, check out MPI’s website. Either way, let us know how you feel in our comment section below … I wonder why MPI doesn’t have a comment section …
Image Insurance Disclaimer Originally uploaded by andrew steinmetz
