Which insurance companies do you work with?

Where the companies differ: the appraisal, the supplement and the rental

Every Ontario auto policy is built on the same wording, so the differences you feel during a claim come from how each company runs its claims desk. The first is how they look at the car. Some companies appraise from photos at a central desk and never see the vehicle; others send a field appraiser to stand beside it. A photo desk approves the first estimate quickly but leans on supplements once the car is apart, because photos cannot show a bent bracket behind a bumper cover. A field appraiser starts slower and leaves fewer surprises for later.

The second is supplement speed. When we open the car and find damage the first estimate could not include, the added work goes to the company as a supplement, and the car often waits on the answer. Some claims desks turn a supplement around the same day; others take the better part of a week, and we tell you which pattern your company is showing so the timeline is not a mystery.

The third is parts and rentals. Some companies write estimates aftermarket-first, and where a structural or safety part is involved we make the case for the original part with photos and the manufacturer’s repair procedure. Rentals are booked through the company’s rental partner and run under your policy’s loss-of-use coverage (OPCF 20), which carries a daily cap and a maximum, so we time the drop-off to the parts arriving rather than burning rental days on a waiting car.

And when the company’s appraisal comes in lower than the shop’s estimate, the two are reconciled line by line; that is a normal step, not a dispute. Where a difference remains because you have chosen something the policy does not owe for, an upgraded part on an older car, say, that difference is yours, and it is agreed in writing before the work starts. The guide on dealing with the adjuster shows what that back-and-forth looks like.

• Photo-based claims desks: quick first approval, more supplements once the car is apart.
• Field appraisers: slower to start, fewer surprises later.
• Aftermarket-first estimates: the safety case for original parts is made with the manufacturer’s procedure.
• Rentals: the company’s rental partner, a daily cap under OPCF 20, timed to the day the repair starts.

The names on the paperwork, and how the claim reaches us

Whoever your policy is with, the claim can be repaired here. The paperwork comes from the national and Ontario companies — Intact, Aviva, TD Insurance, Desjardins, The Co-operators, Allstate, Belairdirect, Definity and its Economical and Sonnet brands, Wawanesa, CAA Insurance, RBC Insurance, whose auto policies are underwritten by Aviva, Travelers and Gore Mutual — and from the brokers who place policies with them.

The shop is not a member of any insurance company’s direct-repair or preferred network. The work arrives because the driver named the shop, which Ontario lets every driver do, and the claim paperwork then runs insurance-direct with whichever company is on the policy. The page on what a DRP or preferred shop is sets out how network arrangements work.

If your policy is through a group plan, an employer programme, or an online brand owned by one of the larger companies, the claim still comes from an Ontario auto policy and runs the same way. The brand on the card changes who answers the phone, not how the repair is paid for.

Why it makes no difference which company you are with

Ontario drivers choose their own body shop. An insurance company may suggest a shop from its network during the first call, and many do, but it cannot require you to use one, refuse the claim, or penalise you for the choice; it pays what its appraisal of the covered repair supports, wherever the car is fixed. So the question of which companies we work with is really the question of whether your company will send the claim here, and the answer is that it will once you tell it to.

The mechanics are the same for each of them. You report the loss and give the adjuster our name. We send the estimate and photos to the insurance company through the same estimating platforms every shop uses. The adjuster reviews, approves or asks questions, and if we find more once the car is apart, we send a supplement. The cheque is issued to the shop or to you, depending on the company, and your deductible is settled at pick-up. The answer on choosing your own body shop in Ontario has the wording to use on that first call.

Your part is one call and a claim number

Very little. Report the loss to your insurance company, tell the adjuster the car is going to Crash Consultant in North York, and send us the claim number. From there the shop and the adjuster talk directly, and you hear from us when there is a decision to make: a part choice, a supplement, a pick-up date. If the claim is under DCPD because you were not at fault, the same process runs with your own company.

If your policy is with a company we have not named, that changes nothing. And if you are unsure whether to claim at all, send the photos first. The estimate does not open a claim, and having the number in hand is the best way to decide. The insurance claims page describes the whole process from the first call to the day the car goes home.

One thing we will not do is tell you which insurance company to buy from. We see the claims desks, not the premiums, and a company that is slow on supplements may be the right price for your household. Ask your broker that question; ask us about the repair.