An insight into the town’s insurance

Jeff Helsdon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Tillsonburg councillors received an insight into how the town’s insurance rates are set during a recent meeting.

Rob Fiddler of Intact Insurance presented to council on Dec. 8, explaining Intact is one of the few insurers handling assessing risk, underwriting, issuing policies and handling claims.

Explaining how rates are set based on loss ratios, Fiddler said the majority of the claims come from liability.

Tillsonburg has had 59 claims over the last 10 years, with a value of $707,351. He said the town has a good loss ratio. Slip and fall, trip and fall and sewer back-up are the largest percentage of the claims.

“Those are the common ones we see across the province,” Fiddler said.

More specific to Tillsonburg, he detailed the large claims:

2016 – property damage due to storm sewer back-up and sinkhole - $61,727;

2017 – errors and omissions - alleged breach of contract - $34,263 to defend;

2018 – property damage due to ice storm - $34,249;

2018 – trip and fall in parking lot – $143,847;

2020 – child fall due to icy conditions - $119,410;

2022 – slip and fall - $55,110;

2023 – community centre arson - $31,565;

2024 – errors and omissions – zoning and permits - $30,000

Fiddler also offered that Intact offers value-added services such as inspections of buildings, road and sidewalk assessment to mitigate trip and fall hazards.

Coun. Bob Parsons asked how aggressive Intact is in terms of defending against paying out claims.

“We are very aggressive in trying to defend claims from going further,” Fiddler said, adding the company has a legal team and experience.

Deputy Mayor Dave Beres asked if the $15 million in liability the town is carrying is enough. Fiddler answered that is standard, plus the town does have an excess $5 million in liability coverage.

Council received the report for information.

The town’s insurance doesn’t renew until April 1. The forecast premium is $775,980, which is a six per cent increase. However, more recent information from Intact is forecasting it will likely be only five per cent.