Humbly, we recommend that you view our testimonials section…our client’s have done an excellent job speaking for us.

When you are dealing directly with a bank or insurance company, you have to be aware of the following situations that may have a bearing on your insurance:

a) They only have on company and set of rates to insure you with. Many times they lure you in with one rate and slowly increase it over time. As they only have that rate and their staff work for the insurer, they won’t tell you your rate has increased and you won’t know if you are still competitive in the marketplace. Because we have many insurers that we deal with, we can tell you if it is worthwhile looking at another insurer and because we work for you, we will make sure that we are doing everything possible to make sure you are happy.

b) Usually, they operate out of a call centre in the cheapest “warehouse” available in order so save operating costs. You will not be able to “stop in” and visit if there is a problem.
We have an open door policy for all our clients and the coffee is always hot!

c) You will always deal with the “next available” person, not one person that you have been able to get to know on a more personable basis. We give you the option to talk with your regular service manager, or talk to anyone that can help you if you are stuck for time.

d) Automated answering services are used by most telephone insurers to again, save expenses. We always provide a live receptionist to help you and direct your call to a live staff.

e) If you ever have a claim, remember that you are dealing directly with the insurer. The job of the staff is to make sure that they don’t pay out any more than they have to, creating a conflict of interest. With us, we work for you to make sure you receive all you are entitled to receive, because we don’t work for the insurance company. So if they aren’t being fair, we will attempt to resolve this for you as soon as possible.

Most insurers recommend that you don't shop more often than every 3 – 5 years. More often than that can cause problems, because eventually you might run out of insurers. However, we take a different approach. Honestly, rates with most insurers average out to be about the same over a 5 year period of time. This is what we call the insurance cycle (see the next heading), which means that you shouldn't move your insurance because of the price, but because of other benefits, like better service (see our testimonials), better coverage, and a more stable insurer. Allow our staff to explain a little more to you about the cycle and why our insurers will be better for you in the long run.

This is a bit difficult to explain, but we will do our best. Let’s say that this year, Company A has the best rates. Because of this, they attract more clients and their business grows by 25%. This means that operating expenses (rent, staff, phones, etc.) may grow by even more than that because some of the clients applying to them may be rejected and turned away. Then, they have more claims because of the growth, so now they have even more expenses, which means that the quicker they grow, the less profit they make. Now shareholders are upset that they aren’t making any money, so the Insurer has a big rate increase and are no longer the lowest, they are one of the highest.

So now Company B is the lowest so they attract more clients and their business (and expenses) starts to increase, to the point that they have a large rate increase.

Then, Company C is the lowest and Company B is the highest and Company A is second from the highest… Now Company D is the lowest…

About every five years, insurers will cycle from first to worst and back to first again. So the moral of this story is: “Don’t move your insurance to us, JUST because we have the best rates. Move your insurance to us because we will provide you competitive rates, excellent service and absolute honesty.

(Incidentally, have you ever heard someone say, “I moved my insurance to those guys last year because they had the best rates and this year, they are the worst…?” That is because they didn’t realize that they were going through the cycle!)

We were originally called Bonavista Insurance and were founded in 1975. We changed our name in 2004 as we are working on expanding our company into various areas of Alberta.

We deal with so many insurers to make sure that we can provide all the coverage and service options you may need. Remember, no ONE insurance company can do all things for all clients. So by having multiple insurers with multiple products, we can make sure that we get the best for you specifically.

Truthfully, we find that people want to still talk to someone and receive service. Remember, insurance is intangible – you won’t find any value in it till you have a claim and need to be taken care of. So we strive to provide the best service and coverage at competitive rates, not the cheapest rates with less service or coverage, so you know you will be looked after in event of a problem.

RV Direct is a partner that we send our RV business to because they are experts in that line of insurance. We believe that they have better coverage and service than anyone else out there and yes, they know what RV’ers need for coverage.

Group insurance is a plan to help people save money. We handle group insurance for many organizations and would be happy to make sure that you are being serviced correctly with all discounts that can be provided by being a part of a group. We still provide the same dedicated service that you would receive otherwise. Group programs start with as few as 50 – 100 members and increase from there.

However, many people make the mistake of dealing over the phone with a "long distance" provider. This can end up being a problem for you when a claim occurs and you now have to call the insurer long distance and deal with a stranger on the phone.

See our note above regarding telephone insurers.

In a word, yes. Not only can we save you money by providing multi – package discounts, but often if a claim occurs involving more than one policy, we may be able to have one of the deductibles waived in your favor. Plus, as the marketplace changes, we might be able to move all you policies to another insurer, providing you better coverage or rates.

Risk Management is a system where we review your operations and make recommendations to not only save you premium, but to reduce or remove certain risks that might cause issues for you in the future. Most insurance providers only quote coverage to you, increasing your rates in the process. By eliminating exposures, we can often reduce your need for coverage and lower your premium.