A question about your insurance?

An agent represents one insurer. A broker can offer products from several insurers. Both must be certified by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). You can check their registration in the AMF register.

Yes, you can cancel at any time. The insurer refunds the unused premium, often at a “short rate”, which is a bit less than a pro rata refund. The AMF considers a holdback of up to 10% of the unused premium reasonable. Check your policy and have the new one in place before cancelling the old one to avoid a gap.

Any change that affects the risk: renovations, a new wood stove, renting out the home, a business activity, a new driver, using the car for work or deliveries. When in doubt, declare it.

It depends on the cause. A sudden pipe burst is generally covered. Sewer backup often needs an endorsement, and flooding from an overflowing river or lake a separate coverage, sometimes not offered in flood zones.

Probably not unless you declare it. Short-term renting is a commercial use most policies exclude. Some insurers offer an endorsement; ask before your first guest.

Often yes, such as a laptop stolen while travelling or from your car, but with limits. Items in storage or a student residence may have special conditions.

If your policy includes the Q.E.F. 27 endorsement, your liability for damage to the rental may be covered. Some credit cards also offer coverage. Check both before declining it at the counter, especially outside Canada.

Yes, if you have coverage for your own car: all risks (B1), collision (B2) or all perils except collision (B3). You pay the deductible. If you only have Chapter A (liability), damage to your car isn’t paid.

Not necessarily. Paid delivery or ridesharing is a commercial use that must be declared. Some platforms provide coverage during trips, but it has limits.

Generally, a claim where you’re found 0% at fault shouldn’t count against you in pricing. Each insurer has its own rules, though; ask yours how it treats your record.

Notify your insurer as soon as possible. Protect your property from further damage, take photos, keep damaged items and your receipts. For theft or vandalism, file a police report.

For a car, yes: civil liability (Chapter A) is mandatory, with a $50,000 minimum. For a home, the law generally doesn’t require it, but your mortgage lender or your lease can. Condo owners must carry liability: $1,000,000, or $2,000,000 if the building has 13 units or more.

At each renewal, the insurer can review the premium and conditions: claims, changes you declared, repair costs, and its own results. Read the renewal notice and ask your questions before the due date.

In Quebec, a 9% tax is added to property and casualty insurance premiums. It rises to 9.975% on January 1, 2027.

In good faith, the insurer pays in proportion to the premium it received compared with the one it should have received. If there was bad faith, or if the insurer would not have accepted the risk, it owes nothing (articles 2466 and 2411 of the Civil Code of Québec). When in doubt, declare it.

Look up their name in the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) register of firms and individuals authorized to practise. It’s on the Autorité des marchés financiers website (lautorite.qc.ca).

The person who assesses the damage after a large claim. The one the insurer sends works for the insurer. They must be certified by the AMF.

No. Their belongings and liability aren’t covered by your policy unless they’re named in it. Simplest: each person gets their own policy.

Often yes, if they depend on you and your home is still their main residence. Their belongings at a student residence may have a limit. Check the definition of “insured” in your policy.

Generally yes, minus the deductible: it’s sudden and accidental. It would be different if the roof was already worn out and leaking before the storm.

No. Wear and lack of maintenance aren’t covered by any policy or endorsement. Damage caused by a worn-out roof is your responsibility.

It depends. In the standard policy, freezing is excluded after 4 days away, unless someone checked the heat every day, or the water was shut off and the pipes drained. Before leaving in winter, arrange one or the other.

A house left vacant for more than 30 consecutive days may no longer be covered without the insurer’s agreement. Tell your insurer beforehand, and arrange visits and shut off the water.

Yes, but often only up to a special limit, for example $2,000 for all jewellery. For a valuable ring or watch, an endorsement can insure it for its full value.

If a covered loss forces you out of your home, they pay what goes beyond your usual spending: hotel, meals, laundry, moving. They’re paid for the reasonable repair time. Keep your receipts.

For what it would cost to rebuild, not its market value or municipal assessment. If the amount is too low, the payout may not cover a full rebuild.

Usually yes. To get replacement cost, you must replace it with an item of the same kind and quality within a reasonable time. A building generally has to be rebuilt on the same site. Otherwise the insurer pays actual cash value.

Your own policy pays for your damaged belongings, minus your deductible. Your insurer can then recover the money from whoever was responsible. If you rent and have no insurance, you’d have to claim from the neighbour yourself.

Mould that develops slowly isn’t covered, whatever the endorsement. It’s the same rule as for wear and slow leaks: insurance covers what is sudden and accidental.

No. Vermin (mice, insects) is among what no policy covers. It’s treated as maintenance.

Yes, before the work starts. Renovations change the risk and the home’s value. Also remember to adjust the dwelling amount once the work is done.

Yes. A wood stove and a pool change the risk and must be declared. The insurer may ask for an inspection or an installation certificate for the stove.

Not automatically. Many policies exclude losses tied to renting, even a single room, unless it’s listed in the policy. Declare it before you rent.

A home business (clients, inventory, equipment) must be declared, or it’s often excluded. Simple remote work is often accepted, but work equipment may have a limit. Ask your insurer.

Yes, if the loss came from your fault or from something in your care, like your water heater or dishwasher. Otherwise the deductible is paid from common expenses. A coverage in your policy can pay it.

It’s the syndicate’s document describing the basic unit its insurance covers: floors, cabinets, finishes. Anything better than that, added by you or a previous owner, must be insured under your own policy. It’s often called the reference unit.

Loss of rental income coverage pays the rent you lose when a unit can’t be lived in after a covered loss, for the reasonable repair time. Check that it’s in your policy.

Yes, if you have B3 (all perils except collision) or B1 (all risks), minus the deductible. With Chapter A only, no.

Yes with B3 or B1. B2 (collision) doesn’t cover hail.

Yes with B3 or B1, and with B4 if theft is one of the named perils. File a police report and notify your insurer promptly.

Without an endorsement, its actual cash value, so after depreciation. With the Q.E.F. 43 endorsement (change in indemnification), you may receive new value or the price you paid, depending on the option and the car’s age.

The Q.E.F. 20a endorsement (travel expenses), if you have it, after a covered loss, with receipts and up to its maximum. Without it, only theft of the whole car gives you travel expenses, up to $3,000 per loss. Otherwise, it’s on you.

Generally no. Call them if the other driver flees, refuses to give their information or seems impaired. If you hit an empty car and can’t find the owner, you must report it to the nearest police station.

Drivers in an accident involving one or two vehicles, with no injuries. Each driver needs an email address. Otherwise, use the paper form.

That’s the Direct Compensation Agreement. For an accident in Quebec between at least two vehicles whose owners are different and identified, each driver claims from their own insurer, based on their share of fault. If you’re not at fault, there’s no deductible.

Tell the SAAQ before you store it: the car can’t be driven, the plate stays on and part of the registration fees may be refunded. Tell your insurer too: the Q.E.F. 16 endorsement suspends coverage for driving, and your other coverages, such as theft and fire, continue. When you’re back, the Q.E.F. 17 endorsement reinstates everything on the date you chose, or the following April 1 if no date was set.

Yes. Quebec’s Automobile Insurance Act requires the owner of a car driven in Quebec to carry at least $50,000 in civil liability. The fine is at least $325. If you won’t use it for a while, you can put it in storage (remisage) with the SAAQ.

Your collision coverage (B1 or B2), and the deductible applies unless you have the Q.E.F. 41 endorsement, which waives it up to $1,000. Without collision coverage, the SAAQ may pay up to $10,000, minus $500, if the accident happened in Quebec, with a police report within 48 hours and a claim within 60 days.

No. The fault rules of the place of the accident apply. If the other driver is at fault, you claim from them or their insurer; with collision coverage, your insurer can pay you first, minus the deductible. If you’re at fault, your Chapter A pays for damage caused to others, up to its limit. The SAAQ covers your injuries.

Only if you have collision coverage (B1 or B2), minus the deductible. A single-vehicle accident isn’t covered by the agreement. With Chapter A only, repairs to your car are on you.

It’s the legal minimum, but an accident outside Quebec can lead to an injury lawsuit far above it. $1 or $2 million is often recommended. You’d be personally liable for anything above your limit.

Yes. Declare everyone who drives the car regularly. An undeclared driver can complicate a claim.

Yes. The public plan is “no-fault”: a Quebec resident injured in a car accident is compensated by the SAAQ, no matter who caused it.

As soon as possible after the loss. Waiting can complicate the claim, and some policies set specific deadlines.

Not before the insurer has seen them or agreed. If something has to go, like spoiled food, photograph and describe it first.

Yes, if the loss itself is covered. Reasonable costs to protect your property, like an emergency plumber, a tarp or fans, are then reimbursed. Keep all receipts.

With receipts, card statements, photos and, ideally, a video of every room made beforehand, with cupboards and drawers open. Keep it in the cloud.

The law doesn’t require you to be insured, but your lease can. Without insurance, you pay for your lost belongings and the damage you cause yourself. A fire starts in your unit? The landlord’s insurer pays for the building, then it can send you the bill.

Often, yes. In most policies, a spouse living under the same roof as the insured is one of the “insureds”. Tell the insurer anyway: the amount for belongings has to cover both of yours. Check the definition of “insured” in the policy.

The water damage is generally covered, minus the deductible, since the leak is sudden and accidental. The water heater itself isn’t: the policy doesn’t pay to repair or replace a faulty appliance.

It can. A claim can raise your premium at renewal, depending on each insurer’s rules. For a car accident where you’re not at fault, it’s generally different: see the question on that topic.

First compare the repair cost with your deductible. If the gap is small, remember that a claim can raise your premium at renewal. For a car accident, tell your insurer anyway, even if you don’t claim.

Yes. You can choose your own, do the work yourself or use the one the insurer suggests. Agree on the terms with the claims adjuster first, since they can change depending on your choice.

No. An assignment of claim lets the insurer pay the company directly. It’s simpler, but you have less control over costs. You can set a maximum amount in it, or ask for the final cheque to be made out to you and the company.

It doesn’t mean the left and right sides of the car. It means having Chapter A, which pays for damage you cause to others, and Chapter B, which protects your own car. “Only one side” means Chapter A only.

Yes. Explain what happened quickly, even if you don’t plan to claim. The Autorité des marchés financiers makes this point in its advice after an accident.

If you want to be repaid, wait for its go-ahead before getting repairs or paying. In the meantime, protect the car from further damage, and don’t leave it at the scene.