Over half of Canadians not asking insurance providers to clarify policy details

More than half of Canadians aren’t taking the time to make sure they’re properly insured by asking questions about their policies, results from a new survey by TD Insurance suggest.

While 55% of those surveyed said that they review their insurance policies at least once a year, 52% said they wouldn’t ask their insurance provider to clarify details that they don’t understand in their policy, according to TD.

Of those who wouldn’t ask for clarification, 31% said they think it’s too complicated and another 31% said they don’t have time. Nearly a quarter (23%) said they’re too embarrassed by their lack of knowledge, while 19% said they simply aren’t interested, TD’s results suggest.

Thirty-seven percent of those surveyed said they don’t review or even skin the fine print on their policies at all, according to TD.

As a result, 23% said they were upset to learn that they weren’t covered for something they thought was covered, although 15% were surprised to learn they had more coverage than they thought they did, TD noted.

British Columbians were most likely to review their policies, with 64% saying they do so, according to TD. However, half said they wouldn’t ask for clarification on their policies.

Ontarians were close to the national average in terms of reviewing their policies, at 54%, although 56% said they wouldn’t ask for clarification.

Albertans were least likely to ask questions, with 61% saying they wouldn’t ask for clarification, although 57% claim to review their policies at least once a year.

TD commissioned Environics Research Group to conduct the online custom survey of 2,583 Canadians age 18 and older in February.