A cyclists passes the Bank of Canada in Ottawa, Wednesday, June 10.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Coming auto insurance changes in Ontario will reduce access to accident benefits for many pedestrians and cyclists, but those looking to boost their coverage are finding the options are slim – and costly.
Beginning on July 1, Ontario drivers will be able to drop or avoid signing up for a host of accident benefits that are currently mandatory. The government of Premier Doug Ford says the reform will allow Ontarians to avoid paying for benefits they don’t need. But the new rules also reduce protections for many pedestrians and cyclists, who, if injured in a car crash, are covered by the policy of the at-fault driver.
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Among the benefits that will become optional are those providing some income support for accident victims who become unable to work or carry out daily activities. So far, there are few insurance products that would provide similar coverage for people who don’t drive or own a car.
“This is the first time that this situation is arising,” said Anne Marie Thomas, director of consumer and industry relations at the Insurance Bureau of Canada, a national industry association representing property and casualty insurers.
Under the new regime, all accident victims, including those without their own coverage, would still be able to access coverage for medical expenses, rehabilitation services and attendant care, which pays for a personal aide to help with activities such as bathing and getting dressed. These benefits remain standard in every policy.
Benefits that will become optional include coverage for various other expenses, including funeral costs, home maintenance and repairs, and providing care for an accident victim’s children and other dependants.
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Importantly, the coverage that is set to become optional also includes an income-replacement benefit that provides a maximum of $400 a week for up to two years, for those who become unable to work after an accident. Also slated to become optional is a similar non-earner benefit that pays lower weekly amounts over the same period, for people who didn’t work at the time of a crash but can no longer lead a normal life because of their injuries.
Non-car owners who are the spouse or dependent of someone with car insurance – or otherwise named as drivers on an auto insurance policy – will still be able to access income support if those optional benefits are part of the policy under which they’re covered. But pedestrians and cyclists who aren’t associated with someone else’s optional coverage will only have access to trimmed-down accident benefits.
Pedestrians and cyclists who don’t have disability insurance through their employer risk having to rely on modest government benefits if they are seriously injured in an accident. For example, as of 2026, the Employment Insurance sickness benefit provides at most $729 a week for up to 26 weeks, while the maximum Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefit is $1,741 a month.
Uninsured non-motorists could ensure they have extra income replacement by taking out an individual disability insurance policy, but that coverage tends to be pricey. For example, for a monthly disability benefit of $4,000, a Toronto-based 40-year-old woman with an office job would have to pay between $150 and $415 a month, depending on various coverage options, according to quotes from PolicyAdvisor, an online insurance broker.
Cyclists, in particular, who are more likely than pedestrians to be injured in car accidents, should consider taking out an individual disability policy, said Andrew Ostro, chief executive officer and co-founder of digital insurance platform PolicyMe.
Another option, for those with a driver’s license, is a little-known insurance type called a driver’s policy, meant for people who drive vehicles they don’t own.
Unlike a regular auto insurance policy, which covers a specific vehicle and its drivers, a driver’s policy follows the driver, providing little or no coverage for physical damage to the vehicles being driven. But it does come with accident benefits, including the ones set to become optional, if the insured driver chooses to sign up for them.
This kind of coverage is mainly available through the Facility Association, a non-profit association of insurers that acts as an insurer of last resort, providing coverage for drivers who don’t fit the industry’s usual parameters.
But because those policies serve a small pool of drivers who are statistical outliers, they tend to be expensive, Ms. Thomas said.
For such policies, drivers should expect to pay somewhere between two and three times the standard market premium on a regular auto policy, said Derek Tupling, a spokesperson at the Facility Association. Ontarians pay around $2,000 a year in auto premiums on average, according to government data.
Ms. Thomas said it’s possible that driver’s policies will become more common and cheaper in Ontario, if demand for them increases after the rule changes.
It’s also possible that insurers and regulators will create new insurance products. Mr. Ostro, in particular, sees the need for cyclist-specific insurance.
For now, he said, “there’s a gap here.”
