So, let’s say that the high-tech start-up you were working for has to, uh, downsize out of their fancy downtown digs due to a failed round of financing. Suddenly, the head office has been re-located way, way out to a suburban strip mall where the streets have no name, just a chain of characters like the serial numbers on your busted dishwasher. To cut down on the commute, you follow suit, but the only rentals available are down the street from the local meatpacking plant. Your new neighbour’s attire runs to shearling-lined leather vests with some kind of Satanic figure embroidered on the back. Their burglar alarm is a pit bull/rottweiler cross chained to the front porch. “Why wasn’t I warned,” you wail.
Actually, it’s a misconception that crime is worse in Canada’s major cities—even the sketchy suburbs— than small towns. According to Maclean’s magazine, western Canada has a lock on violent crime, including robbery, break and entry, and your garden variety homicides and assaults. Nine out of ten towns—virtually all of them hundreds of kilometres from a major city—are located in BC, Alberta, and Manitoba. So, if you’re boss tells you you’ve got to relocate to North Battleford or Quesnel, you might want to set aside a few extra bucks for home insurance and peace of mind. Sadly, the minute you type in your postal code to purchase online insurance, you’ll be quoted a rate based on claims made in your new ‘hood. (You might get lucky, most of the petty crime in truly bad neighbourhoods often goes unreported).
Perhaps the best solution is to suss out your neighbourhood before you make a move. Statistics Canada offers a highly interactive Canadian Community Crime Tracker, which is sort of like Google Earth for crime drama enthusiasts. Your taxpayers’ dollars hard at work, protecting its citizens from each other.
The moral of this story is to make sure you do your due diligence before you move. Always remember getting insurance is key and well, try and move to a neighbourhood where your rental insurance is reasonable. At Insurely, we can always help out with this. Why? Because we’re the Disneyland of Insurance and our customer’s best interest is at the heart of everything we do.
Our Insurely Guide’s are always around to answer your questions and we try to make it light and easy for you to understand. Schedule a call with us so we can answer all your questions.
