Man who pretended to live in northern Ont. must repay insurance benefits

A southern Ontario man who pretended to live in northern Ontario to get a discount on car insurance must repay benefits he received, the Ontario Licence Appeal Tribunal has ruled.

The man lived in North York, but told the insurance company he lived in Thunder Bay, meaning his annual insurance rate was $2,810.38 -- 23 per cent cheaper than it would have been in southern Ontario.

Thunder Bay (File)

He provided a false bank statement with the Thunder Bay address and a false lease agreement for a Thunder Bay residence. He claimed to have signed a lease agreement with a woman in Thunder Bay, something she denied in an affidavit.

"She noted that she agreed to the respondent’s request to use her apartment as his mailing address, but that she did so in the assumption that this would be only to receive mail," the tribunal’s decision said.

"(She) asserted that she had not leased her apartment to the respondent at any time and that the respondent had never lived in, or even spent the night in, this residence (which she further explained was in a building designed for seniors' living)."

The man claimed accident benefits for injuries he said he received in a Jan. 20, 2020, collision, and received $2,315.

The man took legal action when further benefits were denied, leading the insurance company to take a closer look at the case. The man eventually dropped his claim, but by this time, the insurance company was suspicious.

The insurance company claimed the man staged the entire accident, but the tribunal ruled it hadn’t provided evidence that was true. However, giving a fraudulent address was enough to invalidate his claim for benefits and the tribunal ordered him to repay the $2,315.

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Read the full decision here.