Edmonton, Alberta — Starting January 1, the Alberta government plans to raise the damage threshold beyond which motorists in a collision must report to police from $2,000 to $5,000.
Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen said that this move will free up police resources and will also better reflect the rising cost of auto parts and repair services.
“We look at just the cost of vehicle repairs and a minor fender bender of just bumping into someone’s bumper or taking out a light, it’s very easy to surpass that threshold,” Dreeshen said.
Numbers from the Insurance Bureau of Canada indicate that in 2022, the average property damage collision claim in Alberta was $6,756.
“We didn’t want to [enforce that] every fender bender have to be reported to the police and that’s why we increased this limit.”
Alongside individual driver rates, the commercial carrier collision reporting threshold will also be increasing to $5,000 in the new year.
Dreeshen said that he doesn’t expect the threshold change to have any impact on insurance rates, but said the Alberta government remains aware of the challenges around affordability.
In November, the province announced that it would give more power to the Automobile Insurance Rate Board to reduce insurance rate hikes for drivers with clean driving records, which will also be capped starting in the new year.
Last August the Edmonton Police Service announced it was partnering with a private company to open a pair of collision reporting centres in the city where staff assist drivers through the process of filing a police report.
Edmonton police will respond to calls to more serious collisions, including those involving a fatality, serious personal injury, criminal activity, or uninsured or suspended drivers.
Apart from the two Edmonton locations, collision reporting centres are also found in Spruce Grove, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. Calgary Police Service has its system of reporting collisions at district police offices.
Future increases to the collision reporting threshold will be adjusted for inflation based on annual calculations using the Statistic Canada Consumer Price Index, said the Albertan government.
