Ontario Accident Benefits Changed on July 1, 2026
Most accident benefits on Ontario auto policies are now optional. Nothing changes unless you ask it to: your policy renews with the coverage you already have. Here is what changed, what removing coverage really saves, and how to make the right call for your household.
What This Change Is Really About
Accident benefits are the no-fault part of your policy that pays for your own recovery after a crash, no matter who caused it. The part that became optional is a small slice of what you pay.
Everything else on your policy
Liability, vehicle damage coverage and more · about $2,000
Mandatory accident benefits
Medical, rehab and attendant care · about $390 · NOT changing
The benefits that became optional
About $92 to $136 a year, by the regulator’s own costing
Based on the average Ontario private-passenger premium in the regulator’s independent actuarial costing (2025). Your numbers vary with your vehicle, record and carrier.
Your Benefits, Before and After July 1
Flip the switch to see how each benefit changed. One thing never moves: the medical, rehabilitation and attendant care core stays on every Ontario policy.
Today: the mandatory core stays on every policy. The other 9 are your choice.
Who they cover changed too: optional accident benefits now only cover the named insured, their spouse, dependants, and the drivers listed on the policy. Anyone else hurt in your vehicle still has the mandatory medical, rehabilitation and attendant care benefits, but would need a policy of their own to have any of the optional benefits below.
Medical, Rehabilitation & Attendant Care
Stays mandatoryTreatment, recovery and personal care costs that OHIP does not cover: physiotherapy, psychology, occupational therapy, attendant care and more.
Your choice: Stays on every policy at $65,000 for most injuries ($1,000,000 catastrophic). Optional increases remain available: $130,000 or $1,000,000 for non-catastrophic impairments, $2,000,000 catastrophic, plus any other limits an insurer is approved to offer.
Income Replacement
Now optionalReplaces lost income if injuries keep you from working: 70% of your gross income, up to your selected weekly maximum.
Your choice: Keep $400/week, increase to $600, $800 or $1,000/week, or remove it
If you opt out: No lost-income support from your auto policy. You may need to rely on EI sickness benefits, CPP Disability or ODSP.
Non-Earner Benefit
Now optionalWeekly support if you are a student or not working and an accident leaves you completely unable to carry on a normal life.
Your choice: Keep $185/week or remove it
If you opt out: No weekly support if you are a student or unemployed and seriously injured.
Caregiver Benefit
Now optionalPays for replacement care if you look after a child, aging parent or other household member and your injuries stop you.
Your choice: Cover all impairments, keep catastrophic-only, or remove it
If you opt out: No help paying for someone to take over your caregiving duties while you recover.
Housekeeping & Home Maintenance
Now optionalCovers cleaning, snow shovelling, yard work and other household tasks you cannot do while recovering.
Your choice: Cover all impairments, keep catastrophic-only, or remove it
If you opt out: Hiring help around the house comes out of your own pocket.
Lost Educational Expenses
Now optionalReimburses tuition, books and similar costs if an accident forces you out of a school program.
Your choice: Keep up to $15,000 or remove it
If you opt out: Lost tuition and program costs are not reimbursed.
Expenses of Visitors
Now optionalCovers reasonable travel and lodging costs for family who visit you during treatment and recovery.
Your choice: Keep it or remove it
If you opt out: Family travelling to support your recovery pay their own way.
Damage to Personal Items
Now optionalRepairs or replaces clothing, prescription glasses, dentures, hearing aids and other medical devices damaged in an accident.
Your choice: Keep it or remove it
If you opt out: Glasses, hearing aids and clothing are replaced at your expense.
Death Benefit
Now optionalA payment to your spouse and dependants if you are killed in an auto accident.
Your choice: Keep it, double it, or remove it
If you opt out: No payment to your family from the auto policy.
Funeral Benefit
Now optionalCovers funeral expenses after a fatal accident.
Your choice: Keep $6,000, increase to $8,000, or remove it
If you opt out: Funeral costs fall to your estate or family.
Already optional before July 1 (and staying that way)
Dependant Care
Still optionalDaycare and similar costs if you are employed, care for dependants and are injured (when not receiving the caregiver benefit).
Your choice: Still available to add
Indexation (Inflation Protection)
Still optionalAdjusts certain weekly payments and monetary limits each year to keep pace with the cost of living.
Your choice: Still available to add
Also changed on July 1, regardless of your renewal date: optional accident benefits now only cover the named insured, their spouse, dependants, and the drivers listed on the policy. Anyone else hurt in your vehicle still has the mandatory medical, rehabilitation and attendant care benefits, but can only get the optional benefits through a policy of their own, or one they are listed on.
That is a real coverage gap if you regularly carry passengers who are not insured elsewhere. An injured passenger who cannot claim those benefits may instead pursue the at-fault driver for their losses. If that driver is you, the claim lands on your liability coverage. Worth a conversation if you often drive others.
Every Benefit and Limit, Side by Side
| Benefit | Standard limit before July 2026 | Optional increases before July 2026 | After July 1, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medical, Rehabilitation & Attendant Care | $65,000 most injuries (5-year limit in most cases) · $1,000,000 catastrophic | Non-catastrophic: to $130,000, or to $1,000,000 with no time limit. Catastrophic: to $2,000,000. | Mandatory Stays on every policy at $65,000 for most injuries ($1,000,000 catastrophic). Optional increases remain available: $130,000 or $1,000,000 for non-catastrophic impairments, $2,000,000 catastrophic, plus any other limits an insurer is approved to offer. |
| Income Replacement | Up to $400/week | Increase to $600, $800 or $1,000/week | Optional Keep $400/week, increase to $600, $800 or $1,000/week, or remove it |
| Non-Earner Benefit | Up to $185/week | — | Optional Keep $185/week or remove it |
| Caregiver Benefit | Catastrophic impairment only: $250/week + $50/week per additional dependant | Extend to all impairments | Optional Cover all impairments, keep catastrophic-only, or remove it |
| Housekeeping & Home Maintenance | Catastrophic impairment only: up to $100/week | Extend to all impairments | Optional Cover all impairments, keep catastrophic-only, or remove it |
| Lost Educational Expenses | Up to $15,000 | — | Optional Keep up to $15,000 or remove it |
| Expenses of Visitors | Reasonable and necessary expenses | — | Optional Keep it or remove it |
| Damage to Personal Items | Reasonable repair or replacement cost | — | Optional Keep it or remove it |
| Death Benefit | $25,000 to a surviving spouse · $10,000 per dependant | Double to $50,000 / $20,000 | Optional Keep it, double it, or remove it |
| Funeral Benefit | Up to $6,000 | Increase to $8,000 | Optional Keep $6,000, increase to $8,000, or remove it |
| Dependant Care | Not included by default | Add $75/week first dependant + $25/week each additional (max $150/week) | Still optional Still available to add |
| Indexation (Inflation Protection) | Not included by default | Add annual cost-of-living adjustment | Still optional Still available to add |
Summary of the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (O. Reg. 34/10) as amended effective July 1, 2026. Your Certificate of Automobile Insurance governs. Income replacement pays 70% of gross income up to the weekly maximum shown.
Which Renewal Scenario Are You In?
When your policy renews decides how (and when) changes can happen. Pick the one that matches you.
Select a scenario above to see what it means for you.
The $10-a-Month Question
Removing every optional benefit saves about $92 to $136 a year, by the industry’s own actuarial costing. Here is what sits on the other side of that scale.
Our honest take
The standard benefits were nice to have. Removing all of them saves about $92 to $136 a year, roughly $8 to $11 a month, by the regulator’s own independent costing. For most households, that trade is not worth it.
The smarter conversation is right-sizing: keep what protects you, drop what genuinely does not apply to your life, and if your household depends on your paycheque, consider increasing income replacement rather than removing it. One more wrinkle: as fewer drivers carry these benefits, the per-person price of keeping them may climb.
It’s Not All or Nothing
The right answer depends on your household, not on a brochure. A few common situations we see every week:
Retired
Income replacement only pays if you were working (or recently working) at the time of the accident. Fully retired? You generally cannot collect it, so removing it can be a rational saving. Caregiver, housekeeping and the medical core usually matter more at this stage.
Self-employed or no benefits at work
No sick leave, no group disability? The $400-a-week benefit may be the only income protection you have, and that limit has not changed in decades. We would talk about increasing it to $600, $800 or $1,000 a week long before we would talk about removing it.
Primary caregiver
If a child or aging parent depends on you, caregiver benefits are no longer automatic. Opting in means hired care is covered if an injury takes you out of that role.
Student
Non-earner and lost-education benefits exist for exactly this stage of life: weekly support if an injury disrupts a normal life, and up to $15,000 back if it forces you out of a program.
Strong benefits plan at work
Group disability and health coverage can overlap with some optional benefits. Consult the details of your plan with your plan administrator. We are happy to walk you through the accident benefit side.
None of these quite you?
Five minutes with a broker beats an hour of guessing. We will go through your policy line by line.
(905) 576-7770Which Optional Benefits Should You Keep?
For most drivers, the honest answer is: keep them all. The full optional set runs about $92 to $136 a year, and each piece covers a gap that is hard to fill anywhere else. Tick the situations below that sound like your life and we will flag the benefits you would feel the most, then go through the whole picture with you before anything changes.
These benefits follow you — as a driver, a passenger, a pedestrian or a cyclist. Drop them to save a few dollars and you have removed that protection in every one of those situations, not just behind the wheel. The mandatory medical, rehabilitation and attendant care core stays either way.
Tick a few situations above and we will highlight the benefits that matter most for you. Either way, our starting point is simple: at about $92 to $136 a year, the full optional set is usually worth keeping.
Already covered at work or through a private plan? That is the one place dropping a benefit, usually income replacement, might make sense. Confirm what your plan actually covers with your plan administrator, and let us make sure it lines up before you remove anything.
Before you change a thing, talk it through with us.
This checklist is a starting point, not insurance advice, and does not change the coverage on your policy. Your needs are personal — a licensed Roughley broker will confirm what fits before any change is made.
Some Carriers Bundle These Choices
Insurers are allowed to group certain optional benefits into packages. With some carriers, removing one coverage means removing the bundle it belongs to, and the groupings differ from carrier to carrier.
That detail changes what combinations are actually possible on your policy. Before you decide anything, reach out: we will tell you exactly how your carrier handles it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to do anything now that the rules have changed?
No. Your policy renews automatically with the same coverage and limits you have today, at every renewal, unless you agree in writing to change it. There is no deadline and nothing expires.
Questions about July 1?
Talk to a Broker Who Knows the Changes
Independent and family owned in Durham Region since 1945. Call or email and we will review your accident benefits together. No pressure, no jargon.
This page summarizes the statutory accident benefits in Ontario Regulation 34/10 as amended effective July 1, 2026. It is general information, not advice about your specific policy, and your Certificate of Automobile Insurance governs. For full wordings see O. Reg. 383/24 and FSRA’s consumer auto insurance resources, and speak with a licensed Ontario insurance broker before making changes. Looking for coverage itself? See our auto insurance page.