We understand that premium increases outside of your control can be frustrating. Millennium Insurance values your feedback. Please contact us at 780-467-1500 (toll-free at 1-866-467-1245) or via email at DCPD-Questions@millenniuminsurance.ca with your questions or concerns

Millennium Insurance is taking the following steps to prepare for Alberta’s auto insurance reform.

• Contacting all of our clients potentially affected by the insurance changes.
• Updating our internal manuals and underwriting/claims guidelines accordingly.
• Crafting this FAQ for our clients.

Yes you can.

DCPD requires that drivers deal with their own insurance company regardless of whether or not they are at fault for an accident. In our clients’ case, they will deal with Millennium Insurance exclusively even if in a not-at-fault (NAF) accident. This ensures that insurance-covered Albertans will have somewhere to file their claim and someone to pay.

This now presents policy holders the option to reduce their premiums by taking a deductible for NAF claims. Please contact Millennium Insuance if you are interested in taking a NAF deductible.

One key change under DCPD is you will pay a premium based on what vehicle you drive. Your insurer pays to repair your vehicle when you are not at fault. This is the main difference from the previous third party liability property damage coverage, where your insurer was responsible for paying to repair someone else’s vehicle if you were at fault. There was no way for your insurer to know what other vehicle may be involved in an accident, so your third party liability property damage premium was based on an average cost of repairs for the vehicle you may have had an accident with.

The certainty of the vehicle covered by DCPD allows for more precise pricing. To accurately price for the costs to repair or replace your vehicle, your insurer will use vehicle rate groups. Vehicle rate groups classify vehicles based on the price of repairs and the likelihood of being involved in an accident. Generally, the lower the vehicle rate group, the lower the DCPD premium.

DCPD, short for Direct Compensation for Property Damage, means policy holders will deal with their own insurance company for both at fault and not at fault accidents. It is a mandatory coverage for your vehicle damage, damage to contents and loss of use in the event you are not at fault for an accident, or a portion of the repairs based on the percentage you were not at fault for an accident.

Collision and loss of use coverages are optional. If you are at fault, Collision covers your vehicle repairs if you have purchased the coverage.

If you are found 100% not responsible (not at fault) for an accident, any vehicle repairs will be paid for by your DCPD coverage.

• If you have Collision coverage, it will pay for damage to your vehicle even if you are 100% responsible (at fault) for the accident. It also covers the costs of towing, storage and salvage disposal. You will have to pay a deductible—the amount you have to pay toward repairs—before your insurance pays for the rest.
• If you don’t have Collision coverage, you will have to cover any costs for damage to your own vehicle out of pocket. You will need to pay the percentage of the vehicle repairs, equal to the percentage you are found responsible or at fault. If you are 50% at fault, you will pay 50% of the damages, and 50% will be paid through your DCPD coverage.

If you are 100% not at fault in an accident, accessing your DCPD coverage will not adversely affect your driving record.

If you are responsible for an accident, your basic insurance premiums will likely go up. The costs for any optional insurance you have (Collision, for example) may go up as well. In general, the more accidents you are responsible for, the more you will pay in insurance.

The government’s auto insurance reforms take effect on January 1, 2022.

The government is implementing these changes in order to make auto insurance more affordable for Albertans and to simplify the claims process. DCPD is already in use in many other Canadian provinces and should lead to a fairer and more efficient claims process.

The Alberta Government is implementing sweeping changes to automobile insurance that will affect how Millennium Insurance clients deal with not-at-fault (NAF) accident claims. The most notable change is the introduction of DCPD (Direct Compensation for Property Damage) as a more efficient way of dealing with vehicle damage claims.

Client premiums may also be affected depending on how costly their vehicles are to repair. In general, clients with less expensive vehicles may see a premium reduction.