Optional Benefits After a Motor Vehicle Accident: What Ontario Drivers Need to Know

Ontario's auto insurance rules changed on July 1, 2026. Coverage that used to come standard on every policy is now optional, and you have to ask for it — often around $100 more a year over your standard coverage.*

What's Changing in Ontario Auto Insurance

Ontario's Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (SABS) sets the minimum coverage every auto policy must include. Under the reform led by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA), nine benefits that used to be automatic are now optional for any policy bought or renewed on or after July 1, 2026.

Medical, rehabilitation, and attendant care benefits stay standard on every policy — insurers can't remove these. Everything else, including income replacement, caregiver support, and housekeeping help, now has to be chosen.

If you renew without requesting a change in writing, your current coverage usually carries forward. But many drivers accept a lower-coverage renewal without realizing what they've given up.

Campisi LLP warns that "a policy that looks comprehensive on paper may now provide considerably less support after a serious crash than a comparable policy did before July 1, 2026. The coverage gap will not be visible until it is needed."

Standard vs. Optional Benefits

Three benefits stay standard on every policy. Nine others now need you to opt in, and three have always been optional add-ons for going beyond the standard limits.

Optional benefits only cover the named insured, their spouse, dependants, and listed drivers — not anyone who borrows the car.

Why $65,000 Often Isn't Enough

The medical, rehabilitation, and attendant care benefit is one shared pool of money, not three separate ones. Physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychological and trauma-focused therapy, and attendant care (PSW) hours are all drawn from the same $65,000 non-catastrophic limit — along with the assessments an insurer requires before it will approve or continue funding treatment.

For anyone receiving active, multi-disciplinary care, that pool moves quickly. In our experience, combined physiotherapy, OT, and psychotherapy, together with attendant care and the assessment costs needed to support the claim, commonly use up most or all of the $65,000 within the first year after the crash — often well before someone has had the time they actually need to recover.

A much higher limit, up to $1,000,000, becomes available if an injury is designated catastrophic impairment. But that designation is rarely fast. Some criteria — such as a brain injury confirmed by bleeding visible on CT or MRI imaging, scored against the Glasgow Outcome Scale – Extended (GOSE) — can be confirmed sooner. Others, including the criteria most often used for psychological and behavioural impairment, generally can't be confirmed until the impairment has stabilized, which in practice often means waiting close to the two-year mark after the accident.

That leaves a real gap for a lot of people: the standard $65,000 is often gone well before the two-year mark, and well before any catastrophic determination — if one is coming at all — has been made. Depending on the claim, what follows can be a protected account arrangement while the file works its way through, or a stretch with no further funded treatment until the claim resolves.

This is exactly what the "higher medical, rehabilitation & attendant care limits" optional benefit above is designed to prevent. Choosing it before a crash, rather than trying to add it after one, means the gap between exhausting the standard limit and reaching a catastrophic designation doesn't have to mean a gap in your treatment.

The Real Cost: Usually Just About $100 a Year

A quick note on that $100 figure: it's a general estimate, not a quote. Your actual cost depends on your driving record, location, vehicle, and insurer. Always confirm the exact price on your own policy with your broker or insurer before deciding.

Insurers set their own prices and limits for optional benefits, so exact costs vary by policy. Independent estimates put full optional coverage at about $100 more a year than the bare minimum — roughly $2 a week, according to Ratehub and Carscoops.

Declining it can cost far more. One example cited by Carscoops: a self-employed driver hurt badly enough to miss a year of work could lose up to $20,800 in income replacement benefits by opting out.

Ratehub reached a similar conclusion, calling the $100 in savings "minimal compared to the potential coverage gaps."

For most households, that's about the cost of one tank of gas spread across twelve months — in exchange for protecting your income and your ability to recover fully.

Pricing usually breaks down benefit by benefit. PolicyMe reports most optional benefits add $1 a month or less; income replacement, the priciest one, typically runs $5–$10 a month — still well inside that $100-a-year range.

Ontario personal injury lawyers are making the same point to their clients. McLeish Orlando notes that drivers are often "reluctant to pay a little extra for add-ons, despite the fact that those very things are critical" when they're needed most.

Two more Ontario firms land on similar numbers. Campisi LLP puts the cost of opting in at $5–$15 a month, warning that "without adequate coverage, drivers may face financial difficulties after an accident, especially if they don't qualify for other support programs." McLeish Orlando puts opting out at roughly "$10 a month or 5%" saved — and adds, "the minimal savings in the short term are unlikely to be offset if you need the coverage later."

Why Optional Benefits Matter for Your Recovery

Your medical and rehabilitation benefit stays standard on every policy, so treatment itself — including trauma-focused therapy for psychological injury — is generally still covered after a crash, up to the $65,000 standard limit, subject to your policy's terms.

The optional benefits protect everything recovery depends on around that treatment. Income replacement means you're not forced back to work before you're ready. Caregiver and housekeeping benefits mean someone can still care for your kids or your home while you heal.

Financial stress is one of the most common reasons people cut trauma therapy short. Full coverage removes one more obstacle between you and a complete recovery.

It's also worth knowing the income replacement benefit hasn't kept pace with real wages. Thomson Rogers points out its $400-a-week cap "has not increased in decades" and "does not come close to replacing most people's actual income" — one more reason to add it rather than rely on the minimum.

What This Means If You're a Pedestrian, Cyclist, or Passenger

If you're hurt as a pedestrian, cyclist, or passenger and don't have your own auto policy, you can still claim medical, rehabilitation, and attendant care benefits — the three that stay mandatory — through the insurer of the vehicle involved.

The newly optional benefits work differently. Under the reform, they only extend to a policy's named insured, their spouse, dependants, and listed drivers. According to Foster Injury Law, an injured pedestrian or cyclist with no policy of their own generally has no claim to those benefits — even if the driver who hit them added every one of them.

In practice, that means income replacement, caregiver support, and the other opt-in benefits may not be there for you after a crash unless you're covered under a policy of your own, or one held by someone in your household.

How to Add Optional Benefits to Your Policy

Optional benefits are chosen when you buy or renew your policy, not after you've already been in a crash. Ask your broker or insurer to review your coverage before your next renewal date.

If you already have a policy, you can usually request the change in writing at any time — you don't have to wait for renewal. Ask specifically which of the nine optional benefits your policy currently includes.

There's no adding it back after a crash. As Oatley Vigmond puts it, "insurance decisions generally must be made before an accident occurs" — by the time you'd need these benefits, it's too late to add them.

Questions to Ask When Renewing or Shopping for Coverage

Bring this list to your next renewal or when comparing quotes:

• Which of the nine optional benefits are currently on my policy?
• What would it cost to add the ones I don't have?
• Is my income replacement limit the standard $400/week, or higher?
• Do I have caregiver and housekeeping coverage, and what are the limits?
• Are my medical, rehabilitation, and attendant care limits standard, or increased?
• Does my coverage extend to my spouse, dependants, and any listed drivers?
• If I'm renewing, did anything drop off automatically, or did my coverage carry forward?

More Guides for Ontario Drivers

• Psychological Injury After a Car Accident: The Complete Ontario Guide
• What to Do in the First 30 Days After a Car Accident
• Accident Benefits in Ontario Explained
• Therapy After a Car Accident: How We Can Help