Do you get a discount on auto insurance for going from a G2 to G license?
It is true of a lot of things in life that growth and advancement happen most markedly in the early going. Humans grow fastest, relative to themselves, in infancy and toddlerhood; karate students will zoom through different coloured belt levels for years, only to finally reach black and then be subjected to agonizingly slow waits between the different degrees of sensei-hood; sudokus typically begin with a series of easy fill-ins before leading you into a highly challenging one—you get the idea.
So it should come as no surprise that in Ontario, the Ministry of Transportation uses a graduated licensing system for standard vehicles (cars, vans, or small trucks) that emphasizes early development but keeps it stagnant after that. Drivers begin by getting their G1 license, which is earned by getting a certain number of answers correct on a written test. From there, they are able to drive if they are accompanied by a fully licensed driver, while some other minor restrictions apply as well. To advance to the G2 stage, drivers must pass an in-car test. If they are successful, they will then be able to drive on their own, again with some restrictions. Then there is a more difficult in-car test they take if they wish to get their G, the highest class license.
So what exactly changes along the way from G2 to G? And is an insurance discount involved?
Yes, there is a discount
Rejoice, ye! There is, in all likelihood a significant discount involved when a driver makes the jump from a G2 class license to a G.
Though the discount amount isn't mandated or set in stone—it is something insurers choose to give, rather than something the province requires them to—there is a general consensus on what, approximately, it should be. That amount tends to hover around 10 per cent; which, especially since the majority of the drivers making this jump are in the notoriously expensive 18-to-mid-twenties demographic, could end up being a pretty sizable amount of money.
Why is there a discount?
Even though it is drivers that appear to be the ones benefitting when they are given insurance discounts for better licenses, it might actually be the insurers that benefit the most. The rationale is this: whatever insurers lose out on by cutting drivers' premiums, they theoretically make up for it by having a clientele that is less likely to require claims—which are the far greater expenses.
The G license filters out drivers who may not be fully dedicated to—or capable of—demonstrating safe driving habits. G2 drivers may have performed uncharacteristically well on the G2 test and advanced even though they shouldn't be driving on their own quite yet. Or perhaps they were briefly at that level and have now fallen out of practice. Whatever the case, crossing the G threshold is simply greater proof to insurers that their drivers are unlikely to require claims unless there are extenuating circumstances (weather, sharing the road with intoxicated drivers, etc.).
Also, the G test provides much greater assurance to insurers because it is centred around highway driving. Highways are inherently riskier than regular roadways, so it's definitely nice for insurers to know that their drivers have shown competence on that type of road specifically—nice enough to justify slightly dropping prices on premiums.