How are driving trends shaping up?

Though driving levels are up, they’re not entirely back to normal, according to data from a Canadian insurance company.

With about 83% of the eligible Canadian population having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 73% of eligible Canadians being fully vaccinated, Intact Insurance, Canada’s largest insurance company, reported that driving has been ticking upwards since the early summer months.

“Driving activity has been on the rise since early May,” said Isabelle Girard, senior vice president of personal lines at Toronto-based Intact Financial Corp., the insurer’s parent company.

During an earnings call at the end of July, she pointed to the increasing vaccination numbers translating into more Canadians hitting the roads. Though not back to normal, they’re trending in a direction that would be a positive sign for aftermarket sales.

“We are now sitting just 5 points below pre-COVID levels of driving. So as vaccination continues to progress, we expect that driving will also continue to rise in the coming weeks,” Girard said.

There is a noticeable difference in when Canadians are driving now compared to pre-pandemic.

“When we look at the weekends, we are pretty much at historic levels,” Girard said. “But when we are looking at the weekdays — especially for the morning rush hour — we see that we are still below historic levels.”

Intact gathered driving data based on telematics data collected from its usage-based insurance clients.