The Financial and Consumer Services Commission of New Brunswick has warned residents against doing business with Assureway Protection Corporation, a Toronto-based insurance-related company that was dissolved by the federal government last June.
The alert, issued March 10, followed a similar warning from Ontario’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority on Feb. 26, after complaints from New Brunswick residents through the province’s Consumer Advocate for Insurance.
“Assureway Protection is not, and never has been, a licensed insurance company and is not authorised to engage in the insurance business in Ontario,” the Ontario authority said. “This means any existing or future policies and claims may not be honoured.”
Despite its dissolution, Assureway’s website remains active. CBC News noted it received an automatic response from the company stating it was “reviewing its operations and financial position” and that no customer claims were being processed.
Assureway acted as a third-party administrator – an intermediary between a licensed insurer and a client company. While the underwriting insurer and dealership must be licensed, third-party administrators are not.
The commission noted that in some cases, Assureway’s Guaranteed Asset Protection (GAP) products listed an insurance company even though no licensed insurer had issued the policy. GAP insurance covers the full value of a car loan – rather than the depreciated value – if the vehicle is written off.
Marissa Sollows, director of communications with the commission, advised residents to check the commission’s licence database before buying any insurance product. “It does help us to understand the impact of any unlicensed activities in the province,” she said. She added that because third-party administrators are not licensed, no enforcement actions can currently be taken, and the commission does not know how many New Brunswickers purchased policies through Assureway. While it cannot recover premiums or issue refunds, residents can still file complaints.
The situation is familiar to Samantha Anderson, a single mother from Miramichi, who totalled her Mitsubishi RVR in a deer collision. Assureway accused her of insurance fraud and denied her claim, leaving her roughly $27,000 in debt – the remaining balance on her car loan, which she had purchased GAP insurance to cover.
“It still haunts me,” Anderson said. She has filed a request with an insolvency company to clear the debt. “I can’t buy anything I want,” she added. “I’m trying to save for a house. No banks will even look at me.”
She welcomed the commission’s alert, saying, “All we want to do is make a living and try to raise a family. And to be screwed over like that by a company, it’s like, wow, that’s a lot of money out of my pocket.”
Anderson now warns others to read the fine print before signing any insurance policy. “Anybody that comes to me about vehicles or ‘Hey, I’m going to buy a vehicle,’ I’m like, yeah, … let me tell you a little story. Read the fine print, please.”
Ontario’s auto insurance market is expected to undergo reforms that could take effect as early as July 2026, including proposals to make some statutory accident benefits optional and adjust eligibility rules. Industry experts say such changes would place greater responsibility on consumers to understand what coverage they are and are not buying.
An estimated 11 million licensed drivers in Ontario could be affected if the reforms proceed, and the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario and the Insurance Bureau of Canada have indicated plans for consumer education efforts. Consumer advocates warn that a shift toward more optional coverage could leave some drivers vulnerable to gaps in protection.
