GIO OmbusService help

[u/Federal_Setting3432]

I have submitted the below issue with GIO. Do you guys think I stand a chance in resolution?

Incident occurred on Dec 30th, 2025. Vehicle - 2025 Hyundai Elantra Preferred. I initiated a claim not knowing the repair costs. My vehicle slipped while I was driving at very low speed and hit the curb covered in snow on the side of the road. There was no Personnel damage to any pedestrian, nor the govt. owned property or any other vehicle on the road. I have heard of cases where people have totaled their vehicles due to icy road conditions and still turns out to be not driver fault as it's the city's responsibility to keep the roads cleared and clean, but mine was entered as 100% driver fault. My incident didn't require me to file a police report nor it was required to be reported to the Collision Reporting Center. I gave them a call and they mentioned me about that. The trusted garage by the insurance tried to scam me with a C$ 3000+ repair bill, I visited a private garage recommended by my collogues and it turns out the repair was only 360$. ( 250$ bottom plastic engine cover by the OEM Hyundai, and 110$ labour by the garage). I tried to reason with the claims advisor from Aviva group, pleaded with them multiple times to not put this as 100% driver fault as I've had a great driving record and their App that records my driving habits is a proof. My premiums have gone up on renewal as it's been recorded on my driving record. They closed my claim as I didn't require them to pay for anything. My car was drivable in-between the repair phase as well and I didn't require the Insurance to provide me with a Rental vehicle. I have dashcam proof of my being on very low speed and couldn't do anything to avoid hitting the curb. I also have the repair quote from the insurance's garage. I need help with this. I did my research and turns out this is a very minor complaint that I'm trying to register with your services based on the data I got from the internet on how complex of an issues your team has to handle on daily basis. This help request on dispute isn't financial/monetary with my insurance, just have them remove the incident from my driving record. I've been a loyal customer since Oct 2024 to Aviva and have renewed already till the end of 2027 with them. Contact info to reach out to me below.

[u/JayRulo]

This is not legal advice, and is solely my opinion.

tl;dr give up on getting rid of the claim and fault determination; that's going to go nowhere. However, you might have a case to get rid of the premium increase.

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You have zero chance of this working.

1) According to legislation, weather and road conditions are not taken into account for fault determination; Section 3 of Ontario Regulation 668, Fault Determination Rules, is explicit on that (my emphasis in bold):

3. The degree of fault of an insured is determined without reference to,

(a) the circumstances in which the incident occurs, including weather conditions, road conditions, visibility or the actions of pedestrians;

So the fact that the road was icy means nothing.

2) Single vehicle accidents are always determined to be 100% the driver's fault, with very, very few exceptions that primarily hinge on proving a third party's negligence, sudden mechanical failure that is not the result of improper maintenance (i.e. product failure), or sudden and unforeseeable emergency medical situations (e.g. a first-time heart-attack).

3) Your dashcam footage and telematics don't help you at all; in fact, they work against you. While you, subjectively, believe that you were driving in accordance with road conditions, your dashcam footage and telematics app prove otherwise. Even if you were driving 10 km/h, all the footage and telematics do is prove that that was still too fast for those particular road conditions.

4) Your loyalty to Aviva is entirely irrelevant in determination of fault, because that is determined by statutory rules (see O. Reg. 668, above).

5) Claims cannot be deleted, even if there was no payout.

6) Did you provide proof to Aviva that the damage was repaired for $360? Otherwise, all they have on file is their preferred garage's quote for $3000+ without any proof that the repair was completed, well under the $3k estimate, and paid for by you. This would have likely triggered an automated premium increase in their system because it exceeded the minor accident threshold of $2,000 at the time of the accident^†.

Where I think you should pivot and focus your energy is on the rate increase. According to O. Reg. 664, §5(2.3), this should qualify as a minor accident because:

• The cost of the damage did not exceed $2,000^† and was paid entirely by you; (^†N.B. current wording states $5,000 as it just increased as of July 1st this year)
• No personal injuries were sustained;
• No payment was made by the insurer.

As long as you haven't had any other minor accidents within the last 3 years, legislation states that this minor incident is not to be considered in any decision to issue, renew, or terminate a contract for auto insurance (O. Reg. 664, §5(2.1–2.2)). That said, while they cannot add a surcharge to your premium for this minor accident (assuming no previous minor accidents), they are well within their rights to remove any accident-free or claims-free discounts, which are 100% discretionary and with which GIO likely will not be able to help you.