Albertans will soon only be required to report a collision to police if the property damage is estimated to be more than $5,000 — an increase from the current threshold of $2,000.
The province said the move, which comes into effect Jan. 1, 2024, will better reflect current vehicle repair costs. The average property damage collision claim last year in Alberta was $6,756, according to data from the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
The new $5,000 threshold was a carefully chosen figure to reduce reporting minor collisions, while also making it difficult for fraudulent resale of damaged vehicles, Alberta Transportation said.
The change will also free up law enforcement from investigating minor collisions.
“Traffic accidents happen,” Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen said. “Alberta is saving drivers time and money by not having them report simple fender-benders to the police. Thousands of traffic accident reports clog up our justice system and strains police resources. This is a common-sense change that will benefit drivers and police.”
That said, the requirements for collisions resulting in injuries and deaths to be reported to police will continue, regardless of the estimated cost of property damage repairs.
In 2021, there were 89,976 property damage-only collisions reported by law enforcement and the province said on average, about 90 per cent of all crashes only involve property damage.
Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police president Mark Neufeld praised the changes.
“These increases better reflect modern vehicle repair and replacement costs and will result in less minor, non-injury collisions having to be reported to police,” Neufeld said in a statement.
The carrier collision reporting threshold will be increased to match the collision reporting threshold of $5,000, the province said, adding commercial carriers will save time by no longer having to go through an administrative process to eliminate low dollar value property damage collisions from their carrier profile.
Alberta Transportation said future increases to the collision reporting threshold will be adjusted for inflation, based on annual calculations using the Statistics Canada consumer price index.
It’s been more than a decade since the rate was changed. The province last increased its property damage collision reporting threshold to $2,000 from $1,000 on Jan. 1, 2011 and implemented the commercial carrier reporting threshold ($1,000) in 2009.
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