Compared to the rest of Canada, Saskatchewan is lagging behind in terms of auto insurance.

A report by the Insurance Brokers Association of Saskatchewan states that half of the province's drivers only carry the minimum liability coverage that comes with standard plates, which total $200,000.

CAA, SGI, brokers and insurance companies are coming together to bring awareness to Saskatchewan drivers, in an attempt to raise these numbers.

Tyler McMurchy, Communications Manager for SGI, said there are approximately 815,000 licensed drivers in Saskatchewan. "We don't dispute the numbers from the Insurance Broker's Association of Saskatchewan, where they estimate about half of drivers don't have any additional insurance beyond the basic plate insurance."

Terry MacDonald, Vice President of Insurance Services for CAA Saskatchewan, said insurance companies, insurance brokers, regulators, administrators, and everyone in the community that's involved in vehicle insurance in the province, are working towards improving those numbers. "The goal is to make sure that the folks doing motor licensing services are properly educated about basic plate insurance and extension auto insurance. So we want to educate our service providers. Then we want to educate the public. And then we want to make it an easy process."

McMurchy added, "We do agree with IBAS that there are many people in Saskatchewan who could benefit from additional insurance coverage through an auto extension insurance from SGI Canada. The basic plate insurance includes $200,000 of liability coverage. But if you're in a collision, and you're responsible for losses that are more than that $200,000 you may have to pay for the difference out of pocket."

The report also states that comparatively, Manitoba and B.C. both carry significantly more liability insurance, being well over $1,000,000 of coverage. Saskatchewan is currently the 3rd cheapest province to purchase insurance in Canada, averaging $936 a year.

MacDonald said CAA believes the public and the people at large are at risk because they aren't carrying higher limits of liability. "It's a real issue that the community wants to address to protect the public."

McMurchy said it's worth a conversation with your insurance broker about acquiring additional coverage. "The thing that many people may not know about auto packs that come with that additional liability insurance, it's not very expensive. Approximately $5 per month can increase your liability coverage from $200,000 to $2 million. So it's a very significant jump for not a huge amount of money. And if you're travelling, especially outside the province, for example Alberta, or the US, where it's not a no fault system, being involved in a collision may increase your likelihood of being sued. But even in the province here, there are a number of scenarios which that liability coverage might not be enough. For example, if you are involved in a collision with a really high value vehicle, or expensive cargo, or if you injure someone with a high income as well."

With additional coverage, comes options, depending on which ones you choose, said McMurchy. "Lower deductible, replacement costs for a new vehicle rather than just the red book value if it was a new vehicle. There are other examples depending on the package that you have. Your rental vehicle could be covered, maybe if you're involved in a collision with wild life, there would be coverage that means your deductible would be waved completely."