Manitoba Public Insurance Screws Everyone This Holiday Season!

According to an article in today’s Financial Post, MPI (Manitoba Public Insurance) has recently implemented a policy that doesn’t let any vehicle built before 1995 to be re-registered after an accident. Even more scary, anything built before 1985 is not allowed to be imported into the province.

Peter Shawn Taylor, the journalist behind the article, makes a case for the importance of cheap cars in helping the poor get ahead in life. As a used car salesman, I know this first hand. The market for $1,000 cars is a sad and depressing one, littered with stories of unemployment, home foreclosures, and people hanging on to the ragged edge of the cracks, trying desperately not to fall through. With no more cheap cars, these families would have to rely on public transit. Good for the environment, sure, but at $100/person for a bus pass, four bills per month to get the average family around isn’t exactly reasonable.

A little less important, but just as scary, is the effect that this will have on our hobby. Apparently there will be a provision made for “Classic” cars, but what defines a classic? Is it an age thing, or will someone who understands our hobby pick and choose the cars that stay on the road? For example, the 1990 Corvette ZR-1 is an amazing car with an incredible pedigreed behind it, but what if yours gets scratched in the Safeway parking lot? And what if you finally find the ’94 Firebird you’ve always dreamed of in Florida? Would you have to park it in North Dakota?

Check out the article, and let us know what you think in the comments. Is MPI right in getting rid of pre-’95 cars for “environmental” reasons, or is this just another one of MPI’s attempts to screw the people of Manitoba?

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