The Personal Insurance Company has approval for an overall 14.8 per cent increase in its Nova Scotia private-passenger-vehicle rates, while retaining a mechanism that limits certain renewal increases and also limits decreases. The Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board approved the filing in The Personal Insurance Company, 2026 NSRAB 114, dated August 24, 2026.
The approved effective dates are October 29, 2026, for new business and December 28, 2026, for renewals. The 14.8 per cent figure describes the overall rate change, rather than an identical increase for every customer: the approved changes vary by coverage, and renewal caps can affect the amount charged.
Why the board accepted the rates
The insurer applied on July 2 under the board’s prior-approval process. Staff questioned the filing and prepared a report. At the company’s request, staff added information about its cap on renewal decreases that had been omitted from the draft report before submitting it to the board.
The board’s task was to determine whether the rates and risk classifications were just and reasonable and complied with the Insurance Act and its regulations. It accepted the company’s revised actuarial indications as the benchmark after staff reviewed the rate-making procedure and obtained clarifications.
The proposed base-rate changes were uniform across territories but differed by coverage. They matched the actuarial indications except for Uninsured Motorist coverage and the Family Protection Endorsement, where the insurer chose not to take a small indicated increase. The board said the proposal produced a projected return on equity of 9.8 per cent, just below the 10 per cent target.
The board also approved an increase in the company’s Health Services Levy charge to reflect the latest information used to calculate that levy. The reasons do not provide an individual customer’s total premium or a dollar amount for the levy change.
Renewal protection works in both directions
The existing renewal mechanism automatically limits increases to 20 per cent on an individual risk where the increase would exceed $50. The board approved continued use of that methodology. It is a renewal mechanism, not a 20 per cent limit on the insurer’s overall filed rate increase.
The company also caps renewal decreases. To justify doing so, it demonstrated that the extra premium collected by limiting decreases was less than the premium forgone by limiting increases. The board accepted that comparison. The reasons do not state the numerical limit for decreases, so the decision should not be read as promising every customer the full reduction otherwise calculated.
The approval also moves the insurer from the 2024 to the 2026 Canadian Loss Experience Automobile Rating table for physical-damage and accident-benefit rate groups. Rather than adopting the 2025 table separately, it included the update in this mandatory filing and offset the related impact through its pricing calculations.
Manual update and limits
The insurer will add an explanation of its existing Accident-Free Protection driving-record practice to its insurance manual. The board accepted that this clarifies current practice and does not itself change rates or the risk-classification system.
The company must file an updated electronic manual within 30 days after the order is issued. The board also found that the proposed changes were unlikely to impair the insurer’s solvency and set July 1, 2028, as the next mandatory filing deadline for private passenger vehicles.
The ruling approves the pricing framework and its effective dates. It does not establish what any particular policyholder has since paid or confirm the insurer’s subsequent implementation or compliance.
