Aviva motorhome rates approved with caps on renewal increases and decreases

Nova Scotia’s insurance regulator has approved Aviva’s consolidation of three motorhome business lines under a common rating structure, with renewal increases capped at 10 per cent and decreases capped at 20 per cent. The changes take effect May 15, 2027, under the October 13 decision in Aviva Insurance Company of Canada, 2026 NSRAB 141.

The Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board approved an overall increase of 2.7 per cent after the caps, compared with 2.9 per cent without them. Those are portfolio figures, not a forecast of every policyholder’s bill. The decrease cap also means some customers will not immediately receive their full calculated reduction.

Consolidating motorhome coverage

Aviva amalgamated Elite Insurance Company and Traders General Insurance Company on January 1, 2026, while continuing to use the previously approved rates of the original businesses. The motorhome filing brings the three lines onto a common Aviva Lifestyle structure.

The board had to determine whether the rates and risk classifications were just and reasonable and complied with the Insurance Act and regulations. Staff obtained further information and prepared recommendations, which Aviva reviewed without further comment.

The motorhome portfolio was too small for a meaningful actuarial analysis. Aviva instead compared average premiums by coverage with industry data. Its overall average was higher, but it said its customers bought a greater proportion of optional physical-damage coverage and that vehicle values, ages and classes complicated direct comparisons.

Aviva did not complete a full rate-indication calculation for this filing. It nevertheless said its projections suggested a larger increase was needed and characterized the requested change as a measured response to inflation and developing claims costs. The board accepted the proposed increase.

Minimum premiums and rating changes

The approval aligns the minimum premium at $420, the level already used for Aviva Lifestyle. Aviva said fewer than five per cent of its motorhome policies across the three categories were below that amount. A minimum premium addresses fixed expenses and losses when the ordinary calculation would produce a lower premium; it is not a $420 addition to every policy.

The board also approved charging the sum of Collision and Comprehensive premiums for All Perils coverage, without a discount. A new vehicle-rating method uses J.D. Power values converted from U.S. to Canadian dollars and incorporates depreciation for cash-value coverage, while replacement-cost coverage uses the applicable list or carried-forward value.

Aviva Lifestyle will add a $500,000 liability-limit option alongside its existing options, bringing it into line with the other two businesses. The decision approves an additional choice; it does not automatically reduce existing policy limits.

The insurer will replace its tiered motorhome group discounts with a flat 10 per cent discount. The data supplied to the board showed a modest reduction in the aggregate discount. The employee discount is folded into the same structure, but Aviva reported no current motorhome risks eligible for that discount.

The Multi-Line Discount will be consolidated into a Lifestyle Bundle Discount for eligible bundled products. Emergency Roadside Assistance will move from a separate charge for each covered motorhome to one charge covering all motorhomes on the policy, with the rate aligned to the insurer’s property-trailer endorsement.

Transition caps are not permanent price guarantees

The board accepted the renewal caps after Aviva showed that the premium it would forgo by limiting increases exceeded the extra revenue collected by limiting decreases. That comparison reduced the overall change from 2.9 to 2.7 per cent.

Aviva expects customers to reach their calculated premiums within two renewal years and expects to remove the caps at that point. The reasons describe the insurer’s expectation, rather than ordering an automatic expiry on a specified date.

The board found the proposed changes unlikely to impair Aviva’s solvency and set July 1, 2029, as its next mandatory motorhome filing date. The insurer must provide an updated electronic insurance manual within 30 days after the order is issued.

The approval applies to both new and renewal business from May 15, 2027. It does not establish a current premium, an individual future bill or that implementation has already occurred.