Nova Scotia’s insurance regulator has approved changes that lower Aviva’s renewal premium-increase cap from 30 to 15 per cent as the insurer brings its Aviva and former Traders General business into a common rating system. The changes take effect May 15, 2027, under the Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board’s October 22 decision in Aviva Insurance Company of Canada, 2026 NSRAB 145.
The approval also changes the cap on renewal premium decreases from zero to 10 per cent. The capping mechanism therefore limits both upward and downward movements: a customer whose calculated reduction is larger than 10 per cent does not receive the full reduction through that renewal adjustment.
The filing produces a 2.7 per cent overall increase for the combined private-passenger-vehicle portfolio. That is a portfolio-wide figure, not a promise that every customer’s premium will rise by the same amount. Rates and other adjustments vary by coverage, territory and policy characteristics.
Bringing two rating systems together
Traders General Insurance Company was amalgamated under the Aviva brand on January 1, 2026, and its policies were rebranded as Aviva Group. Those policies continued to use the previously approved Traders rates. Aviva applied to bring both lines onto common base rates and a common rating structure.
The board had to decide whether the rates and risk classifications were just and reasonable and complied with the Insurance Act and its regulations. Board staff examined the application, obtained further information and prepared a report. Aviva reviewed that report and had no comments.
The board accepted Aviva’s decision to give greater weight to recent accident years when estimating future bodily-injury and accident-benefit costs. The insurer said recent experience better reflected emerging accident-benefit costs, while the change made little difference to bodily-injury results. The resulting 2.7 per cent proposed increase was close to the combined portfolio’s 2.8 per cent indicated increase.
Moving to common rates had a greater effect on Aviva Group because its existing rates were lower. To soften that transition, Aviva proposed deeper group-membership tier discounts. The reasons say the combined effect of those discounts and the move to common base rates was about a 0.6 per cent increase for Aviva Group policies. That describes those particular changes, rather than replacing the decision’s overall portfolio figures.
Caps and coverage changes
The board approved the revised renewal caps after finding that, across the combined portfolios, the extra premium collected by limiting decreases was less than the premium Aviva would forgo by limiting increases. That comparison is a condition for allowing the cap on decreases.
The approval also changes how several optional endorsements attach to a policy. Coverage for named people driving other automobiles moves from the vehicle level to the policy level. Coverage for physical damage to non-owned automobiles, such as rental vehicles, likewise becomes available to all drivers on the policy regardless of their assigned vehicle, without an increase in that endorsement’s premium.
Aviva will remove its charge for the endorsement covering people driving government automobiles. Its roadside-assistance endorsement will be renamed Emergency Roadside Service and will cover all vehicles on a policy for one charge, instead of charging separately for each vehicle. The new policy-level premium is higher than the former single-vehicle charge, based approximately on the average number of covered vehicles.
The board also accepted territory-rating changes supported by five years of Nova Scotia claims experience and a revised price-rating curve for higher-value vehicles under Comprehensive and Specified Perils coverage. The latter uses an Ontario curve as a reference but adjusts it to the Atlantic curve’s characteristics, rather than simply importing Ontario rates.
Approval is for future rates
Other approved changes include additional group-discount tiers and a reporting class for Gender X clients. The reasons say neither change itself affects premiums: no current policy falls into the added tiers, and the Gender X class changes statistical reporting rather than the applicable price. Revised instalment-fee wording reflects that the fee applies to non-group or non-affinity clients.
The board found the proposed changes were unlikely to impair Aviva’s solvency and set July 1, 2028, as its next mandatory filing date for private passenger vehicles. Aviva must also file an updated electronic insurance manual within 30 days after the order is issued.
The decision approves the changes for both new and renewal business from May 15, 2027. It does not establish an individual policyholder’s future bill or confirm that the changes have already been implemented.
