All provinces saw rate increases in Q4 2018: Applied

Evidence of a hard market in personal lines in Canada was apparent in Applied Systems’ latest quarterly Applied Rating Index, released Tuesday.

The Q4 2018 index found that average premiums for personal auto and personal property lines increased by more than five per cent in all provinces in comparison to the fourth quarter of 2017.

“The continued rise of premiums in each province year-over-year indicates that the personal lines market remained hard as we closed out the year,” said Jeff Purdy, senior vice president of international operations with the cloud-based software provider. “In 2019, the Applied Rating Index will continue to provide brokerages and insurers insights into the overall health of the industry, enabling brokerages to give customers guidance on expected premium rates and insurers to determine the most competitive rates.”

Premiums increased on average by 5.3% compared to Q4 2017, and by 2.2% compared to the third quarter of 2018.

In personal property, premiums increased by 5.8% versus Q4 2017, and by 3.7% versus Q3 2018.

Alberta and British Columbia experienced significantly higher year-over-year personal property premium increases, at 12.1% and 11.2% respectively, marking the annual high for each province.

The fourth quarter of 2018 was also the first quarter of the year that the Atlantic provinces experienced an increase in average personal auto premiums, at 0.6%. Applied reported in July that personal auto premiums in the region decreased for the second consecutive quarter – down 5.4% year-over-year from Q2 2017 to Q2 2018 and down 2.5% in Q1 2018 compared to Q1 2017.

Applied’s Rating Index is a data-driven report of current conditions and trends for personal auto and personal property insurance premium rates. The index measures the increase or decrease in average premium rate trends across Canada, analyzing more than 1.3 billion quotes completed. Applied reports the index represents more than 80% of the brokerage market and 75 insurer rating plans written by brokers.