The Alberta Government is implementing some short-term measures to protect drivers from increasing insurance rates in 2024.
While insurance rates across Alberta have been under a rate-increase pause since the beginning of 2023, that pause is scheduled to end as of the end of December.
“This is a short-term solution,” said Minister of Finance Nate Horner.
Beginning in 2024, drivers with “good” driving records will see rate increases limited to inflationary costs, or 3.7 per cent.
Good drivers are those without criminal code traffic violations in the last four years, an at-fault accident in the last six years, or a significant traffic ticket — such as speeding in a school zone — in the last three years.
The protection will not apply to drivers switching companies or changing vehicles.
When asked about the percentage of good drivers in Alberta, Horner was unaware of how many would fall into that category but believed that the “majority” of Alberta’s drivers would fall into that category.
A second area of protection when it comes to insurance is the Alberta Insurance Rate Board has been instructed to limit rate increases to a maximum of six per cent profit for the insurance companies.
Finally, a reform being applied to the insurance industry is the permanent addition of a monthly payment plan option for insurance consumers.
Horner noted that these changes are immediate but short-term and that a report has been commissioned on the insurance industry with a draft expected before the end of 2023 and a final report due in the first quarter of 2024. The cost of the report is budgeted for $500,000.
Once the report is released, Horner, Premier Smith, Minister of Affordability Neudorf and the rest of cabinet will look at other long-term solutions to reduce the insurance costs of Albertan drivers, with Horner noting that “all options are on the table.”
