Manitoba Public Insurance is looking for public feedback on rate changes that would reward safer driving and make riskier driving cost more.
It is seeking public feedback on changes to the basic insurance model after the Public Utilities Board directed the Crown corporation to look at how to better reflect driver risk in determining rates.
“As the provider of compulsory auto insurance in the province, any contemplated changes should include consultation with Manitobans to ensure they are fully informed of the options being considered and that feedback from the public is considered in future solutions,” MPI spokesperson Kristy Rydz said.
“MPI, which is very attuned to the government, wants to be very careful and sensitive with how they implement this.”–Prof. Malcolm Bird
MPI hired Leger Inc. to conduct an online and phone survey asking Manitobans how they feel about the change.
Current rates are based on where a registered owner lives, what and how often they drive and their driving risk — a “registered owner rating model.”
The PUB, which oversees rate setting and MPI, has discussed different ways to match driver risk more closely with vehicle and driver premiums, and whether rates should be based on the primary driver of the vehicle rather than the registered owner of the vehicle.
In recent years, the PUB has called on MPI to look into the primary driver model that its own chief actuary determined more accurately reflects risk, one used by private auto insurers across North America. When MPI said it was sticking with the registered owner rating model, the PUB in 2022 directed MPI to develop a five-year plan for the possible implementation of the primary driver model.
“As part of this work, we have launched a public survey to help ensure feedback from customers and stakeholders is incorporated into shaping the decision to change the existing insurance model, and what changes could look like,” Rydz said.
Although Crown corporations like MPI are supposed to be arm’s-length from the provincial government, they do feel the heat from on high, said one expert who studies them.
“MPI, which is very attuned to the government, wants to be very careful and sensitive with how they implement this,” Prof. Malcolm Bird of the University of Winnipeg political science department said. “MPI had its board replaced (last fall). It just had a very nasty strike that was, I think, quite damaging.”
Bird said all three Crown corporations in Manitoba — MPI, Manitoba Hydro and Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries — are “deeply, and somewhat problematically, influenced by the political sphere.” Government influence poses a “predicament” for the publicly-owned corporations trying to get the most bang for Manitobans’ buck, he said.
The MPI survey, available online, asks if Autopac rates should reflect the driving risk of the primary driver.
One question reads: “Drivers with a lower safety rating have someone with a better driver safety rating insure the vehicle they drive to get a better discount on their insurance premiums. This is not against the rules but it does mean that some insurance premiums are lower as a result … and other premiums are higher. Do you feel this is: a serious problem, somewhat of a problem, not really a problem, don’t know.”
The survey also asks respondents if they’d support the registered owner of the vehicle receiving an insurance premium discount based on the driver safety rating of the primary driver.
Drivers are also asked if they would support a new insurance model.
The survey can be accessed at: mpi.mb.ca/customer-surveys.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
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