Introduction and scope

This document explains how Summit Commercial Solutions compiles, normalizes, and publishes tenant (renters) insurance price tables for Canada excluding Quebec ("ex-Quebec") for the 2026 cycle. Results produced under this methodology are used across our renters price tables and benchmarking notes. Quebec is excluded due to its distinct regulatory framework and distribution rules under the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). For transparency on compensation, see How We Get Paid. This 2026 methodology is a scheduled refresh of the 2025 methodology; the control scenario and processing rules are unchanged.

What we measure

• Unit of measure: monthly premium in CAD before provincial sales taxes and fees.

• Product: personal tenant/renters insurance (contents + personal liability + additional living expenses), not landlord or condo owner policies.

• Geography: provinces and territories ex-Quebec; selected major cities within those jurisdictions.

• Audience: consumers comparing typical market prices; brokers and partners seeking consistent inputs for procurement.

Standardized quote profile (control scenario)

The control scenario is unchanged from 2025 to preserve year-over-year comparability:

• Residence: apartment in a multi-unit building; non-heritage; primary residence; non-basement unless city notes specify.

• Contents limit: $50,000 CAD; Additional Living Expenses: 20–40% of contents, as presented by the quoting source; Personal Liability: $1,000,000 CAD.

• Deductible: $1,000 CAD (or next available nearest standard value).

• Occupant: single adult; non-smoker; employed; no prior property losses in 5 years; no pets declared; no business operations from home.

• Security and discounts: no monitored alarm; no sprinkler credit; no auto bundling; no group/association affinity discounts; paperless and EFT options accepted when they do not change quoted premium.

• Policy form: comprehensive/all-risk where selectable; otherwise the broadest standard tenant form offered by the source.

• Quoted term: annual premium converted to monthly by dividing by 12 when only an annual value is shown; "from $X/month" marketing claims are not used as data points unless a bindable quote matches the stated price for the control scenario.

Data sources we monitor

We sample both multi-insurer aggregators and direct writers that publicly provide bindable or near-bindable online quotes for tenant insurance ex-Quebec. Examples include:

• Aggregator/comparison: LowestRates.ca.

• Direct writers with online tenant quotes: Square One Insurance Services, Sonnet Insurance, TD Insurance, RBC Insurance, Aviva Canada. These examples are illustrative, not exhaustive; participating sources can change by quarter based on availability, uptime, and eligibility rules.

Collection windows and refresh cadence (2026)

We capture quotes quarterly to balance market freshness with stability. Collection windows avoid major holidays and typical underwriting freeze periods.

Notes:

• Shadow windows are used to re-query a 10–20% sample for stability checks and drift analysis.

• Outside cycle updates are issued only for material market changes (e.g., rating engine revisions affecting >10% of sampled quotes in a jurisdiction).

Geographic sampling and roll-ups

• Included jurisdictions (ex-Quebec): AB, BC, MB, NB, NL, NS, ON, PE, SK, NT, NU, YT.

• City selection: for each province/territory we include the capital (if materially populated) and ≥2 additional high-population centres when reliable quoting is available.

• Location granularity: quotes are captured at the Forward Sortation Area (FSA) level; we use 3–5 representative FSAs per large city when possible.

• City value: median of all bindable quotes across all sampled sources and FSAs for that city in the collection window.

• Provincial/territorial value: median of included city medians within that jurisdiction. Where only one city can be sampled with quality, we publish that city's value and mark the roll-up as "single-centre."

Data processing and normalization

• De-duplication: identical premiums from the same carrier surfaced via multiple channels are counted once per FSA.

• Outliers: we trim the top and bottom 5% of quotes within each city window when ≥20 quotes are available; otherwise we apply Hampel filtering at 3σ using median/MAD.

• Taxes and fees: published values exclude provincial sales tax and policy fees unless these charges are embedded in the displayed premium.

• Currency and rounding: CAD; displayed to the nearest whole dollar; medians are computed unrounded, then rounded at publish time.

• Quote integrity: only bindable (or "ready-to-bind after contact") quotes using the control scenario are included.

Exclusions, limitations, and caveats

• Quebec: all Quebec postal codes and quotes are excluded due to a distinct regulatory regime under the AMF.

• Eligibility filters: sources that require group/affinity eligibility, auto bundling, or non-standard deductibles for their lowest price are normalized back to the control scenario; if normalization is impossible, the quote is excluded.

• Product heterogeneity: coverage definitions vary by insurer; our control scenario prioritizes broadly comparable core coverages but cannot equalize every endorsement difference.

• Not a recommendation: figures are descriptive, not prescriptive.

Quality controls

• Source health checks: monitor aggregator and carrier quote engines for uptime anomalies; re-run failed sessions within the same window.

• Drift detection: if the median for a city shifts >15% between primary and shadow windows without documented rating changes, we hold publication for review.

• Reproducibility: we retain anonymized input sets (FSAs used, timestamps, scenario flags, and quote IDs where available) for audit.

Transparency and privacy

• Compensation disclosure: see How We Get Paid.

• Data and privacy: see our Privacy Policy.

Versioning and contact

• Methodology ID: renters-method-2026-exQC-v1.0

• Last reviewed: 2026-01-05

• Next scheduled refresh: begins 2027-01-04 (Q1 2027 collection window)

• Questions or corrections: Contact us and reference the Methodology ID above.