CANS Home and Auto Insurance

Group Rates for Employees of CANS Member Companies

The CANS home and auto insurance program gives employees of Construction Association of Nova Scotia member companies access to group-rated personal insurance through Stanhope Simpson Insurance. You get the same home, condo, tenant and auto coverage you would buy on your own, priced on the strength of the group rather than on you alone.

It runs as part of CANS Advantage, the association’s member benefit program. Enrolment is voluntary, premiums are paid entirely by you, and there is no cost and no administration for your employer.

What the CANS Home and Auto Insurance Program Is

CANS home and auto insurance, a CANS Advantage member benefit

Group rating, not a different policy

CANS home and auto insurance is a pricing arrangement, not a stripped-down product. You choose the same coverage forms, limits, deductibles and endorsements you would choose on your own; the group rate changes what those choices cost. Group programs work on collective buying power, with the insurer pricing the block of business rather than each applicant in isolation. Publicly advertised group savings in Canada generally run up to 15 per cent, and some programs advertise up to 25.

Who qualifies for the CANS group rate

Eligibility runs through employment. If you work for a Full or Associate Member of the Construction Association of Nova Scotia, you qualify, and where insurer rules permit, coverage can extend to a spouse and dependants living in the same household. We confirm employment as part of the quote, and that is the only membership check involved.

What CANS home and auto insurance costs your employer

Nothing. Group home and auto is a voluntary personal benefit: premiums are paid entirely by the individual, there is no payroll deduction to administer, and the member company carries no part of the cost and no part of the risk. Employees who leave a member company keep their policies; the group rate is reviewed at the next renewal.

Why the program runs through a broker

A group rate applied to the wrong policy is still the wrong policy. As an independent brokerage we place group business across several markets, so the CANS rate is applied through whichever insurer actually fits the household, and we stay on the file for mid-term changes, renewal reviews and claims. Stanhope Simpson has worked with the Nova Scotia construction sector for decades, which means the person rating your truck already understands what is in the back of it.

How to Join the CANS Home and Auto Insurance Program

Five steps, and the first one takes about a minute. Most CANS home and auto insurance quotes come back within one to two business days once we have your current declaration pages, and you are welcome to start at any point in your policy term.

1. Tell us you are with a CANS member company

Call 902-454-8641, email info@stanhopesimpson.com, or use the form below, and mention CANS. That is what routes the file to the group program rather than to a standard retail quote.

2. Send your current documents

Your existing home and auto declaration pages tell us your limits, deductibles, endorsements and renewal dates, and save you answering thirty questions from memory. Driver and vehicle details and the property information round it out.

3. We confirm eligibility and review the risk

We verify employment with a CANS member company, then look at how the vehicles are actually used, what has been done to the property, and what needs disclosing so the coverage responds when it is called on.

4. You get the quote and the reasoning

We present the group-rated pricing alongside what we would change and why: liability limits, deductible levels, the water endorsements, and any endorsement your current policy is missing. Nothing gets bound until you understand what you are buying.

5. We bind, and we stay on the file

Documents are issued, your former policy is cancelled and any return premium is handled. After that we are your brokers for mid-term changes, renewal reviews and claims, and we re-market when the market moves against you.

Start Your CANS Home and Auto Insurance Quote

Why CANS Members Work With Stanhope Simpson

Stanhope Simpson has been insuring Nova Scotia’s construction industry for decades, and the relationship with the Construction Association of Nova Scotia runs through commercial insurance and surety bonding as well as this personal lines program. That matters more than it sounds. The person handling your CANS home and auto insurance already understands what a construction household looks like: the tools in the back, the trailer in the yard, the renovation that has been going on since March, the second vehicle that is technically the company’s.

We are an independent brokerage, so the group rate is applied through whichever insurer actually fits the household rather than the one insurer we happen to represent. And because we are local, the person who writes the policy is the person who answers the phone at renewal and the person who walks you through a claim.

What the CANS Home and Auto Insurance Program Covers

One group rate, applied across the whole household. Each of these is a separate policy with its own limits and endorsements, and the CANS rate is applied to whichever of them you choose to place with us.

Home insurance

An owner-occupied home policy covers the dwelling, detached structures such as a shop or garage, contents, personal liability and additional living expenses if the home becomes uninhabitable after an insured loss. The decision that matters most is the valuation basis: actual cash value pays replacement cost less depreciation, replacement cost pays today’s rebuild cost up to your limit, and guaranteed replacement cost pays the full rebuild even if it runs past the limit.

Condo unit-owner insurance

Your unit policy picks up contents, improvements and betterments, personal liability, additional living expenses and loss assessment. Loss assessment is the one people underestimate: corporation master-policy deductibles that once sat at five or ten thousand dollars now routinely run to twenty-five thousand and higher, and your loss assessment limit should be set against the deductible in your building’s current certificate of insurance.

Tenant insurance

Tenant insurance covers your belongings, your personal liability and your additional living expenses. The landlord’s policy insures the building and nothing of yours, and Nova Scotia’s standard form of lease lets a landlord make tenant insurance your responsibility. A million dollars of liability is the practical starting point, and contents coverage follows your property away from home.

Personal auto insurance

Nova Scotia auto is written on the standard NSPF No. 1 form, so the mandatory portion is the same everywhere and the real differences sit in your limits, your physical damage choices and your endorsements. This program is built for personal vehicles; if a vehicle is used in the business, tell us, because that changes the rating class and, past a point, the policy itself.

Personal umbrella and excess liability

An umbrella sits above your home, condo, tenant and auto liability and responds once an underlying limit is exhausted. Limits typically start at one million and run to five million or more, and insurers generally require one to two million of underlying liability first. Households with rental property, boats, pools, teenage drivers or significant assets are the usual candidates.

Seasonal, recreational and specialty property

Where the insurer allows it, the group rate can extend across the rest of the household: seasonal and secondary property, travel trailers and RVs, boats and personal watercraft, ATVs and snowmobiles, and scheduled items such as jewellery or firearms that exceed the special limits in a standard contents form. Availability varies by insurer, so we confirm it at quote.

Nova Scotia Auto Insurance Under the CANS Program

Your auto policy is the piece of CANS home and auto insurance most people never read. Here is what Nova Scotia requires, what is optional, and the endorsements worth asking for by name.

What Nova Scotia requires

Every Nova Scotia auto policy carries four mandatory pieces: third party liability at a statutory minimum of $500,000, which is the highest minimum in the country; Section B accident benefits; Direct Compensation Property Damage, which has your own insurer pay for damage to your vehicle to the extent you are not at fault; and Section D coverage for uninsured and unidentified motorists. The minimum is a floor, not a recommendation. Most households should be looking at one or two million.

Section B accident benefits at a glance

Section B pays regardless of fault. Medical and rehabilitation benefits run to $50,000 per person for expenses incurred within four years of the accident. Income replacement is the lesser of $250 per week or 80 per cent of gross weekly earnings, for up to 104 weeks. There is a $100 per week housekeeping benefit for a principal unpaid housekeeper, a $25,000 death benefit for a head of household, $5,000 per dependant, and $2,500 for funeral expenses.

Choosing your physical damage coverage

Section C is optional and comes in four shapes. Collision or upset covers impact and rollover. Comprehensive covers almost everything else, including theft, vandalism, glass and weather. Specified perils is a narrower and cheaper named-perils version. All perils combines collision and comprehensive and adds one gap the others leave open: theft by someone who lives in your household or works for you.

Endorsements worth asking about

Nova Scotia uses NSEF numbering. NSEF 20 pays for a rental while your vehicle is being repaired. NSEF 27 covers damage you cause to a borrowed or rented vehicle. NSEF 39 waives the rate increase after an at-fault accident. NSEF 43R removes the depreciation deduction on a total loss for a qualifying new vehicle bought new by you. NSEF 44 family protection tops up your recovery when the at-fault driver carries less liability than you do.

The minor injury cap

Nova Scotia caps damages for pain and suffering on minor injuries, defined as a sprain, strain or whiplash-associated disorder. The cap is indexed to the provincial consumer price index each January and the Superintendent of Insurance publishes the figure by the end of that month. For accidents occurring in 2026 it is $10,862. Injuries outside that definition, including fractures, are not capped.

Theft, trackers and telematics

Vehicle theft has pushed comprehensive loss costs up nationally, and several insurers now have Nova Scotia filings approved that add a surcharge of around $500 for high-theft-risk vehicles carrying no approved tracking device, alongside discounts of roughly ten per cent for a superior approved tracker and five per cent for other approved devices. Telematics is offered by some carriers here, commonly worth up to twenty-five per cent, though it can move a renewal in either direction.

Where Construction Households Get Caught

Most of what goes wrong on a construction household’s personal insurance is not a pricing problem. It is a boundary problem: where the personal policy stops, where the commercial one starts, and which of the two is supposed to be holding the thing that just got stolen or damaged.

Your tools are not covered by your auto policy

Comprehensive coverage responds to damage to the vehicle. It does not respond to what was inside it. If a truck is broken into overnight, the auto policy pays for the window and the ignition; the tools that walked away are somebody else’s problem. The one Nova Scotia exception worth knowing is Direct Compensation Property Damage, which does extend to contents damaged in a collision where you are not at fault.

Home policies cap business tools, and usually only at home

Standard Canadian home and tenant wordings carry a special limit for books, tools and instruments pertaining to a business, commonly in the $2,500 to $5,000 range, and in most forms that limit applies only while the tools are on your premises. Tools taken from a work van, a job site or a customer’s garage generally fall outside it. If you carry real value in tools, the answer is a tool floater or contractors’ equipment policy, not a bigger contents limit.

Commute, business use, or commercial

Driving to one fixed workplace and home again is a commute. Moving between client sites through the day with tools aboard is business use, and it needs to be rated that way. Hauling materials, towing work trailers, running a vehicle titled to the company or carrying goods for compensation moves you onto a commercial auto policy. Nova Scotia’s statutory conditions require you to notify your insurer of any material change in the risk, and a use that was never disclosed is exactly that.

Trailers: liability follows the truck, damage does not

In Nova Scotia, a trailer hitched to your vehicle is treated as part of that vehicle for liability purposes, so your auto policy responds if the trailer causes injury or damages someone else’s property. Physical damage does not extend. If you want the trailer itself insured against collision, theft or fire, it has to be scheduled and insured separately. Trailers are also registered separately in Nova Scotia, with fees set by weight.

Renovations change what it costs to rebuild

Guaranteed replacement cost is not unconditional. Insurers generally require the home to be insured to one hundred per cent of the replacement cost they calculate, that you accept the annual indexation of that limit, that you rebuild on the same site, and that you tell them when work increases the home’s value beyond a set amount. Miss the notification and the settlement drops back to the number printed on the declaration page. For a household that renovates as a matter of course, this is the single most common gap.

The vehicle that belongs to the company

A vehicle registered to a business does not belong on a personal auto policy, however it is actually driven. If the company owns the truck and you drive it home, the truck is insured commercially and your personal policy needs a non-owned automobile endorsement to protect you for damage you cause to vehicles you do not own. Getting this line right in both directions is the part a broker who works on the commercial side as well is best placed to sort out.

Nova Scotia Risks That Shape These Policies

Nova Scotia is not an average property market. Three of the costliest events in Atlantic Canadian history landed here inside eighteen months, and they changed what a well-built home policy needs to include.

Wind, and the storm surge that follows it

Hurricane Fiona caused more than $800 million in insured damage in September 2022, the costliest extreme weather event ever recorded in Atlantic Canada. Standard home policies cover wind damage, flying debris, fallen trees and water entering through an opening the storm suddenly created. What they generally do not cover is coastal flooding and storm surge, which is why Fiona’s true cost ran well past the insured figure.

Wildfire

The Tantallon wildfire in the spring of 2023 caused more than $165 million in insured damage and destroyed or damaged at least 200 properties, 151 of them homes. Nearly ninety per cent of the claims were personal property. Fire is covered under every standard homeowner and tenant policy, and additional living expenses respond during a mandatory evacuation order, which is the coverage most households end up using first.

Overland water and sewer backup are separate purchases

The July 2023 flooding caused more than $170 million in insured damage, and Nova Scotia’s 2023 wildfire and flood losses together approached half a billion dollars. Base policies exclude flood, surface water, ground water and sewer backup outright. Sewer backup, overland water and ground water seepage are three different endorsements, not one, and a household can carry one and not the others without realising it.

Water that starts inside the house

Water is now the leading cause of home claims in Canada. Allstate Canada reports water accounted for more than forty per cent of its home claims between 2021 and 2025, with external water alone making up twenty-four per cent of its 2025 claims, up ninety-four per cent year over year. Sudden escape from internal plumbing and appliances is covered by default; the endorsements above are what handle water arriving from outside.

Discounts That Stack With the CANS Group Rate

The group rate is where the conversation starts, not where it ends. These are the discounts that apply on top of it, and the ones most households are already entitled to without realising.

The CANS home and auto insurance group rate itself

The CANS rate is the base your household starts from rather than the end of the conversation. Group programs in Canada publicly advertise savings of up to fifteen per cent, with some running to twenty-five, and the rate is applied by the insurer to the whole block rather than negotiated household by household. Everything below is applied on top of it.

Bundling home and auto

Writing the home and the vehicles with one insurer is still the largest single lever most households have, publicly advertised at up to twenty per cent across both policies. It also simplifies a claim that touches both, which is more common than people expect: a garage fire, a tree through the roof and the car underneath it, a break-in that takes both.

Property-side discounts

Claims-free history, a mortgage-free home, monitored fire and burglar alarms, newer construction, renewal loyalty and water mitigation devices such as a backwater valve, sump pump or water alarm are all rated for. Public ranges run from about five to thirty per cent depending on the item and the insurer, and several of them are already built into base rates rather than shown as separate lines.

Vehicle-side discounts

Multi-vehicle, winter tires where the carrier offers it in Nova Scotia, an approved anti-theft tracking device, and telematics where it is available. Winter tire discounts are not mandated here the way they are in Ontario, so whether one applies and how much it is worth depends entirely on the insurer, which is a reason to have someone check more than one.

Claims These Policies Actually Pay

Coverage arguments are abstract until a claim arrives. These four are the ones we see most often in construction households, and what each policy actually does when they happen.

A supply line lets go

A braided dishwasher or washing machine hose fails while the house is empty. Sudden and accidental escape of water from internal plumbing is covered by the base policy, and the claim runs to repairs, contents, drying and often several weeks of additional living expenses. It is the most frequent serious home claim in the country, and the reason deductible choice matters more than most people think.

Fire, smoke, and an evacuation order

A kitchen fire or an electrical fault damages the home and its contents and puts the household somewhere else for months. Fire is covered under every standard form, and additional living expenses pay the difference between what you normally spend and what you are now spending. Where a wildfire triggers a mandatory evacuation, that coverage responds even if the house is never touched.

An at-fault collision with injuries

Vehicle damage is the small part. A serious injury claim against your third party liability is where a $500,000 statutory minimum stops looking like enough, and it is why we quote one and two million as a matter of course. Your own injuries are handled by Section B regardless of fault, and NSEF 44 family protection is what responds when the other driver carries less than you do.

A break-in at the job site

The truck is opened overnight and the tools are gone. The auto policy pays for the damage to the vehicle. The home policy’s business tools limit does not reach off-premises. Unless a tool floater or contractors’ equipment policy is in place, this one is paid out of pocket, and it is the claim we most often have to explain after the fact rather than before.

CANS Home and Auto Insurance FAQs

Who is eligible for CANS home and auto insurance?

Employees of Construction Association of Nova Scotia member companies. Eligibility runs through employment rather than personal membership, so if the company you work for is a Full or Associate Member of CANS, you qualify. Where the insurer permits it, coverage can extend to a spouse and to dependants living in the same household. We confirm employment during the quote and that is the whole verification process.

Does the CANS group rate change my coverage, or only the price?

Only the price. Group programs are a rating arrangement, not a separate product. You choose the same coverage forms, limits, deductibles and endorsements you would choose buying on your own, and the group rate changes what those choices cost. If anything, group members tend to end up with better coverage rather than less, because the saving creates room to raise a liability limit or add a water endorsement that was previously being skipped on price.

How much can I save through CANS home and auto insurance?

There is no single number, and anyone quoting one without seeing your file is guessing. Group programs in Canada publicly advertise savings of up to fifteen per cent, and some run to twenty-five. What you actually see depends on your existing rate, your claims history, the insurer the file lands with, and which of the standard discounts you already qualify for. The group rate is the starting point, and bundling, claims-free, alarm, water mitigation and vehicle discounts apply on top of it.

Can I join CANS home and auto insurance mid-term?

Yes, and it is worth getting the quote either way. Cancelling mid-term can attract a short-rate penalty from your current insurer, so the arithmetic is simply whether the saving over the remaining term exceeds that penalty. Often it does not, and the right answer is to quote now and set the change for your renewal date. We will tell you which of those two it is rather than pushing the change.

What happens if I leave my employer?

Your policies do not disappear. The group rate is reviewed at your next renewal, and if you are no longer with a CANS member company we re-rate the file, which may mean moving to standard pricing or to another program you qualify for. Let us know when your employment changes so the renewal is handled properly rather than discovered late.

Does my employer pay for CANS home and auto insurance?

No. Group home and auto is a voluntary personal benefit. Premiums are paid entirely by the individual, there is no payroll deduction for the company to administer, and the member company carries no part of the cost and no part of the risk. It costs a CANS member company nothing to have the benefit available to its people.

Can I bundle home and auto through the program?

Yes, and you generally should. Writing the home and the vehicles with the same insurer is publicly advertised at up to twenty per cent across both policies, and it stacks with the group rate. It also makes a claim that touches both easier to run: a garage fire, a tree that takes the roof and the car underneath it, a break-in that hits the house and the driveway.

My truck carries tools. Is that still a personal auto policy?

Usually, but it needs to be rated as business use rather than commute. Driving to one fixed workplace and home again is a commute. Moving between client sites through the day with tools aboard is business use. Hauling materials, towing work trailers, running a vehicle titled to the company, or carrying goods for compensation moves you onto a commercial auto policy. Nova Scotia’s statutory conditions require you to notify your insurer of any material change in the risk, and undisclosed business use is exactly that.

Are my tools covered if they are stolen from my vehicle?

Not by the auto policy. Comprehensive coverage responds to damage to the vehicle, not to the contents. Standard home and tenant wordings carry a special limit for business tools, commonly $2,500 to $5,000, and in most forms that limit applies only while the tools are at your residence. Tools taken from a work van or a job site fall outside it. If you carry meaningful value in tools, the answer is a tool floater or contractors’ equipment policy, and we can arrange one alongside your personal lines.

Do I need to tell you about renovations?

Yes, and this is the most common gap we find. Guaranteed replacement cost is conditional: the insurer generally requires the home to be insured to one hundred per cent of the replacement cost they calculate, that you accept the annual indexation of that limit, that you rebuild on the same site, and that you report work that increases the home’s value beyond a set amount. Skip the notification and a settlement can fall back to the figure printed on your declaration page.

Is flooding covered on a Nova Scotia home policy?

Not by default, and not as one product. A base policy excludes flood, surface water, ground water and sewer backup outright. Sewer backup, overland water and ground water seepage are three separate endorsements, and a household can easily carry one without the others. Coastal flooding and storm surge remain largely uninsurable, which is why Hurricane Fiona’s total cost ran well past the $800 million in insured damage recorded for it. About ninety-four per cent of Canadian homes can now buy overland water coverage; the remainder sit in high-risk areas where it may be unavailable.

How much liability should I carry on my auto policy?

More than the minimum. Nova Scotia’s statutory minimum of $500,000 is the highest in the country, and it is still a floor rather than a recommendation. We quote one million and two million as a matter of course, because the gap between them is usually small and a serious injury claim is the one exposure that can follow you personally. An NSEF 44 family protection endorsement is the companion piece: it responds when the driver who hit you carries less liability than you do.

How long does a CANS home and auto insurance quote take?

Most quotes come back within one to two business days once we have your current declaration pages, driver and vehicle details, and the property information. Complicated files, unusual property, or a claims history that needs explaining can take longer, and we will tell you if that is the case rather than leaving you waiting.

Who do I deal with for changes, renewals and claims?

Us. Enrolling in CANS home and auto insurance makes Stanhope Simpson your broker, not just the source of a quote. Mid-term changes, renewal reviews, re-marketing when the market moves, and claims all run through the same office, and you are dealing with people in Nova Scotia rather than a call centre queue.

Related Personal Insurance Coverages

The program covers the whole household. If you want the detail on any one policy, these pages go deeper than this one does.

For how a group programme works, who in the household qualifies, and what it costs a member company, see group insurance programs.

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