Retained earnings of $925m"

Does nobody check what the meaining of retained is? That it's like...kept?


Why does everyone think that keeping some extra money is a bad thing? Why not just let ICBC hold on to it so that when payouts get worse one year or if the economy keeps hitting the dumps, they have something to fall back on?


Yes, the idea of a government corporation breaking completely even every year is a great one; but then what do we do when the corporation loses money? It does happen some years, you know. And when it does, people will be pissed off and angry to hear that ICBC needs more money from the government.

Not having specifics about retained earnings (ie, I don't know if they were actually retained or perhaps partially disbursed for programmes), they may have been used for:

- policyholder's surplus
- road safety programs
- law enforcement/road safety grants

At the very least the first reason is not an unreasonable case to retain money. I won't argue whether the RoadSense stuff is cost-effective or not :D.

Just to clarify

Retained Earings =/= money they have now

Retained earnings is defined as the money retained for the company FROM THE BEGINNING OF ITS OPEARTIONS.

The 925 million retained earnings does not mean they made 925 million that year. Rather it means that from the day ICBC started its business, they have retained 925 million dollars OVER ALL THESE YEARS.

Retined earings is affect by 2 things: Net income and Divident. Net Income increases RE while Divident decreases RE.

blast you all.. this won't be the last time we meet again!

well.. cutting rates on optional insurance just makes it more competitive for 3rd party insurers/privatized insurance companies who can only sell you optional insurance.

ICBC still gets to sell basic mandatory insurance at their regular rates to everyone.

now, if they reduced the rates for basic insurance, that would make more sense and benefit everyone more than extending that to optional insurance since basic insurance is mandatory.

2 bird 1 stone.

-reduces the edge that private insurer had by making optional insurance competitive
-good PR to general public because everyone looks at "$$$ discount/rates cut" thinking it benefits them, which it may, but not as much as cutting basic insurance rates.

56% or something of ICBC's revenues come from Basic insurance, and 4X% from Optional coverages.

*cue darkened board room with ICBC head honchos*

"gee.. which seems better? cutting rates for basic or optional? We have to do something soon cus people are still bitching about rates. oh no we don't need to cut basic we own everyone in that department because they have to get it from us..

let's cut optional instead, most people are straying away from us and going to Family insurance, canadian direct, etc .. cus someone here said they could. Let's make life harder for these private guys that defected from ICBC ..we'll take away their edge and look like heroes!!

woohoo. :lol

disclaimer: these are my views only and only mine. When ICBC ceases to be a monopoly then I will take them seriously.

It's okay, i'm still suing them :)

Carbon hood, here I come.

ICBC does not turn a profit, just a "surplus". :D

I pay just under $1,500/year. '05 se-r with 2 million third party & $500 collision & comp deductibles.

and i still pay fucking $3g a year with 30% soon 35% discount

3 mill $500 deduct

should have got a genesis.

damn i was paying $3500 the first 2 years that I had my car. Damn replacement cost coverage is expensive as shit

ICBC has had its monopoly for too long now.

Its about time we allow private insurance companies to operate in BC

I would like to highlights the problems of monopoly and how the BC residents are taken for a ride but this monster called ICBC.

First of all the most expensive insurance in the world is ICBC there is no insurance in the world that charges 4000$ for a new driver except ICBC. The sad part is they are getting away with it since no one apparently in BC is doing anything to end this mockery.

ICBC has announced profit of 285,000,000 in one year with 135% increase in profit and yet they want to increase the premiums by 4.9% on all drivers and the CEO has the decency to come on TV and claim that the 4.9% is less than a 1 a month.

Seriously do you think that Canadians are that stupid here is the formula first of all the average insurance in BC ( these statistics is by them not mine is) 1285$ 4.9% of that is 62.9$ that is over 5$ a month how dare you lie and say it is less than a 1$?

Did you know that new drivers in BC are asked to pay 4000$ for those old drivers who really think that this does not affect them since they are averagely paying 1300$ think about your sons and daughters think about your brothers and sisters and friends who will end up paying over 300$ a month when you can buy a brand new car for less than 200$ a month EMI?

The problem is bigger than amounts paid the problem is Monopoly.

Allow me to highlight the monopoly scheme

When you are a monopoly you become complacent you don't care about your customers any more to you they are sheep not clients or you see them with the $ sign on their foreheads

As a monopoly they will use their funds in every possible way to keep their business running as a monopoly therefore you have a lobby of corrupt politicians who are paid to protect the interest of this company and not yours as a citizen of this country. You become a no. not a human being any more.

Other problem of Monopoly is that the company who is preforming the monopoly they have no respect to their clients its like we can do it we are doing it and we love doing it and you have no other option but to take it or leave it.

Today cars are no luxury. They are a mean of transport to many of us. If we don't drive and reach to our work we don't eat or pay the rent at the end of the month. When company like ICBC has the liberty to do what it likes with your as a no. ( not a human being ) they are hitting you where it hurts and you have nothing to do about it.

Remember politicians and supporters of ICBC are being paid by you they are your servants but just like police they get carried away and they think they are above the law. They need to be reminded that you are there to serve us and not the other way around.

Today ICBC is no more a private company they are now setting the rules for the road speeds asking RCMP to act as per their likings arrest hold confiscate and even use your information gathered by them with police investigation without your approvals.

Today we say stop to ICBC we call on more companies to come and operate in BC we want to create jobs by allowing fair competition.

If 4 or five auto insurance companies come to operate in BC guaranteed jobs of over 50,000 personal will be available

rates of your yearly premiums will drop from 3400$ to 700$

Please support this movement by liking our facebook page facebook,com/monopolyoficbc

This is a 5+ year old thread.

RS Monopoly meet?
http://media.salon.com/2013/02/monop...g-1280x960.jpg

damn I came here thinking this was new and that ICBC would actually reduce rates. Silly me :lol

Holy crap. So much is wrong with that post. I'll address it later when I'm not at work, but.... wow, just wow.

get off your soap box u unknown user.

Coming from Ontario...Im ok with ICBC having a monopoly. It's not perfect but coming from Ontario...it's a hell of a lot better.

With private insurance...they hand pick their customers.
New young drivers are paying $7000 in Ontario and need to be co-signed with parents.

The auto body industry have their hands in insurance adjusters pocket...knowing ways to max out on repair bills. Here icbc is very strict with repairs. Try and cheat them and the shop loses their accreditation.

Fuck Monopoly. Settlers or bust.

If you want the support of an audience, don't patronize them. Revscene has a member base whose age ranges from 16-old as hell, we don't need to be told what a monopoly is. You are not a visionary, we are dealing with the lesser of 2 evils by having ICBC around. There was 4-5 of us on chat telling you your idea was great but was based on nothing, but of course you didn't accept that we were an accurate cross-section of the revscene community and you posted anyways, and got similar results (as you can easily see by your fails). Get your head out of your ass, and maybe you won't miss that next speed sign/car that merges into your lane unannounced, and maybe your insurance premiums won't skyrocket like how you said they did :)


And FYI, living in any major city and owning and operating a car is a luxury. What makes you better than everyone else that takes the bus? As with anything, if insurance gets too expensive people will start using alternative methods of transportation. The sense of entitlement we all have is a western-world phenomenon, you don't deserve anything in life -- everything aside from food, water, healthcare, a basic education and a roof over your head is a luxury, and if you can afford it, you have it. Simple as that

wrote an essay for a post made in 2009.. LOL

I'm sure I'm wasting my time and breath here as I doubt you'll be back to check this post. However, should anyone here decide to possibly entertain the thoughts that this guy might be correct, let me just talk about one or two things...

"Most expensive insurance in the world" is a complete and utter fabrication and lie. Try insuring a vehicle in London as a brand new driver. You can easily get quotes online from most insurers over there, so I spent five minutes doing so. In order to insure the same vehicle you mentioned you just bought while in RS Chat, a brand new Hyundai Genesis V6... well, if you mentioned that you just started driving and you're a full time student, not one of 138 insurance companies will actually insure you. Nadda. I then moved to trying my hand at a '96 Honda Civic SR. Full time male student, brand new license, living in London, vehicle parked on the road over night... I received a quote of £19,233.78 from one company. Sure, that was the most expensive quote but the cheapest one I could get was £10,658.93. AND that one requires the installation of a black box to monitor your driving.

First off, that proposed increase was from the beginning of 2013... this is oooold news. Second of all, that increase was for basic insurance... which was to be offset by a decrease in optional coverage, hence the average of $1/month. I lose more change in a week than that.

No, new drivers are asked to pay for higher insurance because they are statistically more likely to crash. That's an indisputable fact.

Uh...

:suspicious:

:concentrate:

Nope, not gonna bother.

Like it or not, cars ARE a luxury, plain and simple. Even if you live out in the boonies like me, transit is still sufficient to get you to and from work or school without issue.

So you're gonna throw out the, "You're either with us or against us" line? Either you're being paid by ICBC to support them, or you're against them completely? Wow. You're like the CIC of automotive insurance...

...and yet dozens of roads and highways had their speed limits increased only a couple weeks ago. As for police using your information... when was the last time you actually read all the fine print in the insurance forms you signed? I'm pretty sure that there's a line in there that allows law agencies to ask for your information without your approval...

50,000 new jobs by introducing four or five new insurance companies? That seems a little... optimistic. And I will ABSOLUTELY guarantee that yearly premiums will not drop from $3400 to $700, especially since I'm pretty sure those are completely random numbers without data to back them up.




OH!

I should have led with this one. I'm going to pull a quote you made on RS Chat today.

It's pulling absolute shit stunts like that which causes insurance premiums to raise. Instead of helping fix the issue, you're merely perpetuating the problem.