ICBC Insurance problem
 

A few years back my dad purchased a new vehicle. Prior to this he had a pretty bad driving record so he didnt have a car for about 4-5 years. So when he went to the insurance place to buy insurance for his vehicle they gave him the basic starting rate. Now being about 2 years later he gave the car to my sister and a few months after that he receives a letter from icbc saying he owes them about 20k for roughly those 2 years. *note in these two years every payment was made on time for about 250 a month* We looked into it ICBC claims that they accidently gave him the basic rate and the real rate was supposed to be something like 700% and he had better pay up even though it was their mistake. If the insurance rep told him the rate was supposed to be 700% i dont think he or anyone in their right mind would buy insurance for that vehicle. Anyways ICBC is saying we have to pay up.

Has anyone out there encountered this similar problem?

How can this problem be resolved and whats the best way to do so without blowing alot of money?

If he were to get a lawyer which would cost a few grand would we be able to get icbc to pay the cost of the lawyer fees as well if he won?

Thanks

i think you should consult a lawyer

Thats a lot of money.. Lawyer is your best bet..

tell icbc to fuckyall...

buy basic from them and get the others from a private place

lmao.. guess you didnt read, his dads at 700%, even at basic its not going to be worth it, its gotta take a long damn time for it to go back down.
im at -43% and i have my license for 14 years.


i dont know how the system works at icbc but if hes at that high of rates, wouldnt it be flagged in the system??

Yea the increase in premiums gets applied to the persons drivers license so when they insure a vehicle the surplus gets applied automatically...
ICBC fucked up nicely 700% holy fuck...i was at +40% and was complaining

as stated above speak to a lawyer even if you had to pay your own lawyer fees if you got off you would still "save money" in comparison

your dad dont need to pay anything to icbc since it's their fault. however they might be able to charged him higher rate if he ever insured another car. for example, if your dad and me have same 40% discount, same vehicle,same coverage, and both live same city and so on... icbc might charged me $100per month for my car while your dad will get charged $200 per month. i've been in almost the same situation except mine only happened for 2 months so i didnt really owe them too much.

not only are they asking for 20k they also put a full lockdown on the vehicle and will not sell insurance to my sister for that vehicle even though it is under her name now. there is an option of selling the vehicle but there really isnt a point because the problem wouldnt be resolved and they would still ask for the 20k even though its their fault. we also dont feel like we should pay lawyer fees because its their fault to begin with. we asked advice from some lawyers and they gave pretty much the same answer which is that they will look into it for a certain amount of money and my guess is to get this problem fixed it will probably cost a few grand in lawyer fees.

^They cant do that. If his name is not on the vehicle registration they cant do anything about it as Your sister is not the one who has a bad history. I say fight it, She might even be able to get something out of them for her inconvenience

they cant but they did. we asked a lawyer and he also said what you said but he will only look into it if you give him 500. $500 for a looking into it fee is a bit much so maybe someone on this forum can give us insight before we have to go as far as getting a lawyer. a 3-5grand lawyer bill for something that isnt your fault doesnt sound too great.

if your dad knew he had a bad driving record, shouldnt have asked about it when he got his insurance or wondered about it? to get 700% after 4 years (dont really need to know what it is)

i think it would be fault on both parties, ICBC for giving your dad basic rates, your dad for knowing about his bad driving habits and didnt find it curious that he was given basic rates...

at best, from my judgment, paying half.. try negotiating with icbc and see if you can get away with half.. you really dont want to mess with the government, when it comes to money

you owe me 10 dollars for no reason but you can pay me half. so 5 dollars pls

Make sure you read any terms and conditions on the insurance agreement on which you signed to see if they have stated anything that could potentially allow them to pull this kinda stunt on you. Then seek a lawyer.

i guess lawyer is the only option. thanks for the advice/input guys.

500 is alot better than paying 20gs. your dad doesnt seem too worried about this situation. if he was serious he would have gotten a lawyer on this issue right away.

700% surcharge on a basic plan?! Your old man must have been in at least a dozen 100% at fault accidents to generate that. Should he really be driving?

i didnt any service from you, so why would i pay..
your dad got insurance knowing his previous bad driving record, wouldnt get curious about getting base rate or asking the broker, i know i would..

that or lots of drinking driving or something, so wouldnt ANY wonder why they are getting base rates so soon??

exactly if it really is 700% it would take him 70 years to go back to 0(no discount/no surcharge)...minus 10% for every good year of driving

You can sue / blame the agent of not disclosing all aspects fully to your dad. I highly doubt ICBC is at fault here. It is up to the agent to verify everything is legitimate.

In the end, discount rates don't accumulate if you don't own a car (which your dad did). He should had owned a $500 crap box sitting on the drive way with basic insurance and take transit.

It is just like going to one of the 7-11 Translink ticket outlets and buy a 1 zone ticket for 3 zone use. You can't plea ignorance if you get caught just because you didn't read the rules.

Oh to the person who said go else where for insurance. No private insurance company will take a client with a horrendous driving record like that. Only a government owned entity will do that like ICBC. Because of drivers like that, that's why we all pay higher insurance; and at risk demographics (eg teenage males) are not paying $5k+ a year for insurance.

no it's not. stop spewing crap.

to me it seems like they did it on purpose because they waited till after he transfered the car to my sister then they notified him so they probably wanted to screw him over for as much as they could. he did speak with a lawyer today and they are currently looking into it. they did say that this will probably take a few months or up to a year to get it sorted out.

The worse person I've seen was level +36 it was well over 5,000% surcharge

As qouted from ICBC website

"For each year that you do not make an at-fault claim, you will move down the claim-rated scale. Once you are at level -1, you will start to receive a 5 per cent discount on your premium. Every claim-free year after this will increase this discount by 5 per cent until you reach 43 per cent."

you do not need to own a vehicle to start the discount cycle


and everytime they "Look into it", its gona cost your dad $500 a pop.. ouch, adds up quickly.

Why don't you tell us what the letter exactly says...

That only applies if you don't have an accident or any issues.

If you had an accident and then take your name off all the cars you own; the penalty stays attached to the driver not the vehicle. Your surcharge don't get decreased until you own your car again.

Google up: ICBC attached driver, there are a few cases on this board too.

eg here.