BC is quasi-private, only the first 200K of third party liability must be provided by ICBC, any additional coverage can, and typically is provided by private insurers operating within the Province.

Unfortunately this means ICBC eats the bill for virtually all bodily injury claims, which is the main issue. There is well established framework for injury claims that is easily navigated by the local legal community, this results in a very high rate of success pursuing BI claims.

Meh, having been in Provinces both private and public I feel the rates are fairly comparable - the level of customer service with ICBC is much higher though IMO.

That is true, if only ICBC gives multi discounts on vehicles, I actually like how ICBC works. Insurance premium will always differ between private companies because of their coverage differences... in a sense, ICBC unified all that and protected us that way.

Just fuck all those mofo claiming pain from a 5mph hit. fuck off

Not only are they comparable (and sometimes less), we don't have to deal with seperate registration, plates etc. not to mention it's a one stop shop. Getting estimates
Is a PItA. Icbc isn't perfect, but I'd much rather have it then the other options throughout canada.

That would be ideal but you're still faced with the problem of the other driver not being insured cause they can't get coverage or they can't afford insurance. The fact that you have to get basic through ICBC and still save money through third party, collision, etc is quite good.

As if the courts aren't already plugged up with everyone trying to get out of a $119 speeding ticket besides what's a lawyer good for when the other guy doesn't have a penny or own anything. Are you gonna make him your butler?

I've talked ppl from Ontario, they can't understand how one can bank discounts when not having any vehicle registered under their name. Got a first car since you got your license 10 years ago and have never been in a driver seat since? You get max discounts! How does that make sense? I don't understand it neither but we take it for granted.

You don't need to own a car to be driving. So yes that makes sense since there's no way to keep track of whose car you are driving. It could be from a company like car2go or evo. As long as you have no at fault record, you should be treated as a safe driver. It shouldn't matter how much or how often you drive.

Point is companies that provide services to massive scale of customer should not waste overhead on enforcing policies that affect maybe 0.001% of your customers.

my sister works front end at a very popular icbc accredited shop in Nanaimo. She told me that she would much rather deal with icbc then some of the private companies that she does have to deal with from time to time. She said icbc would get back to her within a day or so of faxing off paperwork and getting approval for claims, where as she said any of the private companies can sometimes take over 2 weeks for them to get back to her.....

^ this is true, but the overall picture is definitely bigger than that. i complain as much as the next guy about icbc, but after working in the body shop industry, i'm quick to bite my tongue with the complaints. if icbc were to one day cease to exist, it'd be carnage. currently, icbc sets the standard for all insurance related claims + material damage (in BC), but that's just the tip of the iceberg. icbc has problems for sure (what government company doesn't?), but for all their shortcomings, being involved in an accident in BC is a much easier ordeal than being involved in an accident elsewhere in Canada. I can't speak the same for the US, as they have insurers like Geico, who are, from experience, miles above any insurer in Canada, but as somebody above mentioned, the grass is always greener on the other side. the biggest thing is to choose the lesser of all evils, and my flame suit is definitely on, but currently, the way I see it, that's icbc

but yes, the fraudulent injury claims need to be investigated closer and penalized. however that's much easier said than done. how hard of a time would you have simply trying to prove an employee that called in sick is playing hooky?

oh what the heck is going on??

Until now, I've only heard of ICBC complaints and how people absolutely hate ICBC.

People always say "it's about time to get rid of ICBC" and all that, now that there's a small chance of ICBC going away due to financial issues, people are starting to say how great ICBC really is.

Timpo that's because you live on an island in paradise where no one has ever experienced anything other. This fandagled internet let's you meet people who have seen that partly green yet mostly shit brown grass on the other side.

You'll also get people bitching both sides. I quickly switched my tune when experiencing the Ontario process. Manitoba was similar to BC thankfully.

The 9 billion figure is not what ICBC will have to pay. It is counting cases that have not closed. That's only quotes from lawyers for amounts that will be negotiated down by ICBC.

It's a love and hate thing. It's complicated. You'll understand once you're older son.

The only way to make dealing with private insurance easy is to become one of their direct repair facility shops but it can be a PITA process. Basically equivalent to a ICBC VALET shop. Not as if people do this but the 2 week process isn't any different if say someone went to a non-accredited ICBC shop.

Speaking of all this, did anyone recently get a call from some telemarketing survey firm talking about ICBC?

This was one of the first times I actually took the stupid 3 minute survey because the person seemed genuine on the other end. She asked like 15 questions, Answer for each question was a range from Very satisfied to not satisfied.

She asked questions related to how I feel about the value and cost of my current premiums, How I feel about ICBC, how my dealings with ICBC have been, etc. etc.

Honestly having only really had experience with what we have here, I don't know anything better, even my work in AB my vehicles have been either insured through the leasing firm, or insured here and driven out there.

As Lomac said, if the Liberals would stop raising icbcs coffers to "balance the budget" and if ICBC wasn't allowed to gamble in high risk stocks/bonds/ventures, there wouldn't be an issue

The shame is most people don't realize this goes on and they just assume it's bad drivers or fraudsters

Sounds very high for losses..
Hoping to hear more about this

Let's not forget the cost associated with investigating fraudulent claims. These guys don't work for free. Won't even be surprised if they make a loss in this category. But it's still necessary just to minimize BS claims.

i would like to see some sort of no fault system set up like Worksafe. ICBC will cover all your expenses if you are injured but no cash payouts and you cant sue them or other parties.

im sure all the ambulance chasers would oppose this but it would cut down the fraud completely

This is a worrying trend. It was only a few years ago that ICBC was noted as great with their financials. The BC Liberal government really fucked with them hard.

I'm all in for keeping ICBC. While dealing with ICBC with my recent accident has sucked, that is more the issue of my modified car than anything. Still, they didn't shut the door on me when I made it clear I wasn't happy with the repairs they authorized, and we are working on a solution.

All my previous experiences have been positive. I can't imagine what it would have been like to deal with a private insurer. With my driving record, despite not being at fault for accidents, would have made it hard for me to get insurance.

It's also important to know that, when I am on the road, I am always protected. I don't have to worry about ICBC denying a claim as long as I wasn't doing something flagrantly illegal. You can bet the farm that a private insurance company with try EVERYTHING they can to weasel out of a claim.

Government has made a financial mess of all the crown corps.