MLA says ICBC rates are ‘crazy’

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“Which was a good system, but now they’re just getting tagged. You have to list the people that live in our house. They may drive the car sometimes, so you have to pay this huge premium. It’s just wrong.”

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ICBC says on its website, the new rate structure is more of a driver-based model.

“Like any insurer, we try to match insurance costs to a driver’s and a vehicle’s risk—that is, the likelihood of a claim in the future. The higher the risk, the more you’ll pay in insurance. The more crashes you’ve caused, for example, the more it will cost to insure your car. The good news is, safe driving and lots of experience can help to lower your premiums,” said the auto insurer.

Foster says the new system impacts out-of-province drivers that have cars registered in B.C.

“So all the folks who have summer homes or places at Silver Star and they keep a car here, they register it here. They’re going to lose their safe driver’s record — their 40 per cent — because they don’t have a driver’s license in B.C. You can find out in five minutes for anybody in the country what their driving record looks like.”

Foster says that change will force out-of-province residents to register their vehicles in their home province.

“So instead of grabbing that little extra bit of money, with that 40 per cent discount, they’re (ICBC) going to lose whatever they did get.”

Foster says the Liberals would like to see more competition for auto insurance.

“You just can’t continue to have this type of thing going on.”

Brokerage fees have also been discussed as a reason costs are higher, with suggestions B.C. should consider online renewals.

“I think you have to look at everything,” said Foster. “Of course, the brokers don’t like that idea.”

Attorney General David Eby told The Vancouver Sun the financial losses at ICBC and a redesign of insurance rates to make riskier drivers pay more are part of a “multi-year turnaround project for ICBC” that will continue as planned.

“It’s not gonna be fixed overnight,” Eby said. “So yes, young drivers — not just young drivers, inexperienced drivers who are predominantly young but not exclusively — will be paying higher rates. And there’s really no way around that as far as I can see.”

Eby added the NDP government will not be adjusting the rate-design work that ICBC has done.

“It’s important that the insurance premiums that people pay reflect their actual driving performance and their risk on British Columbia roads. That’s a core principle of insurance. And it’s something that ICBC has gotten away from, because it’s politically easier to avoid that question.”