It’d be nice if they “moved to a system” that allowed competition instead of trying to polish the turd that is ICBC.

How about the short term premium for motorcycles. Just seems like a money grab when ICBC know full well motorcycle owners can not ride 12 months a year except possibly in the lower main land.

The entire rate scale for motorcycles is messed up. Statistically, (if I’m not mistaken) the most likely bike to be in an accident is a 600cc sportbike yet, because ICBC insures by engine size, it’s less expensive to insure than a 883 Harley. Rates should be set by the driver’s record and replacement cost of the bike not the size of the engine.

It’s not that complex but when you’re a monopoly there’s not a lot of impetus to change- unless there’s more money in it for you.

Actually Ram that is not totally correct. My 103 inch Harley (1690 CC) is less to insure than a 600 sport bike. My cousin bought a 600 Ninja a couple years ago and his insurance jumped to a little over $2200 for a year , where mine is just under $1000 for a year . Of course that does not cover any extras , just the bare bones. But I go private for that stuff.

Really? Things have changed since I last had a bike on the road then. :) Been out of the game for a while…

So, I’ll rescind my complaint then. (But I still think ICBC is a dinosaur).

“ICBC has heard from many customers that people who are more likely to cause crashes should pay higher insurance premiums, and people who are less likely to crash should pay less.”

It’s about time. I’ve been saying this for years.

I went to private insurance years ago when I realized that ICBC makes the good drivers subsidize the bad ones.

Yep and he has the same discount as me which is full. But yes I think ICBC has long out lived their usefulness and it is time for change. I am 24 years accident free and claim free ,not so much as a speeding ticket / Commercial driver for many years and a rider as well with a spotless record and I have to pay the same rates as the high risk people who are always getting tickets or have many infractions and claims on their record. Something is not right there at all.
Hopefully they do come out with a system that will really reward motorists like myself and the many others out there like me.

I rememeber when ICBC brought in the “fair” program in the late 70’s. I liked it at the time as I was 17 and insurance cost me $650 for basic coverage for a year on a car I bought for $70. Once fair came in i was down to $415 but my dads went up $290 for a year.

Now that ICBC has turned into a cash cow the liberals want another way to gouge us under false pretenses. I dont think its fair to charge someone extra for how they “might” drive. If a driver causes an accident then take action, but not before. Whats next, giving a 16-25 year old male 6 points every year because they are more likely to speed ???

Lets try this, STOP all bonuses given to government emplyees and be done with it. Why should anyone working for US get any kind of bonus unless we get them as tax payers. To make it even how about any time a gov employee is given a bonus that 50 tax payers pay no BC tax for the year. If they have so much extra to give as bonuses then they can afford to give us a bonus or two as well.

How about the $18 dollars for 2 plates, but street bikes pay 18$ for 1 plate. How about a deal where if you are the only one allowed to drive your car/truck/bike, then if you have 2 insured items like a truck and a bike, how about a major discount since you can’t be driving both at the same time.
And heaven forbid if you do get in a fender bender, the cost premiums are so expensive and take so long to get back to where you were that is usually cheaper to just pay out the damage to both cars to not take the hit.

Did you know that all retired ICBC and government employees receive full benefits, medical, dental and extended health for life, all paid for from the rest of us. The rest of us should be so lucky.

“all retired ICBC and government employees receive full benefits, medical, dental and extended health for life”
Of course ICBC can be munificent, they have plenty of money to throw around thanks to years of overcharging and under paying of claims (to some)
After all, ICBC does not have to compete, they set their own rates, and have the full backing of the Provincial Government.
Pretty much what you get with any monopoly.
Knowing full well that many people will use a private insurer for the extras, ICBC overcharges for the liability and basic insurance to make up the difference. Why not, they have a monopoly, they are untouchable. I only buy the minimum for my vehicles from ICBC because one can get better and more complete coverage privately. Time for competition in the automotive insurance business to return to B.C.
metalman.

ICBC is just another arm of the government that has bloated to beyond sustainable levels. If we don’t make some radical changes (not just to ICBC), we will be like Greece.

newly retired you are putting out misinformation. Why are you doing that?

I know of no retired government employees that receive full benefits as you describe. Lets see some documentation.

The first year ICBC came to life, they paid out $9 dollars in motorcycle claims for every motorcycle dollar they took in. Back then too the insurance for my 1966 Volkswagen was $90 dollars for that year. My policy price was based on a political promise, not what it cost to run a company. I remember it well. Carry on.

Oh yeah, I talked to an Autoplan dealer a long time ago (in the 70s) and he said he sat in the next booth in a coffee shop “up north” and a few drivers in the next booth were discussing whose logging truck was “going over the cliff today”. Anecdotal? I believed him. (and still do).

ICBC is just one part of this provinces gouging of people who need a vehicle and operate it here.

At the roots of all that involves vehicles is the opportunity to collect money under the name of safety and the environment.
ICBC is being operated in exact opposite to what it was intended to be and is now nothing more than a cash cow to be manipulated in tandem with policing.

ICBC is just one of the tax collectors as is the carbon tax and fuel taxes are. The behaviour training is that we should be using public transit instead, regardless of whether it exists and there is no shame in taxing polluters to death. There is no excuse for the astronomical fuel prices we pay and yet despite the fact that fuel costs are destroying our economy,that is the last thing our governments worry about.

The police are being made to be tax collectors when at the same time fighting crime is of lesser importance and generates no revenues. We will pay dearly for this growing contempt for our police officers as this multiplies into our next generations.

Turn ICBC into a ‘mutual’ insurer where every policy-holder also holds an equal share in the corporation, and any profit not required as retained earnings can be returned to the shareholders as a dividend.

Why should this outfit be managed as a cash cow for any government? It’s OUR money that pays the premiums, and the high priced help that runs the outfit. The profits generated should be paid back to us as dividends, so WE each get the benefits if it’s being well managed on a sound business basis.

To my knowledge the basis for selling the public on setting up ICBC was essentially that it would operate to benefit BC motorists first…as a stand alone and not for profit insurance pool. It has instead been converted to a cash cow which has unlimited taxation like powers. Its management is no different than that of any for profit private corporation who are rewarded for maximum returns..but without competition. Supposedly the BC utilities commission is the agency which independently oversees how ICBC is managed and its rates are fairly applied. That obviously isn’t working very well as ICBC generates very large surpluses/profits which are then sucked up into general revenues. How can this inefficent pig of a crown corporation generate so much surplus if it isn’t both gouging us with overpriced rates and paying out lesser amounts to the claimants? There was a time when ICBC made lots of money from investing the reserve pool and that compensated for the mismanagement and ineficency. Now that has dried up.

The liberty that government has taken is that it has decided that taking all this surplus revenue (which comes from overpriced insurance and lesser payouts and settlements)and transferring it to general revenue is the same as “returning it to the shareholders”.

It is also apparent that government hides behind the farce that the BC utilities commission is acting independently to ensure ICBC operates properly. To the greedy managers of ICBC and the provincial finance ministry, it does..and the utilities commission just makes sure they do this to the maximum extent possible with the appearances of “official oversight”.

I recollect ICBC dabbling in real estate ventures with my overpriced premiums. “Lotsa leftover dough every year. What should we do with it? Give it back to our customers? Nah! Let’s play Monopoly with it”. Much fun.

Some people’s arguments on here make no sense. They aren’t talking about charging people extra for how they *might* drive, they’re talking about charging people with lots of traffic violations more for their insurance because being a high risk driver makes you more likely to have an accident. People with perfect driving records should have lower insurance. Makes total sense to me. Also, I saw one comment above saying that people with a bunch of claims on their record currently pay the same as someone with no claims, this is wrong. I sell insurance and I’ve seen people with 65% surcharges on their insurance, paying $4000 a year as opposed to me who pays $1200. As much as we all love to hate ICBC, some of these comments are a little out to lunch and exaggerated!