ICBC rates going up 6.4 per cent

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Attorney General David Eby has announced ICBC rates will be hiked 6.4 per cent, starting November 1st.

He says “drastic action” is needed to fix financial problems at the insurer.

For the average driver, that means an increase of about $60 a year.

Eby says BC drivers were “deceived” by losses under-reported by the previous BC Liberal government.

He says the 6.4 per cent hike is lower than the 20 per cent rate hike that was recommended by the report commissioned by the previous government and released in July 2017.

Former Premier Christy Clark promised to freeze rate hikes at five per cent.

Eby says ICBC is facing a crisis.

“Government took so much money out of ICBC over just the last six years. Over a billion dollars. The cupboard is bare. There’s no more money for any government to take from ICBC. That option is over for governments,” Eby says.

“In fact, we need to be looking at how we’re going to repay some of that capital, because there are rules currently in place in British Columbia around the minimum amount of capital that ICBC is required to have. Certainly our government will not be taking any money out of ICBC.”

When asked why his party campaigned on promises to reward good drivers, while punishing bad ones, Eby insists that’s still happening.

“One of the key initiatives that I’ve asked ICBC to look into rolling out as soon as possible is ensuring that good drivers pay lower rates and that bad drivers pay more. It makes absolutely no sense to me that someone with a spotless driving record should be paying the same or a similar insurance rate to someone with a careless driving conviction.”

The Province will also roll out 24-hour red-light cameras at high-collision intersections. That compares with the current six hours per day.

Eby has also announced a pilot program of new technologies to eliminate distracted driving among high-risk groups.

The NDP government says ICBC had its largest financial loss in the organization’s history last year, losing more than half-a-billion dollars in 12 months. Eby says even with the rate increase announced today, the projected losses for ICBC next year are in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Change ICBC; Canadian Tax Payers Federation 

The Canadian Tax Payers Federation says ICBC needs to be changed in order to help the people in BC. BC Director Kris Sims says there are other models that the insurance corporation could be modelled after.

“Turn it into a co-op, like Mountain Equipment Co-op, or Vancity, so that BC drivers who choose to use it collectively, as mutual insurance, can still pick that option.”

She would also like private companies to be able to compete with ICBC.