Taxis to be exempt from proposed ‘driver-based’ insurance model: association
Posted August 10, 2018 2:44 pm.
Last Updated August 10, 2018 2:48 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – We heard about proposed changes to ICBC from Attorney General David Eby on Thursday.
They included moving towards a “driver-based model” for insurance, where at-fault crashes are tied to drivers instead of vehicle owners.
But what does that mean for the taxi industry? According to Carolyn Bauer from the Vancouver Taxi Association, cabs will be exempt from the changes.
“They’re being looked at largely under a separate process while the government looks at a broader modernization of the Passenger Transportation Act, so there’s no affect to us at this point. There’s nothing that is going to impact the taxi industry.”
She says in Vancouver, each taxi owner currently pays up to $30,000 for insurance every year.
“Of course each fleet has a discount to it. We at Yellow Cab have a discount of 42 per cent, so each taxi is still paying you know $20,000 a year for insurance so we’re looking forward to the process taking place so we can see what we can do with our insurance premiums,” Bauer explains.
“The government right now is looking at modernization that’s been public for quite a few months now. But the government is actually modernizing the passenger transportation industry in its entirety, so ICBC has an involvement in that as well to determine what our premiums will look like going into the future.”
The proposed changes come as ICBC struggles to get out of the red. The Crown Corporation is looking at reviewing a customer’s at-fault crashes in the last 10 years starting on March 1 of last year. Inexperienced drivers would also see a change to their premiums. Premiums will continue to be calculated with each policy starting at a base premium of $1,000; this figure could increase or decrease depending on a number of factors.
Earlier this year, Eby described the Crown corporation as a “financial dumpster fire.”
While the proposed changes would be revenue neutral for ICBC, Eby hopes it’ll lower costs for British Columbians.
The proposed changes still need to be approved by the BC Utilities Commission.
