ICBC wants to hike rates by 4.9%, blames soaring injury claims

[Acura604]

I see this 'icbc request' every few years or so... first, they announce a minor rate reduction...and then it gets boosted up again. blah blah.. yah it's cheaper than private out east but these rate hikes always get approved.

WHEN will they adopt a program that is designed to reward GOOD drivers? other than the whole 43% discount thing.




ICBC wants to hike rates by 4.9%, blames soaring injury claims

Buffeted by escalating costs for bodily injury claims, ICBC announced Friday it is applying to the B.C. Utilities Commission for a 4.9-per-cent hike in basic insurance rates effective Nov. 1.

The increase would be about $36 a year for an average driver with only basic insurance. However, for the roughly 80 per cent of motorists who purchase ICBC’s full vehicle insurance, the average increase would equate to about $11 a year, or less than $1 a month, according to the corporation’s interim president and CEO Mark Blucher.

That’s because the increase is offset by a decrease of four per cent in the optional premium, due to a downturn in auto crime and the cutting of employee costs.

ICBC eliminated more than 260 jobs late last year, most of them from a management group that ballooned almost 41 per cent from 2007 to 2011, according to a government audit last August.

After the audit, then-CEO Jon Schubert — who earned $486,541 in pay and bonuses in 2011 — resigned.

“No one likes an increase in costs,” Blucher said in an interview. “We’ve been very focused to keep the net increase as small as possible.”

The basic insurance premium may increase because bodily injury costs hit $1.86 billion in 2012, up more than $165 million from the previous year and more than $400 million from five years ago, according to the corporation.

Costs are expected to top an unprecedented $2 billion this year.

Blucher attributed the trend to several factors, including rising litigation and medical costs, distracted driving such as use of cellphones for texting, small crashes and accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists.

He emphasized that optional insurance rates will be lowered by four per cent, mitigating the overall increase. The decrease was possible because of factors such as continued declines in auto thefts as well as a saving of $50 million in administrative costs.

ICBC rates last increased 11.2 per cent for basic coverage in February 2012. Optional rates decreased by six per cent, resulting in an average increase of $27 for the vast majority of vehicle owners at that time.

Noting that customers dislike sharp rate swings in their auto insurance rates, Blucher said ICBC plans to implement a strategy whereby annual rate changes would be limited to 1.5 per cent, up or down.

ICBC will also launch a distracted driver campaign next week, coinciding with increased police surveillance of such drivers.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the U.S. has reported that the risk of getting into an accident increases by 23 times when text messaging, Blucher said.

The provincial government passed changes to the Motor Vehicle Act effective Jan. 1, 2010, allowing only the use of hands-free cellphones and electronic devices that require only one touch to activate.

“It’s going to take some time, just as drunk driving has, for people to accept that it’s so dangerous ... and eliminate the behaviour in vehicles,” Blucher said.

On the issue of rising litigation costs, he said the number of bodily injury claims involving representation by lawyers has increased 25 per cent over the past decade, representing about 5,000 more represented claims over that period.

Brahm Martz, a Vancouver personal injury lawyer, said in response that ICBC must accept the blame for higher legal costs.

“ICBC over the last year has increasingly pushed matters to trial that would have settled in other times, that should settle,” he said, noting other trial lawyers have made similar observations.

“They’re taking harder positions and making it more difficult for people who are injured to settle.”

Martz said he recently won a $1-million court settlement for an injured electrician who was willing to settle for $350,000. The most that ICBC offered was $185,000. Bodily injury claims cover payouts for pain and suffering, future care and lost wages.

“ICBC has decided to push these cases, to lower the expectations of lawyers and their clients,” he said.

“My job is most properly to protect my clients from litigation. They’re already injured, they don’t need to go through a court system. If we can settle the case, great.”

Crashes in the province involving at least one cyclist totalled about 1,300 in 2008, 1,500 in 2011, and 1,400 in 2012.

[ImportPsycho]

starting Nov 1st eh?
getting ready for their fat Christmas bonus cheques?

[nabs]

Why punish everyone? This is starting to annoy me, I bet a majority of those personal injury claims are fraudulent. I hear people talking about it all the time how they got into an accident and "cashed out." They pretend to be injured taking medication they don't have to, walking in crutches just incase a camera is on them then after they get their money all of a sudden they are like new again. It makes me so pissed off how people abuse the system and in the end starts biting all the other users in the ass. Why not just increase the premiums at the parties at fault to recoup? Why not invest in having a better investigation process to filter out fraudulent claims? There are many other ways ICBC can help reduce this cost but the first thing on their minds is the easiest way out. It's not like we can fight the rate hike as ICBC insurance is needed in order to drive.

[gars]

Originally Posted by Acura604

The increase would be about $36 a year for an average driver with only basic insurance. However, for the roughly 80 per cent of motorists who purchase ICBC’s full vehicle insurance, the average increase would equate to about $11 a year, or less than $1 a month, according to the corporation’s interim president and CEO Mark Blucher.

That’s because the increase is offset by a decrease of four per cent in the optional premium, due to a downturn in auto crime and the cutting of employee costs.

I hate how they hide this in the middle of the article. The title is so misleading.

[dared3vil0]

It's frustrating when you hear people get in minor collision and all of a sudden their back and neck "hurt".

[Traum]

If we really want to see lower insurance rates, we need to raise the bar on our driver training programs and establish higher standards in the driver's licence road tests. Imagine how much money ICBC would save alone if we don't have any of those Richmond C9 crashes?

[jackmeister]

LOL, even if you get basic insurance only, its 36 a year, or 3/month.

Ease up on the gas pedal a little and don't brake too hard and you've already saved more than 3 bucks a month in gas/brake maintenance.

[melloman]

Originally Posted by Acura604

Brahm Martz, a Vancouver personal injury lawyer, said in response that ICBC must accept the blame for higher legal costs.

“ICBC over the last year has increasingly pushed matters to trial that would have settled in other times, that should settle,” he said, noting other trial lawyers have made similar observations.

“They’re taking harder positions and making it more difficult for people who are injured to settle.”

Martz said he recently won a $1-million court settlement for an injured electrician who was willing to settle for $350,000. The most that ICBC offered was $185,000. Bodily injury claims cover payouts for pain and suffering, future care and lost wages.

“ICBC has decided to push these cases, to lower the expectations of lawyers and their clients,” he said.

“My job is most properly to protect my clients from litigation. They’re already injured, they don’t need to go through a court system. If we can settle the case, great.”

Crashes in the province involving at least one cyclist totalled about 1,300 in 2008, 1,500 in 2011, and 1,400 in 2012.

This pisses me off.

ICBC is bringing cases to court, just to try and increase their reputation of being fucking assholes. And now that they find out they're losing tons of money doing this, they are upping the rates to cover their own ass.

Just like how Verizon is going to kick Rogers/Telus/Bell in the ass. We need StateFarm or something to come up here and kick ICBC in the balls.

[Acura604]

yah.. i'm not caring much about the rate hikes..but I want to see the dumb ass drivers get their rates HIKED a lot more. I suppose we can turn this into a "how much do YOU pay for insurance" thread.

I'll start:

08 Acura TL-S
43% disc
$1630 for 2012. (2013 renewal coming in Nov)

[Traum]

Originally Posted by melloman

This pisses me off.

ICBC is bringing cases to court, just to try and increase their reputation of being fucking assholes. And now that they find out they're losing tons of money doing this, they are upping the rates to cover their own ass.

Just like how Verizon is going to kick Rogers/Telus/Bell in the ass. We need StateFarm or something to come up here and kick ICBC in the balls.

In a sensible environment, decision makers that push for this new policy (of taking cases to court) would get their a$$es fired because the policy has backfired on the company. Somehow, I doubt that happens in ICBC...

[VR6GTI]

Cant blame them, with all the fraudulent cases of people getting injured its expected. However ICBC needs better rules on how they handle these type of claims.

[i-VTEC]

Originally Posted by Acura604

yah.. i'm not caring much about the rate hikes..but I want to see the dumb ass drivers get their rates HIKED a lot more. I suppose we can turn this into a "how much do YOU pay for insurance" thread.

I'll start:

08 Acura TL-S
43% disc
$1630 for 2012. (2013 renewal coming in Nov)

08 Acura CSX
43% disc
1 Mil
300/300
Richmond
$17XX for 2013-2014, renewing in two weeks

[jdmfemme]

Compared to other provinces insurance rates, I'm still not complaining. I just wish our claims system was handled better overall. As long as they don't go no-fault like Saskatchewan - yikes.

I just really dislike how ICBC throws a $5,000-$10,000 settlement offer at an injury claim (commonly a false claim for 'ohh, my back and neck hurt') right away to get people to shut up and go away. It seems many people know they can get the money from ICBC for doing that. Then ICBC fights tooth and nail to not pay out on a legit claim. Drives me mental. Maybe it's just me being bitter, which could very well be the case.

This coming from someone who works in the insurance industry as a licensed agent and has been involved in a personal injury claim, (100% not at fault and never thought it would be so hard to get the accident benefits and compensation that you're actually entitled to.)

I pay $110/month for full coverage ($5 million liab., $300/$300 ded's coll/comp, RS+, XUMP)
'88 JDM Honda Prelude
35% Disc.
Driven in Victoria, so I pay 40% less premium than Vancouver.

[lowside67]

2011 GTI, full coverage, 43% discount and no drivers under 10 years - $17xx.

[Gucci Mane]

2011 f150
full coverage, roadside plus package @43% discount. will have roadstar as of next year.
paying $212/mo or just under $2500/yr


if rates go up, they go up. its unfortunately out of our hands.

[Iceman-19]

lol. This turned from an I hate ICBC thread to how much you pay for insurance thread.

I think I pay 1700 ish a year for my dodge ram.

[lowside67]

Originally Posted by Iceman-19

lol. This turned from an I hate ICBC thread to how much you pay for insurance thread.

I think I pay 1700 ish a year for my dodge ram.

Only because the original news article is a stupid piece of inflammatory journalism and it shouldn't have been posted in the first place.

[nsx042003]

is ICBC really cheaper than the east? I know for a fact I can have multiple cars under one policy, and the premium does not double say if there's two cars on the policy.

I miss those the most coming from east coast....Now I can't drive a diferent one every other day.

[westopher]

It sucks, because its so easy for dishonest people to take advantage of dishonest insurance companies thereby fucking average people in the ass.

[320icar]

I thought icbc just raised the rates 12% like one or two years ago?

Fuck these guys, what a gross overpowered monopoly
Posted via RS Mobile

[Sunfighter]

2009 Range Rover Sport
Full coverage (Burnaby) at 43% with Road Star
$1824 a year

2007 Honda CBR600RR
Full Coverage (Burnaby)
$1332 a year

I got my license in 1998 and (knock on wood) I have NEVER had a claim, scratched my bumper or hit a curb... I drive about 30,000kms a year (sometimes a little more)...

I don't think my rates are absurd at all - but I do dislike the sheer number of injury claims. Cars are safer than ever in history, they are engineered to absorb the energy in a crash and yet personal injury claims continue to climb? Either the sheer number of claims is skyrocketing (which is possible) or we are licensing people who shouldn't be on the road...

[Traum]

Originally Posted by nsx042003

is ICBC really cheaper than the east? I know for a fact I can have multiple cars under one policy, and the premium does not double say if there's two cars on the policy.

I think the answer to that is both yes and no, with "the East" really just meaning Ontario to most people. For drivers under 25 (esp if you are a male), you get royally raped in the a$$ on car insurance. For lowest risk drivers (usually those in the 40-50 categories), insurance is a bit cheaper than what BC's best drivers ge. But the moment you get into an accident, insurance premiums either skyrocket, or you might find yourself having difficulty getting any insurance at all.

Many auto insurance companies in Ontario also have draconian policies when it comes to modifications. For example, TD Auto Insurance told me they do not insure any lowered vehicles.

[Lomac]

Comparing insurance prices is kinda pointless, guys. Unless you're giving out information such as your deductibles, how much third-party insurance, less or more than 15km, where you live, etc., it's like saying how far your car can go on one tank of gas without saying how big your tank is.

[Mancini]

OP, you want to be rewarded in a way other than the 43% discount? How does that work? You'd be paying half the rate of a less experienced driver with one at fault accident.

I'm not saying I like ICBC. I worked as an adjuster (not auto) for years and they have a tainted reputation even within the industry.
Posted via RS Mobile

[dared3vil0]

We should start a thread to see who has the most expensive insurance...