I hope you didn't just buy basic! :heckno:

To be fair, I'd say the only major difference between BC and Ontario auto insurance is, you need to cross shop with a shxtload of insurance providers to make sure you aren't getting ripped off. And good luck trying to insure anything that is even slightly modified.

I obviously don't have intimate knowledge of how auto insurance works across Canada, but IMO, the Ontario system has to be the absolute worst in the country, both in terms of troublesome and cost. I know ICBC has its gargantuan share of problems, but in comparison to Ontario, we have it easy...

$179 per month really sounds like it is just basic liability -- $500k, IIRC. When I was renewing, my agent told me that they typically recommend $3M liability now.

I guess that's how much a typical Richmond C9 will sue you for when you ding their Land Rover? FailFish

179 is $2M liability, so its a step above basic.

I just bought and registered a used car also in BC and am also relatively new to BC (originally from Australia, got my BC licence end of last year).

This was what I was told when I went to register and buy insurance:

For the compulsory ICBC third party liability (only up to $200,000):
- For new to BC drivers they can recognise up to 8 years of no-claim time in your previous province or country of residence. You get 5% discount per year, up to 40%. They don't care about any driving history earlier than 8 years ago, eg you could have had a claim 9 years ago and it won't affect your discount. You need to have either of had an insurance policy in your name or be a named driver on a policy in order to get the discount, and you need to provide a letter from your old insurance company. You have up to six months to provide this letter, and they will backdate and refund your discount. It's easiest though if you have the letter already when you go to buy your insurance - so if you're contemplating buying a car, contact your old insurance company and get it ready.

For additional optional coverage (collision, comprehensive, extra liability) it depends on the insurance company. For ICBC you can get a discount for no-claim history of up to 8 years (like above) and there is also an additional discount if all drivers have 10+ years of holding a driver's licence. They didn't ask me for any proof that I had a licence for 10+ years, they just asked me and took my word for it. Make sure you ask for the 10+ licence holder discount - the first time I went in for a quote no-one told me about it and only the second time when I was buying and asked what ways I could make it cheaper, was I asked if I had been driving for more than 10 years.

When I looked at other private companies for my optional insurance, it seemed that in general for "new to BC" drivers the rates were much more expensive privately compared with the ICBC rates.

Hope this helps someone :)