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The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (“ICBC”) is a unique insurance organization for a number of reasons:
1) ICBC is a Crown or publicly owned corporation.
2) The administration of the Corporation’s insurance plan is governed by Regulations under the Insurance (Motor Vehicle) Act of British Columbia, (i.e. Part 7, Part 6, Part 9 etc.)
3) ICBC operates on a not-for-profit basis, though it does run surpluses in some years.
4) ICBC holds a Provincial monopoly for primary auto insurance products, most notably basic Third Party Liability (Part 6), as well as Accident Benefits (Part 7) and basic Uninsured Motorist Protection (“UMP”) (Part 10).
5) ICBC has a virtual monopoly as it has close to a 90% market share B.C. on optional auto insurance products such as excess Third Party Liability, Own Damage Coverage (Part 9), and excess UMP.
6) It is responsible for the handling of unidentified and uninsured motorist claims in B.C. (Part 8).
7) In addition to possessing its own comprehensive computer databases, ICBC has direct access to some of the Vehicle Branch’s databases; and
8) As a monopoly auto insurer with comprehensive databases, ICBC has access to a wide spectrum of information.
In many respects, however, ICBC is very much like other insurance companies. This website will attempt to demystify ICBC. |
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When you are involved in a Vehicle accident, often times calmer heads are not prevailing and so you may not remember to do everything necessary to help you on liability claims and address your statutory requirements.
Having said that, when at the accident scene, if you can get the following information it would be helpful for your claim:
1) Get the names, addresses, phone numbers and driver’s license numbers of the drivers of all the Vehicles involved in the accident, regardless of who is at fault for the accident and how minor the accident is;
2) Have a look at the insurance of each of the Vehicles involved in the accident so as to get the names of the registered owner and the insurance details;
3) Write down the plate numbers, including Province, of all the vehicles involved in the accident;
4) If a Vehicle involved in the accident is registered outside British Columbia make sure you get the name of the insurance company;
5) Find out the names and contact information of any witnesses; and
6) Within 24 hours, take some notes about how the accident happened and draw a sketch of the accident scene.
7) Make sure to take some pictures of the accident. If you keep a camera in your vehicle use that, if not at least be sure to take some pictures with a camera phone.
The Motor Vehicle Act requires all individuals involved in a vehicle accident to remain at the accident scene, to render assistance and to exchange vehicle registration and license information with all parties involved in the accident. The Vehicle Act also requires those involved in the accident to report the accident to the local police force within 24 hours in urban areas and within 48 hours in rural areas. The need to report only applies if the damages exceed $1,000 ($600 if a motorcycle is involved). When in doubt, it is best to simply report the accident to the police as soon as possible.
If you have been injured in a vehicle accident, it is very important to see a doctor as soon as possible not only to help in your recovery but also to avoid the argument from ICBC that you were not injured in the accident because you never sought early medical treatment. |
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Like any big company with thousands of employees, you are going to come across a wide variety of personalities and approaches taken by the adjusters. Usually, your initial claim will be assigned randomly to an adjuster based on workflow at the claim center and the location where you live/work. You really do not have a lot of control over which adjuster is assigned to the file.
While some adjusters are genuinely concerned over injured claimants, you should never assume that the ICBC adjuster is working for you. Although the adjuster may say that you are the customer, the reality of the situation is that the adjuster’s performance is considered, in part, on how little the adjuster spends on a claim.
Two of the criteria under which an adjuster is marked on performance are “allocated expenses” and “severities”. Allocated expenses are the amount the adjuster spends per file on such things as ordering doctor reports, defense lawyer costs, etc… Severities is an adjusting term for the amount paid out per file.
Obviously, the lower the allocated expenses and severities are, the better the adjuster is ranked amongst his/her colleagues. Hence, you may be mistaken if you think the adjuster is looking out for you. Unless the adjuster does not care much about performance yardsticks, the chances are the adjuster will be looking out to minimize the amount paid out on your claim.
An ICBC adjuster wears two hats. The first hat is where they suggest they are working for you to help you with your claim. The second hat is where the adjuster is trying to minimize the amount paid out to you regardless of what you truly deserve as a result of your injuries. |
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ICBC has a monopoly on basic insurance coverage meaning that they are usually involved in almost every Vehicle accident case. However, on occasion you will also be involved with other insurance companies.
Over time, the British Columbia public has been purchasing excess insurance at a greater frequency from non-ICBC insurance companies. Generally, you will never find out about this excess insurance except when you have a serious claim, which is worth more than $200,000, and the at-fault motorist has excess coverage with a non-ICBC insurance company.
In that situation, the non-ICBC insurance company will want to be involved in making decisions on settlement and on the defense. The involvement of the non-ICBC insurance company generally does not affect your claim except ICBC has a tendency to be more careful in defending the claim when they have another insurance company looking over their shoulders. Also, you have the potential of one or more of the insurance companies playing hardball against you.
If you are the driver that caused the accident and you purchased excess insurance with a non-ICBC insurance company then you will have to get the non-ICBC insurance company involved in the vehicle repair along with any claim that is being advanced against you by the other motorists and his/her passengers.
The second way that you come across a non-ICBC insurance company is where a Vehicle is driven into the Province from either the United States or from another province. The biggest problem you will face is that the non-ICBC insurance companies from outside British Columbia are not use to the fact that the awards of damages in British Columbia tend to be higher than anywhere else in Canada. Also, in most instances, the ICBC statutory coverage for such things as Part VII benefits (no fault benefits) tend to be more generous than in other jurisdictions.
Therefore, you have to get around the conservative mindset of these other insurance companies and also, at times, educate them.
If the at-fault vehicle is insured by a non-ICBC insurance company then it does cause other problems such as trying to get compensation from ICBC for Part VII benefits and compensation from the other insurance company for your other claims. Invariably, the insurance companies try to point fingers at each other in an effort to make each other pay.
The one big advantage of having a non-ICBC insurance company is that they are generally less willing to go to trial because ICBC has developed the reputation of being very litigious at times, particularly out of certain claim centres.
Whenever another insurance company is involved in the claim it usually makes the claim more complicated simply because of the interplay between ICBC and the other insurance company. |
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When two or more vehicles are involved in an accident where there is a contentious issue on liability, ICBC generally has an adjuster working for each motorist to determine the apportionment of liability between the motorists. Generally speaking, the adjusters will negotiate amongst themselves in the absence of the motorists and make an internal decision at ICBC on the apportionment of liability between the motorists.
If you are lucky, your adjuster will actually interview the independent witnesses in detail and make a reasoned decision. If you are unlucky, the adjuster will take a halfhearted approach to the determination of liability and just make a decision quickly without much investigation.
ICBC seldom considers the driver or his/her passenger’s evidence unless it helps the other motorist. This is due to the perception of bias. ICBC, however, relies heavily on independent witnesses.
If there is doubt, ICBC often finds the two motorists equally at fault (50% each). There is an incentive for ICBC to split liability down the middle as the safe driving discount of both drivers is then affected.
Contrary to what ICBC may tell you, the ICBC internal determination of liability is not binding on you unless you simply accept ICBC’s position at face value. The unfortunate part is that if you do not like ICBC’s internal determination of liability you have the onus of overturning that decision. Without you overturning the decision, the internal decision of ICBC on liability will be the final say on the matter.
You have the option of asking ICBC for an internal review, which involves a review of the issue of liability by committee at ICBC. Alternatively, your other option is to proceed to Small Claims/ Supreme Court on the issue of liability. The lawsuit requires that you sue the other motorists involved in the accident but not ICBC. If the Court decision is different than the one ICBC made internally than the Court decision stands.
Unfortunately, if you want to pursue the issue of liability in Court, ICBC will appoint a lawyer to represent the motorist you are suing. Therefore, you will be up against a lawyer unless you hire your own lawyer.
In making a decision on whether or not to dispute liability, you should look at the percentage of fault apportioned against you based on ICBC’s decision. A finding of 25% or less fault again you will not affect your safe driving.
The ICBC determination on liability has some bearing on the outcome of your personal injury claim in the sense that ICBC’s position on the claim will be affected by their views on liability. If they feel, for example, you are 50% at fault of the accident then they will only pay $0.50 on the dollar for your claim.
If your personal injury matter goes to trial on damages and liability, the finding of liability by the court will supersede the ICBC decision.
You should note that if ICBC initially found you 0% at fault for the accident and you have a personal injury claim, it does not prevent ICBC, in your personal injury action, from claiming there is liability against you. In other words, when it is in ICBC’s interest, they do not necessarily follow their own internal determination on liability. |
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