ICBC applying for insurance rate hike

[Urbane]

Very well said twobits. I agree totally.

[my5cents]

Ditto, that's exactly what should happen, twobits.

[zzontar]

Ditto to the ditto. I'd like to hear a rebuttal if one exists.

[John500]

Ditto to ditto to ditto.
So any lawyer willing to take on ICBC......or is the monopoly so powerfull that we just let is slide?

[Glacier]

Semi-ditto. I don't entirely agree because forecasts are never 100% accurate, rendering surpluses inevitable half the time. Seriously, who could have predicted the huge drop in accident claims last year or the spike in traffic fatalities this year?

[my5cents]

There is one nagging question in my mind and I haven't had the time to research it, maybe someone else knows the answer.

A number of years back and just before an election, ICBC gave every motorist, or everyone who had a vehicle registered, not sure which, a rebate of a hundred, or two hundred dollars. This might have been just before the Liberals first got in.

I don't know if the government in power was the NDP or the Liberals. It was, of course, strongly suspected that this rebate was a form of "incentive" to think kindly of the government and perhaps vote that way.

Not long after, legislation was enacted that stated that ICBC had to be run at arms length from the government and did not take financial direction (my words) from the government. I believe at that same time the ICBC rates had to be approved by some type of board.

Now, probably the difference here is that since, ICBC has been split (technically) into the "mandatory" side and the "optional" side and perhaps the government can still bleed off money from one of those sides.

The legislation was intended to stop ICBC from being used politically.

I know when the Liberals first took power, ICBC feared the worst and you may recall that there was all sorts of talk about privatization. ICBC began cutting staff like crazy in preparation for tight scrutiny from the Liberals. As soon as they took power, the Liberals dumped the previous CEO and placed Nick Geer as CEO. It was thought that Geer was going to dismantle ICBC for the Liberals.

It seemed after rolling up his sleeves and examining the inside workings of ICBC Geer felt it was worthwhile, to the distain of the Liberals, they then dumped him.

After that, there wasn't much talk about privatization and it appeared that the government had figured out that it was a great "cash cow"

I'm sure though, at some point their was some legislation restricting exactly what is happening now.

[Captain Awesome]

That's a lot of I Don't Know's and Not Quite Sure's for a post that ends "I'm sure that..."

[my5cents]

That's a lot of I Don't Know's and Not Quite Sure's for a post that ends "I'm sure that..."

Ya think ?

[Sn0man]

Economic recovery?

Seriously? What economic recovery?

Besides that - *that* many people stopped driving and now that things are booming again (are they?) more people are driving and crashing than before? Huh?

I was thinking the exact same thing.

Perhaps ICBC needs to raise their rates to make up for all the discounts they have to give out due to less driving and less crashes over the last few years. I've been so "busy" for the last 24 months due to the "booming economy" i've put a total of about 10,000 km on my truck. Its a lose lose situation with ICBC. And this Province, for that matter.

[alisvolatpropriis]

Economic recovery?

Seriously? What economic recovery?

Besides that - *that* many people stopped driving and now that things are booming again (are they?) more people are driving and crashing than before? Huh?

I was thinking the exact same thing.

Perhaps ICBC needs to raise their rates to make up for all the discounts they have to give out due to less driving and less crashes over the last few years. I've been so "busy" for the last 24 months due to the "booming economy" i've put a total of about 10,000 km on my truck. Its a lose lose situation with ICBC. And this Province, for that matter.

A private auto company here in BC just stopped offering Auto insurance, because there were too many claims. They were paying out more then bringing in.