B.C. set to have Canadaâs most expensive auto insurance: taxpayers federation
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says drivers in B.C. will soon be paying the highest insurance rates in Canada, and is calling ICBC an âoutdated monopoly.â John Hua reports.
B.C. is about to assume a title that few drivers are likely to be proud of: the most expensive place to buy auto insurance in the country.
Thatâs according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), which noted in a Friday news release that the average cost of insurance will shoot up to $1,680 next year with a rate hike.
Coverage of ICBC on Globalnews.ca:
ICBC and police ramp up efforts to crackdown on distracted drivers
ICBC and police ramp up efforts to crackdown on distracted drivers
ICBC planning rate hikes to deal with deficits
âThe cupboard is bareâ: B.C. attorney general announces ICBC rate hike
Most drivers think someone else is at fault, ICBC driving study shows
ICBC considering raising premiums by 30%
That cost would put B.C. over Ontario, which used to have Canadaâs most expensive average insurance when it cost $1,458 in 2015.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada confirmed both those numbers.
âEvery other province, every other driver has an average lower insurance rate than we do here in B.C.,â Kris Sims, the B.C. director for the CTF, told Global News.
âAnd we have no choice, we have to stick with ICBC.â
The Insurance Bureau said Ontarioâs rates have been stable, or dropping.
But B.C.âs have just kept on rising â and itâs not a popular trend with drivers.
âIt just keeps going up,â said one. âThey say one thing and bring it up another way.â
Traffic merging between Knight Street and Southeast Marine Drive in Vancouver.
Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press
ICBC didnât make a spokesperson available to speak on camera. But it questioned the numbers from both parties.
Sims said B.C. drivers need more options for buying insurance.
âWe need to change this corporation and we need choice when it comes to insurance,â she said.
At least one commuter agreed with her.
âI think if we had competition then they wouldnât be able to keep jacking up prices,â he said.
© 2017 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Editor's Picks
Meltdown and Spectre bugs: How to protect your devices from the security chip flaw
Here's how a U.S. federal marijuana crackdown could affect Canada
Lost jobs, cut hours, no paid breaks. Do minimum wage hikes hurt workers?
Canadian officials wondered if Cuba staff imagined symptoms from mysterious attacks
As Germany cracks down hard on online hate, is Canada next?
Sen. Lynn Beyak publishes âoutright racistâ comments about Indigenous people on her Senate website
Bomb cyclone? What's next for Eastern Canada's brutally cold winter
Iran's deadly protests: Why thousands are clashing with the government
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.