Today, BC’s auto insurance system involves high legal costs which directly impact the insurance rates you pay. Under Enhanced Care coverage, in most situations you will not be able to sue the driver responsible for a crash. However, you won’t need to, because Enhanced Care coverage offers care, recovery and wage-loss benefits for as long as you need them – even if that’s for a lifetime. 

By largely removing the legal costs out of insurance, we are able to pass these savings on to customers. If you have ICBC full Basic and Optional coverage, you will see an average of 20% reduction in insurance premiums. While there are more factors involved with commercial fleet and non-fleet insurance, if your fleet operates exclusively in BC and on-highway, your business should see these savings. 

 

No, there are some exceptions such as:

There will still be independent options to help customers resolve disputes and some situations where taking legal action against a dangerous driver or negligent party is possible. Government is also taking steps to ensure British Columbians will be treated fairly when they have a claim with ICBC. 

Yes, when you leave BC, the laws of the other jurisdiction apply. For instance, if you are responsible for a crash in Alberta you can be sued under their tort model. If you travel outside the province, you can choose to purchase Extended Third Party Liability insurance that would respond to a lawsuit outside of BC.​

Yes, just like today the minimum Third Party Liability coverage you are required to have is $200,000. For commercial vehicles, mandatory minimum Basic Third Party Liability coverage may be $1M or $2M. There are no plans at present to change the minimum limit.

Yes, Extended Third Party Liability will continue to be necessary. For example for off-highway crashes, non-vehicle property damage or out of province crashes, however the risk will be lower. The current options for Extended Third Party Liability will remain the same.

Generally, Third Party Liability will cost less if you primarily drive within BC. At renewal, it will be important for you and your broker to have a discussion about travelling outside of BC to ensure you purchase sufficient Third Party Liability coverage for tort jurisdictions. 

If you have vehicles that are primarily used outside of BC, you will see less savings or no savings.   The reason for this is because the limitation on suing is in BC only, outside of BC the laws of the other jurisdiction apply. If you operate solely in BC your risk of being sued is much lower than if you operate both inside and outside of BC. You can purchase Extended Third Party Liability coverage for vehicles that operate outside of the province but this will reduce the amount of savings brought on by Enhance Care. Please note that amount of reduction of savings is dependent on territory of use.

If the crash happens in a jurisdiction that allows the party that is not responsible to sue the responsible party, Extended Third Party Liability will be required to provide adequate coverage. Enhanced Accident Benefits will apply to the BC driver even outside the province and regardless of who is responsible for the crash. 

Non-standard vehicles that operate off-highway will no longer be eligible for Third Party Liability while operating off-highway. 

This change will happen as your policy expires not as of May 1, 2021, so if you have a policy that expires after May 1, 2021, it will continue to cover you until its expiry date, at that time you can choose to purchase the additional coverage if you would like this risk covered. At renewal, it will be important for you and your broker to discuss your coverage options. ICBC will offer an Optional Off-Highway Third Party Liability product for non-standard vehicles. This product will be subject to a limit of $200,000. 

The definition of a non-standard vehicle, per Legislation Bill 11

Some examples of non-standard vehicles include mobile cranes, farm tractors, logging machinery, golf carts, farm tractors and off-road vehicles. 

The definition of a highway per the Motor Vehicle Act

A simple way to determine if your vehicle is non-standard is to ask the following two questions:

If the answer is yes to both these questions, the vehicle will be affected by changes to Basic Third Party Liability for non-standard vehicles off-highway. This vehicle may be eligible to purchase Off-Highway Third Party Liability on the APV250 starting May 1. 

If no, then the vehicle is either considered standard or it is non-standard but does not carry ICBC insurance today. If a non-standard vehicle does not carry ICBC insurance today, there is no real change/ impact for them as the risk is current state. If you would like Off-Highway Third Party Liability coverage in the future, you should discuss your options with an Autoplan broker. They will first check that the vehicle can be licenced and insured with restricted plate and then they can add Off-Highway Third Party Liability coverage.

There will be no change to the on-highway licensing and insurance requirements for non-standard vehicles eligible for the ORV, “R” or “X” plates.  However, the impact of removing lawsuits applies to ORV’s, “R” and “X” plates as it applies to regular plated vehicles if the crash is on-highway.

When driving on-highway with a valid license and insurance, the lawsuit ban applies and these vehicles will still be able to access any applicable insurance on through their plates. 

For licensed and insured non-standard vehicles operating off-highway the lawsuit ban will not apply and you can be sued. However, the basic Third Party Liability will no longer respond. If you would like Third Party Liability on these vehicles while off-highway you will have the option to purchase a non-standard off-highway third party liability optional product. This product will be available for purchase through your APV250.

Other sources of ICBC Off-Highway Third Party Liability Coverage for non-standard vehicles outside the APV250:  

For non-standard vehicles operating off-highway (e.g. a licensed and insured excavator causing injuries off-highway) you will have the option to purchase Off-Highway Third Party Liability.

There will be no change to the on-highway licensing and insurance requirements for non-standard vehicles like forklifts in the future. On-highway, when operating with a valid license and insurance, the lawsuit ban applies equally to these vehicles as it does to standard vehicles.​

As a result of the move to first party coverage, Basic Vehicle Damage coverage represents a change in the way your vehicle repair costs are paid for when you’re not responsible for a crash. It works like this: if you’re driving in BC and another driver crashes into your vehicle, your own Basic Vehicle Damage Coverage will cover the costs of your vehicle damage (up to the extent that you are not responsible for the crash). 

You likely won’t notice any change when you make a vehicle damage claim. You can rest assured knowing that when you’re not responsible for a crash, your Basic insurance will cover you for up to $200,000. 

Basic coverage will cover repairs to your own vehicle to the extent you are not responsible. Just like today, if you are not responsible for the crash, the claim will not impact your insurances rates. 

Situations in which Basic Vehicle Damage Coverage would not apply:

Collision will continue to cover your vehicle damage for crashes when you are responsible.  

The Basic Vehicle Damage coverage limit is $200,000. If you have a vehicle valued over this limit and typically do not purchase collision coverage today, you may choose to purchase collision if you’d like to be covered for additional vehicle damage above the $200,000 limit.  At renewal, you should discuss your options with your broker because you will no longer be able to sue for damage even when you are not responsible. 

Instead of recovering the cost of your vehicle repairs from the insurance policy of the driver responsible for the crash through their third party liability, your own insurance will cover you through this new first party coverage. Just like today, the claim will not impact your insurance premiums as you did not cause the crash. 

Like today, if you cause a crash, your optional collision coverage will pay for the repairs to your vehicle. However, as the driver responsible for the crash, your future insurance premiums could be impacted. 

If you don’t have collision coverage from either ICBC or another provider, you will be responsible for the repairs.

No, you will have access to the limit in Basic Vehicle Damage coverage per claim and per vehicle. 

Basic Vehicle Damage coverage will cover any damage to your vehicle up to $200 000.  The cost of repair above that would be the responsibility of the policy holder if collision coverage is not included on the policy to respond to damages above $200 000.

Examples of vehicles that will only be covered up to $200k and are not eligible for collision coverage include mobile cranes, logging machinery and crawlers. Please work with your broker on the best policy that will work for your specific needs. There is no change to the vehicles that are currently excluded from ICBC Collision coverage. 

A hit and run happens when an unidentified driver damages your vehicle or injures you and leaves the scene of the crash.  Starting May 1, 2021, vehicle damage coverage from a hit and run changes from a Basic coverage to an Optional coverage.

This change means all policyholders will no longer subsidize coverage for hit and run incidents, making premiums fairer. It also makes BC’s coverage for hit and run consistent with most other jurisdictions across Canada. 

 

There will continue to be a statutory fund for non-vehicle property damage.

If you buy Collision coverage, you are still protected from a hit and run. This coverage is subject to your deductible.

 

If you do not carry Collision and you want to make sure you are protected from a hit and run, you can either add Collision coverage to your policy or add the new Hit and Run optional coverage. If a company selects the Hit and Run optional coverage, it will only provide coverage for Hit and Run incidents on BC highways. Collision responds to Out of Province hit and run claims.

All British Columbians, regardless of whether they have any insurance coverage, will be covered for any injuries resulting from a hit and run, under ICBC’s Enhanced Accident Benefits.

The deductible is $750. However, if you purchase Collision instead of the Hit and Run coverage you can work with your broker to determine what deductible works best for your needs.

No, if you’ve purchased Collision coverage it will cover any hit and run claims. You cannot carry both coverages. 

No, APV4 (garage) and APV90 (blanket fleet) policies will not be eligible for the ICBC Optional Hit and Run product.  

The Retro program continues to be a voluntary, performance based program. If your fleet has more than 200 vehicles or if your insurance premiums after the fleet discount are $100,000 or more, you remain eligible for the Retro program. 

The overall program directives and eligibility criteria will remain the same after May 1, 2021. You will continue to receive an adjustment at 6, 18 and 30 months based on your fleets’ claims. 

Once Enhanced Care is in effect, the claims included in your fleet Retro loss ratio calculation will be changing. In addition to what is already included, the following claims will be included if one of your drivers is fully or partially responsible for a crash on or after May 1, 2021:

Third Party Liability, for when you're responsible for a crash, will also be included, and we expect these premiums will be lower due to lawsuit limitations under Enhanced Care. 

The changes only come into effect on May 1, 2021, so there will be no change in the claims included in the loss ratio for crashes that occur before May 1, 2021.

If you are currently participating in the Retro program, please contact your broker or email the Commercial Underwriting team at fleet.underwriting@icbc.com to discuss your options. 

No, there are no changes to the capping levels. Today, Third Party Liability on its own is capped. Under Enhanced Care, a combined total of Third Party Liability, Basic Vehicle Damage Coverage, Enhanced Accident Benefits and Income Top-Up will be capped.​