With the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) continuing to draw criticism for its monopoly on the province’s auto insurance market, critics are now claiming that the Crown company is purposefully making it difficult for private auto insurers to open shop in the area.
According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), private insurance companies are essentially unable to operate in BC because they cannot access the driving history of residents – information the ICBC holds.
“The reality is, ICBC blocks them from doing so because it doesn’t give other insures access to a driver’s history or other information that they need to price and sell insurance in British Columbia,” said IBC Pacific vice-president Aaron Sutherland in a statement to News 1130.
However, Attorney General David Eby retorted, saying that drivers can easily access their 20-year driving history online, then hand it over to whichever insurance company they choose.
“It would be indefensible, in my mind, that we refuse to provide drivers with their claims history to then go and get quotes from private insurers,” Eby maintained. “They should be able to do that and in fact they can.”
Eby continued to explain that the process to pull up driving records online is incredibly simple to carry out, and that he has “no idea what the IBC is talking about.”
“What I do know is that they say they can provide cheaper insurance and they don’t do it,” the attorney general stated.
Sutherland said that while drivers can access their records online, ICBC is fundamentally creating a barrier to cheaper insurance options by forcing customers to go through the process. He added that records must be accessible between companies.
“They won’t allow other insurers to access it and without that information, other companies can’t price their products and so they don’t come to British Columbia to give British Columbians a choice in auto insurance,” the vice-president reasoned.
News 1130 reported that Eby remains adamant in his stance, and that he believes the IBC is making an issue out of nothing.
