ICBC is filing an application with the British Columbia Utilities Commission, Aug. 25 to ask for the 4.9-per cent rate hike, effective Nov. 1. Last year ICBC raised rates by 5.5 per cent.

 

ICBC wants to increase insurance rates by an average of $3.50 per month for basic coverage in order to offset costs caused by an increased number of claims and the rising cost of settling those claims.

The provincial insurance corporation said it is asking the British Columbia Utilities Commission to approve a 4.9 per cent rate increase because it says “external pressures” on insurance rates in B.C.  are “accelerating.”

“We certainly don’t like to have to ask our customers to pay more but these external pressures are very real and they have created a perfect storm which we are struggling to hold off,” Mark Blucher, president and CEO of ICBC said in a written release.

ICBC is filing an application with the British Columbia Utilities Commission, Aug. 25 to ask for the 4.9-per cent rate hike, effective Nov. 1. Last year ICBC raised rates by 5.5 per cent.

Blucher said the number of vehicle crashes across B.C. rose 15 per cent between 2013 and 2015.

Source: CBC