ICBC is required to pay your out-of-pocket expenses, called special damages, reasonably incurred because the injuries suffered in the accident. They generally require you to produce receipts, which substantiate each expense.
Unfortunately, most individuals do not do a very good job of keeping receipts for various expenses. Hence, ICBC gets away with not paying a lot of out-of-pocket expenses. For example, how many people who go to a store and purchase Extra Strength Tylenol because of headaches from the car accident actually keep the receipts and submit them to ICBC?
The best things to do are, whenever you incur any expense reasonably attributable to your injuries, put the receipt in a folder for safekeeping and keep a spreadsheet of the expenses.
There is no limit on the out-of-pocket expenses you can submit in an ICBC claim so long as the expenses are reasonable and necessary to deal with the injuries suffered in the accident. The fact that you are spending money on getting better helps your claim because ICBC will have a harder time arguing that you have failed to mitigate your damages by not trying to get better through exercise or treatment. Also, the more you spend on your claim, the easier it is to prove your injury claim.
If at all possible, you should follow your doctor and therapists’ advice and try to fund the out-of-pocket expenses necessary to help you in your recovery. The expenses could include going to therapy, hiring a housekeeper, purchasing prescription medication, etc.
In some states in the USA, a system has developed where the amount paid out on any injury claim is directly correlated to the amount of medical expenses incurred by the injured party in his/her recovery. ICBC does not work under the same practice but hints of the USA system do creep into the decision-making process at ICBC.
The other thing you should do is keep track of your various medical and therapy visits because you are entitled to a mileage claim to and from the medical/therapy centre.
If you want to maximize your recovery for out-of-pocket expenses incurred because of your injuries, accurate record keeping is essential. The more you can spend on reasonable out-of-pocket expenses the better off you are in your ICBC claim because the expenses illustrate the severity of your injuries and prevent ICBC from arguing that you failed to mitigate your damages by not following treatment recommendations.
