The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (“ICBC”) is a unique insurance organization for a number of reasons:
1) ICBC is a Crown or publicly owned corporation.
2) The administration of the Corporation’s insurance plan is governed by Regulations under the Insurance (Motor Vehicle) Act of British Columbia, (i.e. Part 7, Part 6, Part 9 etc.)
3) ICBC operates on a not-for-profit basis, though it does run surpluses in some years.
4) ICBC holds a Provincial monopoly for primary auto insurance products, most notably basic Third Party Liability (Part 6), as well as Accident Benefits (Part 7) and basic Uninsured Motorist Protection (“UMP”) (Part 10).
5) ICBC has a virtual monopoly as it has close to a 90% market share B.C. on optional auto insurance products such as excess Third Party Liability, Own Damage Coverage (Part 9), and excess UMP.
6) It is responsible for the handling of unidentified and uninsured motorist claims in B.C. (Part 8).
7) In addition to possessing its own comprehensive computer databases, ICBC has direct access to some of the Vehicle Branch’s databases; and
8) As a monopoly auto insurer with comprehensive databases, ICBC has access to a wide spectrum of information.
In many respects, however, ICBC is very much like other insurance companies. This website will attempt to demystify ICBC.