B.C. set to have Canada’s most expensive auto insurance: taxpayers federation

B.C. is about to assume a title that few drivers are likely to be proud of: the most expensive place to buy auto insurance in the country.

That’s according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), which noted in a Friday news release that the average cost of insurance will shoot up to $1,680 next year with a rate hike.

Coverage of ICBC on Globalnews.ca:

1:57 ICBC and police ramp up efforts to crackdown on distracted drivers

• ICBC and police ramp up efforts to crackdown on distracted drivers
• ICBC planning rate hikes to deal with deficits
• ‘The cupboard is bare’: B.C. attorney general announces ICBC rate hike
• Most drivers think someone else is at fault, ICBC driving study shows
• ICBC considering raising premiums by 30%

Previous Video

Next Video

That cost would put B.C. over Ontario, which used to have Canada’s most expensive average insurance when it cost $1,458 in 2015.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada confirmed both those numbers.

“Every other province, every other driver has an average lower insurance rate than we do here in B.C.,” Kris Sims, the B.C. director for the CTF, told Global News.

“And we have no choice, we have to stick with ICBC.”

READ MORE: ICBC seeks 6.4% basic rate increase after losing $500M last year

The Insurance Bureau said Ontario’s rates have been stable, or dropping.

But B.C.’s have just kept on rising — and it’s not a popular trend with drivers.

“It just keeps going up,” said one. “They say one thing and bring it up another way.”

View image in full screen

ICBC didn’t make a spokesperson available to speak on camera. But it questioned the numbers from both parties.

Sims said B.C. drivers need more options for buying insurance.

“We need to change this corporation and we need choice when it comes to insurance,” she said.

At least one commuter agreed with her.

“I think if we had competition then they wouldn’t be able to keep jacking up prices,” he said.