Car insurance claims in British Columbia

British Columbia changed shape on 1 May 2021, and the date is load-bearing. Part 10 of the Insurance (Vehicle) Act «applies to an accident occurring on or after May 1, 2021» (s. 114(1)), and for those accidents s. 115 says that «despite any other law or enactment», a person «has no right of action and must not commence or maintain proceedings respecting bodily injury caused by a vehicle arising out of an accident». In its place, enhanced accident benefits «are payable by the corporation regardless of who is responsible for the accident» (s. 117). ICBC calls this Enhanced Care; what the statute does is abolish the injury lawsuit and replace it with a no-fault benefit administered by a single public insurer. A crash on 30 April 2021 is still governed by the older tort-plus-Part-7 regime, which is why the date belongs in every sentence about this province.

Section 115 is not absolute, and the exceptions are narrower than they are usually described. Section 116(2) preserves actions for non-pecuniary and punitive damages against a vehicle manufacturer, a seller of vehicles, a maker or supplier of parts, a garage service operator, a liquor licensee, and a person whose use or operation of a vehicle caused bodily injury and «results in the person’s conviction of a prescribed Criminal Code offence». That last gateway is a conviction — not an allegation, and not intoxication as such. Where fault is shared in a surviving action, the Negligence Act apportions liability «in proportion to the degree to which each person was at fault», splitting it equally where different degrees cannot be established (s. 1(1)–(2)), and its definitions reach proceedings in the Civil Resolution Tribunal, where many vehicle-damage disputes actually land. Some non-resident categories are entitled to benefits «only to the extent, expressed as a percentage, that the individual is not responsible for the accident» (s. 119(3)).

Vehicle damage stayed in the ordinary law, so the limitation periods a driver here needs are the ones for property. A court proceeding must be started within two years of discovery (Limitation Act, s. 6(1)), discovery being the first day the person knew or ought to have known that loss occurred, that it was caused by an act or omission, whose act it was, and that a proceeding would be an appropriate remedy (s. 8), with a fifteen-year outer limit (s. 21(1)). Against ICBC the clock is shorter and easy to miss: an action «in respect of benefits, insurance money or indemnification payable under the plan must be commenced within one year after the happening of the loss or damage or after the cause of action arose» (Insurance (Vehicle) Act, s. 17), while the optional contract’s own statutory condition gives two years (Insurance (Vehicle) Regulation, Schedule, condition 8(3)). On payment, the insurer «must pay the insurance money for which it is liable under this contract within 60 days after the proof of loss or statutory declaration has been received by it», or fifteen days after an arbitration award (Schedule, condition 8(1)).

The compulsory third-party limit is two hundred thousand dollars combined for accidents on or after 1 January 1985, higher for buses, taxis and limousines (Insurance (Vehicle) Regulation, s. 67(1) and Schedule 3, s. 1(2)). Since Enhanced Care, the uninsured and hit-and-run sections reach only non-vehicle property — the definition of an uninsured motorist turns on liability for «loss of or damage to non-vehicle property» (s. 20(1)) — and a claim against ICBC as nominal defendant requires written notice «as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event within 6 months after the accident» (s. 24(2)). Out of province, inverse-liability coverage compensates damage to an insured vehicle where the insured has no right of action under local law, with arbitration on the degree of liability (Insurance (Vehicle) Regulation, s. 147). At the scene, the driver must remain or immediately return, render all reasonable assistance, and produce in writing the driver’s and owner’s names and addresses, the licence number and the particulars of the liability insurance card (Motor Vehicle Act, s. 68). The driver-reporting section of that Act was repealed in 2008, and no statutory reporting threshold was found in any instrument of this province, so none is stated here. The Underinsured Motorist Protection limit, the period for claiming enhanced accident benefits, and whether any provision fixes a time for ICBC to decide or pay such a benefit, have not yet been verified against a primary text and are not stated here. Insurers are supervised by the BC Financial Services Authority; complaints about ICBC start with ICBC, whose own complaint page could not be located, so no complaint link is published. Diminished value has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here.