More than 400 customers have been hit with hefty penalties for failing to properly list the drivers of their vehicle under ICBC’s new rules.
In September of last year, the provincial Crown corporation introduced a new rate model designed to better align the cost of insurance with a driver’s risk level. Among the changes was the addition of the Unlisted Driver Accident Premium — a stiff charge that customers can face after a crash caused by someone who regularly drives the vehicle, yet who isn’t listed on the policy.
But don’t call it a fine: ICBC avoided the f-word in their July 9 statement reminding customers about UDAP, which is simply a one-time financial charge for doing something that you’re not allowed to do anymore.
Under the new rules, customers purchasing insurance are required to list everyone who will drive the vehicle for 12 days or more in a calendar year so that their premium accurately reflects the combined risk of all drivers.
The purpose of this adjustment, ICBC said, is to reduce fraud “and better ensure customers don’t choose intentionally to avoid listing higher-risk drivers on their policy.”
A crash that reveals the fraud triggers UDAP. While the cost varies by case because it’s calculated, in part, after reassessing a policyholder’s premiums with the higher-risk driver now included, the average amount is about $2,971.
An estimated 444 B.C. drivers are facing this charge, ICBC said this week.
The insurance corporation offered an example of a Metro Vancouver couple in their fifties.
One person had no crashes on their record while their partner had three at-fault crashes in 2018, and thus was was not listed on the policy — which was calculated at $2,800, rather than $3,900 — as a result.
But a fourth at-fault accident this year triggered UDAP and the couple was assessed an $8,140 charge before ICBC waived an optional portion of the premium adjustment, reducing the charge to $5,000.
ICBC is offering this same adjustment to anyone else affected in the first year of the new rules.
“Recognizing that this new model is an adjustment for British Columbians, ICBC is waiving the optional portion of this charge for crashes that happen before September 1, 2020,” they said.
ICBC added that all funds collected from UDAP go toward lowering premiums for other drivers.
