B.C. drivers could be paying more as public auto insurer asks for a rate increase

VICTORIA – British Columbia's drivers could be paying more for auto insurance as the province's financially troubled public auto insurer asks for a 6.3 per cent rate increase.

The Insurance Corporation of B.C. announced Friday that it wants to the increase basic insurance rates starting April 1, if approved by the B.C. Utilities Commission.

Attorney General David Eby, the minister in charge of the corporation, says the government is undertaking a "historic modernization" of ICBC to make insurance rates more fair for people.

He says the changes will significantly reduce the legal costs associated to minor injury claims and provide enhanced care for people injured in crashes.

Eby says in a statement that the financial "situation was so dire that had the government not moved to stop the bleeding, the rates would have increased by almost 40 per cent."

The provincial budget forecast a $1.3-billion deficit at the Crown corporation this year and Eby earlier described the situation as a "dumpster fire'' inherited from the former government.