I HATE ICBC

The most frequently stolen vehicle BC is Ford F-Series truck.

Owners of the most are being offered up to $160 each by ICBC to install immobilizers to prevent theft.

Getting an immobilizer was a no-brainer for Dave Peterson, who owns a shiny, 2006 Ford F-150.

But he was a little curious about the ICBC pilot project, which is offering cash to the about 2,200 owners of non-immobilized F-Series 2000 to 2006 trucks in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley.

“Why are they giving them money?” said Peterson.

Immobilizers are hard-wired into a vehicle and shut down ignition and fuel systems. A special key or electronic code is needed to start a vehicle equipped with the device.

Transport Canada regulations that came into effect Sept. 1, 2007, require all new cars to come equipped with immobilizers.

ICBC thinks that spending the money to prevent the trucks from being stolen is cheaper than repairing them if they are ripped off.

ICBC is sending letters with all the details to the truck owners.

The F-Series trucks started rising in the ranks of most-stolen vehicles beginning in 2005 when they were in eighth place. They moved up to No. 3 in 2006, slipped a little last year to fourth spot, but this year powered past the long-time favourite Honda Civics from 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2000.

Unlike many vehicles of a similar vintage, the 2000 to 2006 Ford F-Series did not come standard with immobilizers and thieves took advantage of that flaw.

The big trucks are also handier than Hondas when it comes to hauling away stolen goods or crashing through storefronts.

Nicolas Jimenez, ICBC’s director of road safety, said the immobilizer pilot program could be expanded to other vehicles and other areas.

“It has to be something customers want, something customers take advantage of, something where the investment can be justified,” he said.

ICBC also announced yesterday it is increasing the number of Ford F-Series trucks in the bait-car program.

No Really? DUH!!

As you know by know, I hate ICBC, I Fuc*&% HATE ICBC.

There are many, many reasons - chief among them, though, is that spending the equivalent of a mortgage payment a year to insure our car galls the hell out of me. Thank God and safe driving premiums I’ve managed to stay accident-free. Without such, we’d pay twice that.

This week, the snake-oil salesmen have been shilling ICBC’s latest cash-grab - the $25 top up to add sanctioned drivers to a vehicle insured in your name.

So single car families – that’d be The DeMones of White Rock, B.C. – who will see Momma, Poppa and Baby Bear sharing the wheel, will now pay more to ICBC for exactly the same privilege we’ve enjoyed until now.

I understand we will be blessed with the peace of mind of third party coverage in the event one of those named on the insurance is driving at the time of at at-fault accident. Ah, such bliss…

I am all for whatever fair moves ICBC can make to ease the cost of insurance for safe drivers. Bad drivers should pay more - and often do. But that seldom filters back to lower premiums for good drivers.

ICBC, like most bloated bureaucracies propped up by government-sanctioned monopoly, just finds more ways to retain the excesses they fleece from us. Like they need to have ’sufficient reserves’ - and better double-talk to justify additional charges, fees or fines.

Like this week, when one hack preached how the $25 additional driver fee does indeed equate to lower fees for good drivers because it means ICBC won’t have to raise rates for good drivers.

Now there’s twisted logic for you. We’ll charge you more so we don’t have to charge you more.

I say heap it all on the bad drivers.

Feb. 16 of 2007, I passed a mini van which was moving at glacial speed. Double line, and exceeded the posted limit. The ticket was just shy of $300.

Last week, I got a notice from ICBC that my heinous transgression had earned me three points for each infraction. To a total of six. Which is more than four. Which is the number ICBC allows as grace each year before tarring us as bad drivers.

So I am a bad driver. My name is Rob, and I speed. Or sped.

It cost me another $300 to clear my good name.

Passing that glacial mini van really cost me $600.

I’m not complaining one whit. I deserved it. I like to think I’m a better driver.

But did you good drivers out there get a break as a result? Did my wife, the primary driver of our only car, get a break on her premiums?

Nope and nope.

ICBC, of course, says that’s because all these fees, fines and charges are permutations concocted, devised and otherwise contorted to ensure fairness for all drivers from Yak to Agassiz to Barriere and beyond.

Can’t expect honesty. Can’t expect that snake-oil salesmen to just say ‘Hey, we need to show a 9% bump in bottom line profits for 2009, and rather than work harder or smarter, we’re just going to charge you all $25 more. Sign here…’

I want that job - better still, I want the ICBC talking head on my side when I negotiate my contract.

A Langley family is angry they’re out a car and thousands of dollars in insurance after the Insurance Corporation of B.C. sold their car without their consent.

Brendan Lillies, 19, wanted to fix his 1992 Acura Integra after it was rear-ended — but ICBC sold the car for scrap, and despite a four-month protracted dispute, still hasn’t settled with the family.

“[A reasonable person] would go to the police and report the car stolen,” said Brendan’s dad, Charlie Lillies.

After being contacted by CTV News, ICBC apologized to the family.

“In this case we made an error,” said ICBC’s Adam Grossman. “We acknowledge it and we’re doing everything we can to make that up with the customer.”

In the accident, Brendan was hit from behind and then pushed into a car in front of him. The at-fault driver fled — and ICBC assigned fault to Brendan.

ICBC said they would pay $2,700 for the car, even though only days before Brendan had put in a new engine, rims and tires worth more than $3,000. That, combined with the value of the car itself, should total more than $6,000, said the Lillies.

That’s when Brendan’s dad Charlie decided the family would pay out the claim and just fix the car themselves.

“We asked for the vehicle back, and they said, ‘Sorry, the vehicle’s been sold. You can’t get the car back,’” said Charlie.

Even though they didn’t sign a salvage waiver — the paperwork that transfers the ownership from Brendan to ICBC — ICBC had already sold the car.

That was months ago — but ICBC kept charging Brendan for his insurance premiums. When Brendan tried to get a refund for the premiums, his dad says a clerk demanded that he sign the salvage waiver after the fact.

“It’s just a lesson,” said Charlie. “Do your homework before you make a claim — they’re not going to do it for you. They’ll take advantage of someone who’s just a young guy.”

When ICBC writes off a car they sell it to a salvage yard, who sell it for parts. The Lillies tracked down the Acura to a salvage lot in Surrey, where they found its engine had been stripped, its rims and tires were gone, and there wasn’t much left.

“I’m a bit angry about it,” said Brendan. “It’s not like I can walk across the street to my neighbour’s house, grab his keys, throw his truck on Craigslist and sell it.”

ICBC has made another offer on the car, which is about $4,000, said Grossman. If an independent arbitrator decides the car is worth more, then the company will pay more, he said.

Grossman said he couldn’t find any other example of a car being sold for scrap without authorization.

“It’s extremely rare,” he said. “We are making up with an offer that’s more than fair.”

This news just shocked me, startled me, and left me heart-broken (errr, I mean PISSED OFF). At this point, the only thought in my mind was - “WTF?”.

What was happening: ” formerly written-off cars were being resold after their repair histories were altered.” So eight staff members were - let me use the euphemism to cover a variety of issues - ‘let go’.

Most normal people would agree that Fired staff, especially the ones who STEAL, should be getting a Boot in their @#$, not a Severance package. People don’t even get a Thank You card when they get fired, and these bastards are getting severance package, Are you Fuc*$& Serious?

What happened was clearly wrong, certainly a tort for the people who got cars with fraudulent records, probably criminal. Certainly due cause for dismissal. But it now appears that the action was more about PR than good sense. The whole thing was quickly hushed up - so the scandal would “go away”, preferably quickly.

If people are dismissed - or allowed to resign - to avoid other penalties they deserve no severance at all. Indeed those who profitted from this scheme should make restitution. But that would require an investigation, which might well turn up other related issues - who knows? - and all that it seems was to be avoided at all costs. Which is something you might be able to do with a closely held private company. But not with a crown coporation.

The more one knows about ICBC, the less one feels comfortable about it. I have been sitting on some material for some time now on distance based inssurance. This is an idea that Tod Littmann has been promoting for some time - and I did not really want to move onto his turf. But the main concern I have is that ICBC has not - so far as I can determine - ever even considered the idea. It certianly has given no credible reason why it should not be tried. And my question is why should this be? Why is ICBC so reluctant to being open and letting its owners - us - know what it is doing and why.

It is something of a cultural issue in crown corporations - and it is noticeable that the present government is getting increasingly ham fisted at dealing with these government owned and directed operations. BC Ferries and BC Transit are the two I am most familiar with - and neither are any longer examples to be proud of. The way BC Hydro is being chopped up and forced into a corner is even worse. And at least part of the problem is that the right wing does not think public enterprises should be successful. They must be made to fail in order to promote the ideology (there’s a word I havebeen reaching for a lot lately) that private is good public is bad.