Image Credit: Shutterstock
November 23, 2016 - 4:36 PM
VANCOUVER - Transportation Minister Todd Stone says he's trying to put the brakes on British Columbia's rising vehicle insurance rates, which could have gone up by more than 15 per cent this year.
Stone says the rates are set to go up 4.9 per cent this year, but he downplayed scenarios in documents released by the Insurance Corporation of B.C. of possible rate hikes of more than 40 per cent compounded over five years.
Stone says he will not allow rate hikes at the Crown-owned public insurance provider to become unaffordable.
Stone was at an ICBC office in Vancouver to announce the government's decision to no longer insure high-end luxury cars worth $150,000 or more because their repairs are too costly.
He says luxury car owners will soon have to purchase private insurance to cover the high costs of repairing minor dents.
One hypothetical rate scenario released today by ICBC shows an increase of 6.4 per cent next year and a further increase of 7.9 per cent in 2018.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2016