Hard Data About ICBC Bodily Injury Claim Frequency and Severity
The BC Utilities Commission recently posted a number of documents which were filed in support of ICBC’s request for a modest insurance premium increase. These are worth reviewing in full for information relating to ICBC’s fiscal health. From a public perspective the good news is that ICBC operates profitably.
ICBC stresses “changes in investment income” as one of the main reasons behind the rate increase request. As previously discussed, while their investment income is down, if the government didn’t scoop ICBC’s revenues when their investment income was high a rate increase would not even be contemplated at this time. When your profits are taken from you its hard to save for a rainy day.
The other point stressed by ICBC relates to rising bodily injury claims. Specifically ICBC’s Manager of Regulatory Affairs says “the main change from past years being higher claims frequency“. With this in mind perhaps the most interesting data in the documents are the hard statistics relating to the severity and frequency of bodily injury claims. I reproduce some of the key charts below.
Its worth noting in analyzing the data from 1996-present there is an overall trend of bodily injury claims declining in frequency. Specifically, Weekly Benefit Claims are down in frequency and have modestly increased in severity. Personal Medical Rehab Claims are down in frequency and steady in severity. Personal Death Benefit payments are down in frequency and steady in severity and finally Personal Bodily Injury Claims continue to be down in frequency with a modest increase in severity.
I welcome this information being publicly available so British Columbians know that hard data supports BC’s full tort system as being financially viable. We are fortunate to live in a Province where an informed public is not fooled into giving up their legal compensation rights and ability to access justice due to a perceived auto insurance “crisis“.
