ICBC SUCKS
Back in 2005 I was involved in a very MINOR accident. It was mainly my fault and I was prepared to accept the fact, that I would be responsible for fixing the other driver’s vehicle and that would probably be it.
Now, three years later ICBC has settled an injury claim with the other driver for a mere $56,000.00. Car damages amounted to just under $2000.00 on a 2005 Mazda 3. I was driving my dad’s car at the time of the accident, so they have found that we were in breech of his insurance coverage and now ICBC is coming after me for the grand total of $58,000.00.
Not only did ICBC not want to investigate this accident and the so called “injury claims” of the other driver, they decided to settle out of court, and without ever really caring to hear my side of how the accident happened. I suppose that is because of the fact that they were going to pin the whole 58 grand on me.
Now…. I have been in talks with ICBC to arrange some sort of payment plan… as I can clearly not afford to pay them $58,000 all in one lump sum. As a matter of fact, it is going to take me a VERY LONG TIME to be able to pay off $58,000. I was sent an “Income and Assets” form through their “Claim Recovery Department” and was told to fill out all of my monthly income and expenses and send it back to them. Which I did and it clearly showed that I am not able to make huge payments on this amount. In fact, the amount I am able to pay is quite small without having to become homeless or have my children starve. They reviewed the information I sent them and have come to the conclusion that I can make small payments on the $58,000 balance I owe them…. BUT… they will not be able to allow me to insure any vehicle or renew my driver’s license once it has expired because the amount that I owe is so great and the payment that I am able to make is so small. So…. basically ICBC is now penalizing me because I can’t afford to pay an amount which pleases them on a trumped up, over-blown injury claim that THEY decided to award this other driver…. without the opinion of a judge or jury. Am I the only one that thinks that this is not fair? There are drivers that are convicted of vehicular manslaughter who receive driving bans of 2 years, 5 years. There are people who have been caught driving drunk (Gordon Campbell would be a PRIME example) still able to drive on a daily basis. And then there is ME. I make a total of $1600 a month. Out of which I have to pay rent, bills, help to cloth and feed two children and also take care of myself. Now, I am going to be penalized for the rest of my life because of the simple fact that I do not make enough money to afford to pay more of a monthly payment.
ICBC SUCKS!!!!!
Chillaxin 
June 18, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Maybe I’m missing something, but why do you owe anything beyond the deductible? If your dad’s car was insured, then that is all you owe. Yes, his and/or your future insurance might now cost more per year (or month if you do the monthly thing ICBC now has); but you should owe no more than the deductible because that is the entire point of insurance… you are paying a monthly/yearly premium to insure that if you ever have an accident, the insurance company will have to pay the expenses instead of you.
August 22, 2009 at 6:10 pm
MY exgirlfriends new boyfriend went and told the police that I rearended his Acura and then later that night rammed his parked acura repeatedly with my same vehical a 1993 Jeep YJ. His car was written off there was so much damage. He wrote a huge staement on me but had my name wrong and also had no plate number for me just a “red jeep with Rob driving” My name is Kevin, anyway the police started pulling over every red Jeep in town( a town off about 20,000 people) looking for a red jeep with damage. I was notified by friends with scanners about this . Fineally the police pull me over and have a long look at my jeep which did not have a scratch on it , also this was only a few days after the alleged incident. Then I got pulled over again the next day, later that night police came to my house and served me with a charge of assult with a weapon. I went to court a month later and my name was not on the list becouse the crown had returned the charge “NO ACTION” there was no evidence or witnese not a scratch or dent on my jeep yet his Acura was written off. But now six monthes later ICBC has sent me a bill for $12687 in claim recoverey and my 43% safe driver discount has gone to 5% discount. ICBC wont renew my lisense wont give my insurance for jeep and when the car needs renewing next month they wont let me untill I pay the bill in full. They say my only other recourse is to sue ICBC I DONT EVEN KNOW THE GUY THAT SAYS I DID THIS TO HIS CAR. how the hell can they do this its insane
October 14, 2010 at 11:31 am
On June 5 2010 my husband was hit on the drivers back end side a lady ran a red light. My husband was driving my car with are daughter and his sister in it. We have a 2009 Mazda 3 Sedan we just got it 6 months before the accident. ICBC declared the car was fixable, and it was just under 70% to be a right off. The total damage on are Mazda was 68.5% and ICBC fixed it but not with OA mazda parts. Are Mazda is now worth 7000-8000$ and they declared that my husband and that lady were both at fault for her hitting my car. How is this possible, if someone hits your car arent they responable for the accident with there insurance? On both sides their were no injuries other then my daughter car seat belt burn… We did have to pay a 300$ deductible to get my car back after it was fixed.. Now that my insurance is up for renewal in Nov and I’m a new driver paying full rate is going to be 400$ a month or more.. How is this fair? I wasnt even driving the car! On the other hand why are we stuck with the depreciation value on are car that are loan is more then what its worth? what are we to do?
June 18, 2008 at 2:47 pm
@ Gregg….
Because my dad has some sort of “seniors” (as in over the age of 65) coverage on his vehicle, he is listed as the “principle driver” and I don’t believe his coverage included having some one other than him driving the car. So ICBC has concluded that we are in breech of having coverage, and they are coming directly after me for all expenses, as I was the driver of the car.
Do you know much about ICBC or ways to fight them ……other than spending thousands of dollars in court costs?
June 18, 2008 at 3:42 pm
That sounds awful … and ridiculously unfair!!!
Have you consulted a lawyer about this? I would recommend meeting with someone in-the-know … just to be sure that there isn’t some other way to resolve this issue.
Good luck.
June 18, 2008 at 4:02 pm
@ Tania…..
Yes… it certainly does suck. I did hire a lawyer, back before ICBC made a settlement and the lawyer that I hired was no better. He took $6000 as a retainer after telling me that we’ll try to “keep costs down” (I told him that I didn’t have alot of money and had to take out a loan just to pay the retainer). Well he blew through that $6000 in about 2 months and never even attended one meeting, other than the initial consultation. So…yeah…I did hire a lawyer, but it was a complete waste of my time and money because he did absolutely nothing for me. It would have been better for me to put that 6 grand down on the 58 grand that I now owe.
I did however contact my local MLA today… and they told me that when it is around the time that my driver’s license is to expire, give them a call and they will see what they can do about it. But that is not until October of 2010…so I guess for now it is a waiting game for me. 😦
June 18, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I do have a bit of experience fighting ICBC, but I’m not sure whether there is much you can do there. I’m not sure about what type of insurance you dad had, but one thing I do know about is insuring a car so that a teenager can drive it. Perhaps it’s related. Basically, my wife’s youngest boy lives with their father. The father has to pay extra for insurance that let’s a young driver with his “N” drive the vehicle. We checked into whether we needed something similar for when he visits us (I ended up giving him half his driving lessons), and we found out that if the person doesn’t live with you and will therefore just be an occasional driver, you don’t need the extra insurance.
As for fighting ICBC, within a certain time limit you can appeal any decision and it goes to an arbitration board; meaning that since it’s not going all the way to a court level you could feasibly do it without a lawyer.
June 18, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Well.. thanks for responding. I will have to look into that. I really don’t know where to start though.
June 19, 2008 at 11:57 am
Start here:
http://www.icbc.com/inside_icbc/dispute/how_to.asp
June 19, 2008 at 12:04 pm
and you might also want to check out:
http://icbcsucks.com/forum
June 19, 2008 at 12:05 pm
@ The Mole….
Thanks so much!!!
July 30, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I’m going threw the same I know how it feels you think you are insured until you are a victim.. You have to be an ICBC employee to receive the benefits of any sort of insurance!!!
November 22, 2008 at 1:00 am
DO NOT initiate payments, AFTER 6 years YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PAY THOSE VAMPIRES a cent.
DO NOT START PAYING THEM< ONCE YOU DO YOU ARE FUCKED
DO NOT EVEN PAY THEM !) BUCKS< AFTER 6 years you will be fine, get a bus pass and a bike, heck get caught driving without a licence even, BUT DO NOT PAY A CENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I did, now Im fucked with 20,000
July 15, 2009 at 5:12 pm
My son called ICBC and said he wanted to resolve this issue by trying to arrange very small payments in order to try to get his license back in the future.
This rude collection clerk told him that he won’t get his license back until he pays it all. Nobody can pay back over $900,000.00 and the interest on that amount will take it way over $1 million.
Then she said they can review cases every 6 months and can make a determination if a license can be reinstated. She didn’t say how much a person needs to pay back – a fixed amount of money or a % of the debt.
She was a very snotty bitch and I guess this will continue when getting pestered by a collection agency.
September 29, 2010 at 9:39 am
Hi we are in the same boat just found out my son owes icbc over a million dollars please help we dont know where to start.
December 27, 2008 at 8:34 am
Try ICBC’s fairness department. I don’t know the phone number but I do beliee there is a link on their website (wasn’t there before) and if not the office is in vancouver. You can call any icbc customer srvc and ask them for the number/or drivers services should have it also.
Have all your info ready and just talk to them. I had a huge problem with ICBC and they went so far as to put a condition on my licence stating that “no one was allowed to even permit a vehicle registered to me” nor was I allowed my to renew my DL or have any insurance product, my name or anothers, on a vehicle registered to me. I fought them for 5 years with no luck and when I called the fairness department it took less than 2 days for them to decide I was right and fix the whole mess.
By that time I had paid them all the money they wanted cuz I had to have my DL but the decision by the fairness dept. also meant I got my money back….and I did!!! They mailed it to an address I hadn’t lived at for years even tho they sent the mad at me mail to my current address….funny how that happened?????
Give it a try and I hope it works.
Also, I happened to see on ICBC’s website their statement that they provide “underinsured motorist coverage” to all who hold a valid BC DL. If they do that then why do we have to buy it and pay for a claim against them? 3rd party liability? Isn’t that what this would be?
July 6, 2009 at 1:21 am
My son smashed up his car and was not covered by ICBC because he had a N license and was drinking. The two passengers submitted their suits to ICBC two years ago and according to the ICBC lawyers, they didn’t have valid claims.
No more correspondence followed until this week, my son received a Claim Recovery collection letter for $898,432.56. One girl had a sprained thumb and the other one had a head injury and recovered and was back to work in 3 months.
The amount these girls got was totally insane. Pure greed on their part and ICBC bought it. They are now out partying and spending this money. People with serious injuries don’t receive that kind of money.
My son cannot pay that amount and I doubt a lawyer or judge could pay that amount within 30 days or even in their lifetimes.
He has not taken this to a lawyer yet because he has no details of the court case. He’s already served a 18 month CSO for this accident and had to pay $1000 for the responsible driver program. It was a waste of money because he will not get his license back.
We are totally pissed !!!
July 6, 2009 at 6:00 am
@ Mad Mother
Oh my gosh, that is crazy!
Although it was obviously wrong for your son to be drinking and driving that does seem a little harsh. From what it sounds like, it seems like they have just gone and settled and there is not going to be a court case. Is this correct?
Obviously the circumstances are different from what happened to me and your son is on the hook for alot more money than me….. but in some ways there are alot of similarities. ICBC does what they want. People fake injuries and say that they are far more worse than there are just to get a pay out and ICBC does not have the balls to stand up to them so they just cave and hand out ridiculous amounts of money. The guy that I BUMPED into received $56000.00 for supposed injuries that occurred from $1900.00 of car damages.
I feel if I would have had the opportunity to go to court the payout would have been ALOT less…. but lets face it the court system and most lawyers are just as bad. If you have to pay for a lawyer out of your own pocket to defend yourself you might as well take out a 2nd mortgage on your house cause that’s what it’s going to cost to do it especially at the rate of speed that the court system and ICBC travel in.
I really want to to be able to stand up to ICBC and say this is bullshit but I don’t know how and I don’t have the money to hire a lawyer. I have a life, I have a mortgage, and I don’t want this screwing up my life because I refuse to pay them so I just pay $20 a month and that keeps them happy…… for now.
I don’t know what to suggest you do for your son. That is a ton of money that he now owes and at such an early point of his life… it will definitely affect him for the rest of his life.
I wish you all the best in fighting ICBC and hope there is a glimmer of hope that your son will come out of this victorious.
July 6, 2009 at 2:47 pm
I agree my son shouldn’t have been drinking when he has a N license. FWIW, he was not over the legal limit but still, it’s zero tolerance and his insurance is null & void.
I see you have also been a victim of greed and it’s horrid that these people fake their injuries. ICBC says they follow people around to see if they’re faking. I think if ICBC is paying the claim for an insured motorist, they may do it but not for money they expect to be repaid by an uninsured motorist.
I agree that lawyers are money grabbers and all they do is show up or not show up and ask for a postponement of a trial. I have to decide if it’s necessary to have a lawyer unless it’s to work out a deal.
I was doing further research and went to the BC Ombudsman website. I see there is a process of first contacting the ICBC Fairness Dept (isn’t that a contradiction in terms) if you feel you have been treated unfairly. If that doesn’t work, then contact the Ombudsman. I’m not sure if this covers disputes in Claim Recovery amounts.
We haven’t got that far yet because my son first has to contact ICBC to let them know he is unable to pay.
Did your lawyer arrange the $20 a month payment or did you arrange it directly with ICBC? Do you receive a bill every month? Are you still denied a license and insurance?
Even if my soon agreed to pay $100 a month (which is $100 too much), it would take over 895 years to pay it off if you add on the interest. If there’s no benefit in getting his license back, is any amount worth paying?
He has no assets and he might as well not work if they decide to garnishee his wages. His credit rating is trash. He is trying to get past this accident and start a new life but there is no incentive to do so.
Neither of these girls drive and I guess they’d rather ride around in other vehicles and sue the drivers.
July 6, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I arranged the $20 a month payment myself with ICBC. They sent me a income and monthly expenses form that I had to fill out all of my income and monthly bills that I pay to show them that I couldn’t afford to pay them much money. Even if I pay $20 a month for the rest of my life there will still be a huge amount of money that will be left owing somewhere in the range of over $40,000.00. So really what is the point? The only reason why I do pay every month is because before this whole thing happened I had cleaned up my credit rating and managed to purchase a house…. and I don’t want them coming after me and trying to take it away or screw me over anymore than they already have.
I am unable to insure a vehicle in my name right now. I do currently have a drivers license, they did not take it away but it does expire in 2010 and it is up to them if I can get it back or not. Supposedly people who owe money to ICBC are not able to renew their license until the money is paid off but I spoke to my local MLA and they told me that if I have proven to them that I don’t make much money and can’t afford to pay very much per month, and have been paying something on the amount every single month on time, then they would help me fight to get my licence renewed if ICBC will not let me. Maybe contact your local MLA, sometimes they can do wonders for cases like this.
If your son has no chance of getting his license back and has no assets then I don’t see much point of paying anything to them. After 6 or 7 years it should go away, off his credit report. Maybe find a lawyer that will give you a free consultation and find out if that is truly the case. If it is then I wouldn’t pay them a cent.
I feel sorry for you and your family for having to go through this but it’s nice to know that I am not alone! Please try to remember to keep me posted on what ends up happening. I would love to hear how ewverything turns out. Are you guys in the lower mainland?
July 6, 2009 at 11:48 pm
after reading through this blog, i did not know something like this can happen in north america. i was recently approached by a friend that this happened to, he was driving without a license, and got into a minor wreck, the parties settled by word of mouth, now few years latter, he gets a letter saying that he owes $159,000, at first i did not want to beleive the story, but after reading this i am convinced that this can actually happen, i asked him to call the BC ombudsperson person(http://www.ombudsman.bc.ca/complaints/how.htm) to see if they can help him, this seems totally unfair, why such ridiculous awards will be made for minor damages, in this case the only damage was to the side mirror, my friend is considering filing for bankruptcy as a way to avoid this levy and still keeping his property, since they are threatening to seize his property, i have not seen the actual letter, but this just seems very unfair, why should people be treated like this.
July 7, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Taraden: we live in the Lower Mainland. My son called ICBC today to say he was unable to pay the debt. He has to call a case worker tomorrow. The ICBC collection letter demanded that this amount be paid in 30 days!
Kade: I’ve spent all afternoon and last night reading the archived reports at the BC Ombudsman site to see if there were similar complaints. There has been nothing dealing with disputing a claim recovery collection. The website says to first register a complaint with the ICBC Fair Practice division.
People try to get as much as they can for personal injury and exaggerate their disabilities. They hire lawyers who get a percentage of the award so they will try to get even more.
We have no transcripts of the trial and didn’t know there was one taking place. The last we heard was two years ago when an ICBC lawyer sent us a copy of a letter telling the two female passengers that they did not have valid claims.
These ladies are NOT disabled due to the accident and are living normal lives while thumbing their noses at my son because they got a huge settlement. I can’t believe a Supreme Court judge ruled that $898,423.56 was justified. Maybe if it was a death claim.
I bet these two ladies were never tailed by a detective.
I was also thinking of the bankruptcy route for my son unless there’s a law that says you can’t declare bankruptcy if there’s a debt owed to a government agency.
My son just finished his Responsible Driver Program and was waiting for an interview with the Sup of MV. Guess that was a waste of $1000. I’ve told him to go ahead with the interview and then he will know where he stands before taking further action.
Your friend and the blog host and my son will never pay off this debt in their lifetime. Their lives are ruined because of greed and lies. They will most likely never have a drivers license again, let alone have a vehicle or get insurance. They are liable to get up to 30% of their wages garnisheed.
I hope your friend gets help from the Ombudsman. We are still gathering up the paperwork.
I know I’m rattling on but I’m hoping that other people will read this blog and see how innocent people are getting screwed.
Hopefully these true events will get the message to N drivers to not drink & drive and to unlicensed drivers to not get behind the wheel.
Please keep us posted and I will update as I find out more.
July 7, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Hi again Mad Mother,
From what it sounds like to me ICBC settled out of court with these two ladies. If there was a court proceeding, I think your son would have been notified. This is the same thing that happened in my case except there was to be a court proceeding but a year before the set court date ICBC settled out of court with the driver and then pinned the price tag on me.
I too doubt that they investigated the two girls, just like they did not investigate the driver in my case as well. I am sure he was out in his yard mowing the lawn, carrying in his groceries and doing all the normal things that he normally did in the past. And I totally think the reason why they don’t is because they have pinned the money on someone else. They don’t care.
Have you tried to contact you MLA?
Thanks for keeping us posted!
July 8, 2009 at 4:28 pm
We were not advised of any upcoming court case or pending out of court settlement until we received the collection letter from ICBC demanding $898,423.56 be paid in 30 days.
I guess there is no notification because the lawsuit is between the “victim” and ICBC.
I agree that ICBC doesn’t exercise due diligence if they figure they are going to get the money from the uninsured motorist. The replies that were first sent to these two ladies from ICBC basically told them they didn’t have valid claims. Then over 2 years later, there is a valid claim and not a small one at that.
ICBC would stand a better chance of recovering some of their money if they denied more claims or at least made the punitive amounts realistic in terms of the ability to have it paid back.
If you look on the Internet, you see all these lawyers posting their pitches that we will get you top dollar on your injury. The lawyers are laughing because they get a percentage of the award and the victim is laughing because he/she is instantly rich.
The public gets outraged due to rising premiums and it’s all due to ICBC handing out money for unjust claims.
Until we gather up more of a history on phone calls and the bullshit that is handed to us, we will hold off trying to seek justice.
In your situation, was your father even asked by the insurance agent if there were other people driving his car? My agent asks me every year and I do take it because it applies to my situation. Can you even prove that your father was asked this question? Is it only heresay? I don’t know if there is a signed clause on the insurance document that says this option was discussed and declined. If not, there should be because if the agent didn’t offer it, then how could your father know about it.
July 8, 2009 at 7:43 pm
I will have to look into my father’s insurance to see if there was a clause or not. But that certainly makes sense.
I can tell you right now that both claims involving my situation and your son’s were totally blown out of proportion. I was involved in an accident about 9 years ago where I was riding my mountain bike on the side of the road and a driver that was driving on a cross street ran a stop sign and caused me to wipe out on my bike. I ended up in the hospital with a lacerated spleen, internal bleeding, and two fractured bones in my left wrist. I had to spend 1 week in the hospital and was very close to having a major operation to have my spleen removed. I could have died from the internal bleeding if I had not gone to the hospital. Luckily after weeks of bed rest my spleen repaired itself. I then had to spend 3 months resting so that I would not reopen the wound on my spleen.
I hired a lawyer because at first ICBC told me that I did not have a vaild claim. My lawyer told me that they would not get paid unless I received a cash settlement. After 3 years, ICBC settled with me out of court for just over $50,000.00. My lawyer took $30,000.00 of that for his fee.
The point being is that my injuries were far worse than wither the girls involved in your son’s incident and far worse than the driver in my incident and I was only awarded $50,000.00. That shows you right there that there is something wrong with the amount these people were awarded. I don’t know how they can justify the amount they have given to them.
July 10, 2009 at 2:20 pm
I just read this in the news. This guy killed somebody and only got a 10 year driving ban.
THIS IS AN OUTRAGE THAT HE GOT OFF WITH A DRIVING BAN AND OTHER PEOPLE WHO NOT HAVE KILLED A PERSON WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DRIVE AGAIN BECAUSE THEY CAN’T PAY THE BILL
LANGLEY (NEWS1130) – A family in Langley is hoping the hit and run driver who killed 13-year-old Carley Regan six years ago will not get his license back early.
Paul Wettlaufer will be in Surrey Court Monday to make an application to overturn his 10 year driving ban.
Carley’s aunt Christine Quigley says the family is furious. “I didn’t even know this was possible, that you could even apply to have it [his license] returned.”
Wettlaufer didn’t have a license when he mowed down Carley her sister and her friend; she says Carley’s mom Evie is now reliving what happened. “He hit the children, drove down the road, turned around came back got out of his car, smoking a cigarette, looked at her laying there with blood coming out of her mouth. He then got back in his car and drove away with a flat tire. Is this someone who is remorseful?” Quigley says they see Wettlaufer in town all the time, he’s never said he’s sorry.
The judge may make a decision on Monday or delay it to consider submissions.
July 31, 2009 at 10:32 am
Bottom line story after story I here nothing ,but bad stories from the people we pay our taxes to,and what they do to us ,as well as others.they want to power trip you and punish you.One month ago I went to renew my license in order to get back to work.they took my right to drive class 3 away because I was on medication ,which I understand.So when I went through a road block I found they canceled my whole license Not just my class three.So fine and dandy I went down there to see about getting my class 5 reinstated so I can get back to work.I told them that I owed them money ,and had to get to work,because bills were piling up.they said don,t worry get your medical forms done come back with 31.00 and we will down grade your license.So after seeing my doctor finding employment getting glasses which took a month i went back to get my license,but this time every thing changed Not only did they rescind there decision about giving me my right to drive back they wanted there money or else.there was no bending with them.My new job is now in jeopardy ,and there no further to getting there money.They would not make a payment with me they want me to pull it out of my ass right there on the spot.I was straight up with them from the start I had been on disability for some time and want to get back to work they seem to think your living high on the hog or something.I just want to know if this is how a corporation that we have to deal with deserves to take our right to repair our lives away from us.If I want to appeal it’s 50.00 and 3 months for a reply,so just more fees to go into there already deep pocket,and the only people not complaining are the people who work for them.
August 12, 2009 at 11:09 am
Hi, I just went through the whole business with ICBC. Driver’s license suspension, driver training program, all their hoops. I did them gladly because I screwed up (drinking & driving) and I thought that I should take responsibility. I also have been paying them $50 a month under the illusion that I would be able to get my license back after completing all there requirements. Not so. While the amount I owe is less than $10,000. It is still too much for me. I could step up payments but I need a license to be able to work in the rural comunity that I live in. Really a Catch 22. I need a job to be able to pay them and I need a license to get a job BUT I need to pay them through money I can only get by working. Perfect Catch 22. Any advice? How about personal banrupcy?
August 12, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Hey there Hobo…..
On an amount of less than $10,000 I guess it would depend with the whole bankruptcy situation. Even if you go bankrupt on the money that is owed it will still be another 5 or so years before it will be cleared off your record and that still is no guarantee that ICBC will reinstate your driver’s license. You definitely should contact your local MLA and push him or her to fight for you to be able to get your license back. Don’t feel ashamed to contact them….. they are there to stand up for our rights and they can really do ALOT when it comes to dealing with any type of government agency or large corporation.
You were suspended for a period of time and have served that time and now they refuse to reinstate your license? I really wonder in my situation if the same is going to happen to me. I never got my license suspended…. but I wonder if when the time comes to re-issue and I have been making monthly payments, every month, on time, every time… that they will jsut be jerks and say “NO”.
With the personal bankruptcy, it will affect your entire credit rating. So I guess it all depends on what your credit rating is like? Do yo own a house? Do you want to with in the next 5 years? Do you have credit cards? Do you have loans? OR…. is it shot, like mine was a few years back and it really wouldn’t make a difference anyway?
Either way I think that personal bankruptcy is a big decision to make. My common law husband filed for bankruptcy a few years before I met him and it made things a little hard for us now, trying to get the things that we want in life. You know what I mean????
November 8, 2009 at 11:17 pm
All this stuff is just so ridiculous. i happened upon this blog while doing a search on whether declaring bankruptcy affects your icbc debt. all of the people in these stories have commited some minor traffic offense that at best merits a small fine. while drinking and driving is obviously not ok, mad mother’s son was not over the legal limit that would have applied to him had icbc not lobbyed the government to put a bunch of extra restrictions on new drivers through the graduated licencing program. if i did the same thing with my unrestriced licence tomorrow, i’d get a 24 hour suspension, and maybe a fine and some points on my licence. that is a punishment that fits the crime. this is especially disgusting because this is obviously a young kid just starting out in life, and they know there’s no way he can ever pay them back. same with the minor accident described in the blog. pay the other guys expenses and get on with your life. a minor financial burden, but it fits the crime. getting hit with what is essentially a lifetime driving ban, ruined credit, and the unbelievable burden of a debt that you and icbc know you can never repay, is just, in a word, criminal. icbc is a monopoly. they aren’t hurting for customers. they have a captive market. they don’t need your business, therefore they have no reason to treat you like a human being. they rely on the fear most people have of getting caught up in a legal battle that both your lawyer and icbc have a interest in dragging out. even their letters are designed to scare you. 30 days to pay back what was it, $900,000 for that sprained thumb? they know you’re going to see that and just panic. it’s a scare tactic and it works for them because they have lawyers and they know you probably don’t understand how to fight back. they know if they tell you that their lawyers settled with the other party that joe blow assumes it’s legally binding and don’t realize they can appeal, or if they do, it’s not financially viable for them to do so. this is why insurance coverage should be available from private companies that have competition. icbc is nothing more than the government enacting laws that force you to pay money to a specific company, and that is wrong. it is a recipe for corruption, which you see everywhere you look there. my best friend was a passenger in a truck that rolled down an embankment. she broke her neck, which never healed properly. even now if she was to get in another accident, or smack her head the wrong way, it could be fatal. this causes her constant pain, which has genuinely affected her quality of life. for most of the first two years i knew her she was deeply depressed as a result of this pain. this happened when she was 18. she’s now 22, and she’s still fighting with icbc, who’s lawyers claim she was not injured. this is the type of injury that should result in a significant settlement. on the other hand i know someone else who was rear ended at a stop sign, completely uninjured, and immediatley recieved a check for $1500 from icbc. he asked why, as he was not injured, and they told him it was just routine. this of course is to pay off minor accidfents as quickly as possible so they can avoid being sued later for any injuries that might present themselves later, as whiplash can do. sorry if this is rambling, but i really just get so mad when i read about this stuff, it’s so frustrating. these people are just so corrupt. i hope you all are able to get some kind of justice from these douchebags.
September 4, 2009 at 10:17 am
I am in a very similar situation, had an accident my fault, first EVER accident. They found I was in breach due to a mistake that the insurance agency made on my insurance paperwork, which I signed without reading (My mistake but also my first time EVER buying insurance and I was being rushed). ICBC sent me a bill for $20,000 to cover cost of vehicle and injuries for other person, did not pay for any of my injuries which were more substantial considering I was driving a shitty tin can can, with no air bags and the other driver had a much newer bigger car. I tried EVERYTHING to get out of it tried going after insurance place where I purchased the insurance, going to a lawyer, talking to icbc… and I still have to pay. I make VERY small payments, can still purchase insurance but it would cost me $500 a month! and have not tried to renew my licence. I agree 100% it’s not fair. If we are doing the best we can to repay the debt we should not be required to suffer EVERY penalty. At the same time I understand that ICBC has to crack down because there are sooo many assholes who try to milk them for all the money, the sad part is the money they are getting is comming straight from the pockets of ppl like us!
November 18, 2009 at 12:13 am
Do not pay them !! I know no one believes it when ppl say this but its true. My bf crashed his moms car with his L and had his licence taken away and charged for the repairs. $14000. This was in 2002 in 2006 I called in and asked them what we could do to get his licence back n they said he had to pay 3000 upfront n then 100 a month for a really long time. When I said that we can’t afford 3000 without having a licence to go to work. N she basically called me broke n told me to just pay it. Cuz u know an extra 3000 come around every other day (sarcastic). So I hung up and waited a few more years. in august of 2009 my bf got a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt while being a passaneger and reieved a 3 month driving suspension and he asked the cop why when he doesn’t have a licence n the police man said his system says to give him a suspension so my bf called in just to confirm how much he owed n the lady said. 1300 n he confirmed with 3 other ppl that it was only 1300 ( which was for his tickets for driving while suspended ) and it was true and that all he had to do was go into the driving place n cnfirm his suspenssion. So when we went in she told us tha they must have taken it off and not to ask questions. Now he can get his L by januruary 2010 n get his N april 2010 whihc is the biggest rleief ever.
November 22, 2009 at 10:50 am
hi if i were you i whould declare BANKROPCY that is the only thing you can do to get your licenc back.i had same problem with this fuckers.Good luck.
March 26, 2010 at 2:13 pm
i don’t know if I can file for bankruptcy. i just purchased my first house in Feb/09…. well qualified for a mortgage (the bank owns the house…lol) Would really not like to give that up. Filing for bankruptcy would certainly hinder me when it comes time to re-mortgage.
i guess I’ll find out what happens in October when my license expires 😦
January 23, 2012 at 4:01 pm
If you owe ICBC money, and you need a driver’s licence to earn money so that you can pay them, and they won’t give you your driver’s licence, you could write the President of ICBC and simply state “You recently informed me that I cannot renew my driver’s licence until I pay $XX,XXX. However, you cannot have it both ways. Either you grant me a driver’s licence so that I have the ability to pay, or you can continue to refuse me a driver’s licence, in which case, by your behaviour you have abandoned your claim and are estopped from any further right to collection.”
Even better still, especially if you have not made any payments or written any letters acknowledging the claim, just ignore them for 6 years and the claim will no longer be enforceable. At that point you still might need to get a declaratory order in Supreme Court that the debt is unenforceable to get your licence back.
Note that claims for personal injury may not be covered by bankruptcy.
March 21, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Hire a lawyer!! it’s better to pay your lawyer $5,000 than to pay ICBC $56,000! I wouldn’t pay it! fck that!
January 23, 2012 at 4:02 pm
Only if the lawyer agrees to continue working pro bono once the retainer runs out!
June 23, 2010 at 3:45 am
I to have been screwd by icbc on more then 1 occassion. The 1 im at now is for a debt i owed on late monthly insurance payments. It was my fault, i had a bad string of luck and couldnt pay.
The origanl debt was a little under 1400.00 no biggy, now with intrest its almost 6000.00 and they wont budge. Ive said i would make large payments if i could get my lic back or even 2000.00 with 500 a month payments and they said it doesnt work like that you can pay all or make payments for yrs but no lic till its all paid.
Ive lost countless high paying jobs now cause of this and am no closer to paying then i was b4. I phoned them countless times to try to come to some middle ground even asked what will happen if i can never pay cause its growing in debt so fast, the lady said i have no clue so i said it could possibly inflate to a million dollars and she said ya.
Now after hearing everything and the thing about the drivers that killed ppl who might get there lic back has got me so mad im going to be contacting my MLA i will be phoning icbc every week. Either way i will be driving be it behind the wheel of a car or icbc and the goverment nutz. Ive never drank an driven or hit or injured any1 and am willing to pay what is asked if theres some sort of fairness but fairness isnt an icbc trait so it seems the only way to get any ground is to cause a stink.
September 1, 2010 at 11:16 pm
ICBC is screwed and I would rather someone start an organization that helps those out who have had scammers scam them and ICBC letting them get away with it. I would rather put a few dollars into an organization that is willing to help those who are…..broke fight, then just lay down and get kicked in the head every turn. anyways just a thought, any phenomenal lawyers out there that would like to help me free of charge deal with one I have coming up please feel free and contact me, heaven knows I think my son may need you.
October 28, 2010 at 7:51 am
some insurance agencies are very greedy that is why i always take a second thought when dealing with them~’`
October 28, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Well I have managed to get my driver’s license renewed. It just came in the mail today. I had to fill out new income and assessment forms for ICBC, and after they reviewed everything they decided that if I increased my monthly payment by 80% they would “let” me renew my drivers license. 80%!!!! And while that is going to be financially hard for me, I pretty much do not have a choice as I need to be able to drive.
ICBC also wants me to try to resolve this matter within 24 months. And by that they mean that I have to go to my financial institution in 2 years and apply for a loan in the amount of whatever is remaining, which will be over $50,000.00. IF my financial institution agrees to loan me that much money then i will have to pay the amount in full, if my bank does not approve me then I just go on paying the monthly payment until my driver’s license expires again…. and then I guess they will review my situation once again and go from there.
At least I am legally able to drive…
January 23, 2012 at 4:04 pm
Write a detailed letter to the Fairness Commissioner at ICBC.
November 9, 2010 at 11:12 am
My brother went through all this. And honestly he was just over 18 claimed bankruptcy it sucks yes but being as he was young he had time to fix his credit and move on with his life. Owns his own home nice cars everything.
For the madmom. Your situation is a little different. Guess your son if over 18 can still claim bankruptcy. But u are putting a Lot of blame on the other people. Your son was drinking no matter how much and very easily could have killed someone. Yes many milk icbc for fraudulent claims. But what he did was lethal Also be very happy he wasn’t a minor or you’d be footing the bill.