BC drivers, already under attack by local mayors looking to increase TransLink gas taxes by another two cents, got more bad news this week: our car insurance rates are the second-highest in the country.

The Fraser Institute released their annual review of car insurance rates across the country, and ICBC’s rates are behind only Ontario. From the report:

From 2007 to 2009, auto insurance has been most costly and least affordable in British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan—three of which are provinces with government-run auto insurance monopolies. Auto insurance premiums have been consistently most affordable in Alberta, Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick, where auto insurance is delivered in a regulated, competitive, private-sector insurance market.

The average auto insurance premium in BC was $1,113, second to only Ontario’s $1,281. Quebec had the lowest at $642.

These numbers reinforce a long-standing Canadian Taxpayers Federation recommendation: that ICBC’s basic auto insurance monopoly be ended, and the market be opened to competition.

One of the many promises the current BC government made during the 2001 election was to “introduce greater competition in auto insurance, to create increased choice and reduce motor vehicle premiums.”  Apart from setting up a new regulator, the British Columbia Utilities Commission, there has been little change to the government auto insurance monopoly. In 2003, Bill 58 was introduced to amend the regulations of the government run Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC).  However, the most important provisions governing competition and ensuring a “level playing field” for private insurance providers, (sections 50 and 51) were never proclaimed into law.

In light of rising premiums, rising costs, rising executive bonus levels, large profits and falling customer satisfaction levels, it is time to end the ICBC monopoly.

Opening up the auto insurance market to competition will create an environment of greater accountability and no longer leave taxpayers to compensate for managerial mistakes.