 | British Columbia's public auto insurer has driven over a financial cliff and the damage is far worse than anyone had predicted or feared. The financial crisis at British Columbia's public auto insurer ICBC is quickly deepening, with $1.3 billion in net losses projected by the end of the current fiscal year. The Insurance Corporation of B.C. said the "sizable and significant loss" is from a rapid increase in the number of collisions in the province, as well as the rising costs of those claims."The number of claims we are receiving is growing by thousands each year," the corporation said in a news release on Sunday. The cost of injury claims is closing in on $3 billion annually. |
 | The number of large loss claims, with an average payout of $450,000, has also spiked by 80 per cent in the last 12 months. The spike in the number of claims is also causing a slow-down in how quickly settlements are delivered. Attorney General David Eby said in September that the rate hikes would mean the average driver can expect an annual increase of at least eight per cent or $130 per year on their insurance bill. |  |
