The Insurance Corporation of BC will offer a $ 110 discount to most drivers who have a basic car insurance policy and a $ 165 discount to most commercial drivers because they tend to have higher costs. Eligible ICBC customers will receive the discount in May by direct deposit, if they have settled at ICBC, or by credit card refund. Checks will be sent in June to all other eligible customers. “Today, if we go to fill the pumps, sometimes we feel a little tiring,” Horgan told a news conference. “Prices are at unprecedented levels and these pump prices are a direct result of (Russian President) Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.” Horgan said the lump sum payment is a better approach than lowering fuel taxes because the price will only rise again on pumps. He said ICBC was in a financial position to cover the total $ 395 million deduction cost. It forecasts $ 1.9 billion in annual net income for fiscal year 2021-22, which ends March 31. In 2018, David Eby, who was then the minister in charge of the insurance company, compared the finances of the public car insurance company to a garbage fire. The NDP introduced legislation to prevent governments from sinking into the company’s reserves “to cover their budgets,” Horgan said Friday. But the difference with the discount, he said, is that the money is returned to the contract holders, who finance the company. “This is a discount based on the company’s strong position,” Horgan said. Professor Werner Antweiler, an economist at the University of British Columbia, said the boost would help as the market faces a shortage of petrol. “The idea is that we do not intervene in the market. “The market must do its magic to close the gap between supply and demand through higher prices (of gas),” he said in an interview. “Higher prices are necessary.” Antweiler said the focus should be on providing financial relief to commercial drivers because, in theory, if they receive help, they will not pass on additional costs to consumers. Peter Milobar, a financial critic for the BC Liberal Party, said the government’s approach was not aimed at helping those most in need, as everyone receives the same discount, including electric vehicle owners. “The fact that a single parent who works two jobs and drives a Honda Civic receives the same one-time discount as a Tesla owner is ridiculous,” he told a news release. “Not everyone feels the same impact of these high prices.”
