ICBC in financial trouble
By Colten Kamlade, Staff Reporter
ICBC has announced that they are considering raising the price of basic car insurance by 30 per cent.
This comes after the accounting firm Ernst & Young released a report claiming that the organization is no longer financially stable. While the NDP government has insisted that they will reject any proposal to raise car insurance by such a margin, they have not offered an alternative solution to ICBC’s financial crisis.
Some Douglas College students remain nervous about the potential hike in car insurance rates.
“I still have my N, so I guess that prices it up even more, and budgeting is really hard when it comes to your everyday living if you go to school now,” said Francis Ataiza, a second-year child and youth care student at the Coquitlam campus of Douglas College. “That will be a big impact. Thirty per cent is ridiculous, to be honest.”
Shenisse Monzon, a third-year criminology student and Josh Rasalan, a second-year general studies student, said that while they did not own vehicles, they believed it would “definitely” impact students they knew who did pay for car insurance. There is little doubt that such a large increase in the price of car insurance will make students tighten their budget, if not force them to take their vehicle off the road.
In the wake of this uncertainty, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has suggested that the government deregulate car insurance and allow competition in the market to drive prices down. This would essentially return the system to what it was before ICBC was created in 1973.
Some students are not sure this is the solution, either.
“I think there could be some problems there,” said Kendyll McGowan, a geology student at Douglas College, referring to the potential lack of government involvement.
