Distance-based discount
ICBC is introducing a new distance-based discount in 2023, as they begin to offer more usage-based insurance. If you drive less than 10,000 kilometers in a year, submit your odometer reading to potentially get a discount on your ICBC optional insurance next year.
About the discount
You may be eligible for the discount if you:
Drive less than 10,000 kilometers per year
Provide two odometer readings a year apart, as proof of your driving distance
Have a 12-month Autoplan policy with ICBC optional coverage
Have a vehicle within an eligible rate class. Although most vehicles are eligible for this discount, some are not, such as motorcycles, motorhomes and collector vehicles. Talk to an Autoplan broker to find out if your vehicle is eligible.
The qualifying period for the distance-based discount starts when you provide the first vehicle odometer reading at your annual renewal or when you purchase a new policy. In a year's time, at your next renewal, the odometer reading will need to be provided again to determine if the vehicle was driven less than 10,000 kilometers during the year.
If you're eligible, a discount ranging between 5 and 15 percent will then be applied to select ICBC optional coverages on your renewed policy. The less you drive, the greater the discount. If you drove your vehicle more than 10,000 kilometers in the prior 12 months, you won't be eligible for a discount (but you won't be charged more for driving more either).
The distance-based discount is different from our existing low-kilometer discount, which is for vehicles driven less than 5,000 kilometers in a year and applied to your Basic insurance and Extended Third Party Liability and Collision coverage, if you have it. If you're already eligible for the low-kilometer discount, you'll likely be eligible for the distance-based discount as well, since they may apply to different coverages and may be higher.
How to submit your odometer reading
No matter how much you expect to drive over your 12-month policy term, you can submit your odometer reading. This means you'll have the first piece of proof on file when the discount comes into effect in 2023, should you drive less than 10,000 kilometers over that period.
You can submit your odometer reading:
When you purchase a new policy
When you renew your policy online, at an Autoplan broker's office or by phone or email
If you were unable to provide the reading when you purchased or renewed your policy, you can submit it online or through your broker any time in your policy term. However, to be eligible for the new discount, proof of your odometer reading must be dated no earlier than seven days before the date you renewed or purchased your current policy and no later than seven days after that same date.
Expanding usage-based insurance at ICBC
Usage-based insurance is vehicle insurance that's priced based on individual driver behaviors. Some of this insurance tracks distances driven, while other usage-based insurance, for example, tracks speed and braking with devices or smartphone apps. This customized approach gives customers more control over their premium costs and has already been implemented in countries around the world, as well as in some Canadian provinces.
We've been hearing from our customers that they're interested in the flexibility provided by usage-based options, like the low-kilometer discount we introduced in 2019. Now, we're working on bringing more of these products and discounts to you in the years ahead, starting with the distance-based discount launching in 2023. We expect that approximately 40 percent of customers with vehicles in eligible rate classes will qualify for this discount.
ICBC's Techpilot project
As part of our research into usage-based insurance, we created the Techpilot project to learn more about using telematics technology to make driving safer. Techpilot recruited drivers with less than five years of driving experience and asked them to drive with a device that provided feedback on their driving behaviors.
Explore the Techpilot project and its encouraging results.
Odometer readings and your privacy
Your odometer readings are submitted to ICBC and stored within Canada, in compliance with our Privacy statement.
These readings do not contain any personally identifying information, so providing them does not pose an increased risk to your privacy.