We’re more than just insurance. Here you’ll find tips and tricks for your insurance, and what we bring into our local communities.
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.
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.
Transfer Vehicle Ownership
Selling or buying a vehicle? The buyer and the seller of a vehicle need to take these steps to transfer its ownership.
As a Seller or a Buyer, here’s what you need to know…
Steps for the seller
Download a Transfer/Tax Form (APV9T) or pick up a copy from any Autoplan broker. Please note that all four pages must be complete and original signatures are still required.
Remove your license plates from the vehicle you're selling.
Remove your insurance and registration. The insurance and registration are actually two parts of the same document (APV250).
Tear off (carefully please!) the bottom, vehicle registration portion.
Give the registration to the buyer, making sure it has your signature on it.
After you've been paid, fill out and sign the Transfer/Tax Form in full. Each of the four pages must have original signatures.
To complete the transfer, take the registration and Transfer/Tax Form to an Autoplan broker. We strongly recommend going together with the buyer to ensure that the registration transfer is processed in a timely manner and that your name and any insurance and licence products are removed from the vehicle registration record. This is important in avoiding any possible liability claims associated with the future operation of the vehicle by the purchaser. If you cannot visit the Autoplan broker with the buyer, keep the seller's copy (with original signatures from both you and the seller) for your records.
Remember to cancel your insurance or transfer it to a new vehicle.
Steps for the buyer
Get the original vehicle registration, with the owner's signature on it, from the seller.
Fill out and sign in full the purchaser's portion of the Transfer/Tax Form (APV9T) (you can also pick up a copy at any Autoplan broker). Please note that all four pages must be complete and original signatures are still required.
To complete the transfer, take these documents to an Autoplan broker. We strongly recommend going together with the seller.
You can get the vehicle registered, licensed and insured at the broker's at the same time.
10-Day Rule: What does it mean?
Using plates from your old vehicle
You can drive your "new" vehicle using the licence plates from your old one for 10 days from the date of purchase if all of these conditions are met:
The vehicle you're switching plates to is registered in B.C. (or was purchased from a licensed B.C. auto dealer).
You have sold or otherwise disposed of your old vehicle.
Both vehicles are the same type (for example, passenger vehicles).
The licence plates are valid B.C. plates.
During those 10 days, you must carry in your new vehicle
the signed Transfer/Tax Form for your new vehicle,
the original registration from the seller (or, for a new vehicle, the signed and dated bill of sale from a dealer),
the insurance papers for your old vehicle (the insurance must still be valid), and
proof, such as the "seller's" copy of the Transfer/Tax Form, that you sold your old vehicle.
If a vehicle owner has passed away:
Have you lost a loved one who was the registered owner of a vehicle?
Please be aware that it's important to contact an Autoplan broker as soon as you can. Your broker will help you transfer the ownership of the vehicle (or, if you prefer, cancel the policy).
It's also important to cancel their driver's license.
Depending on your situation, here are some of the documents your broker may need to transfer the vehicle's ownership:
The original or a certified copy of each of the documents in our Checklist for Estate Transfers.
A fully completed Transfer/Tax Form (APV9T) (you can also pick up a copy at any Autoplan broker). Please note that all four pages must be complete and original signatures are still required.
The current vehicle registration (usually kept in the glove box).
A valid marriage certificate or a notarized statutory declaration if you are the surviving spouse and want to keep the plate without a decal as a keepsake. (You can get a statutory declaration form from your broker.)
BREAKING: Changes to Vehicle Tax Collection
The more reason to purchase electric! Vehicles eligible for the exemption include: battery electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Though, some exclusions apply…
Tax changes on zero emission vehicles – effective Feb. 23, 2022.
The B.C. Government has released tax changes to the purchase and transfer of zero emission vehicles (ZEV). Vehicles that are eligible for the exemption include:
battery electric vehicles,
hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and,
plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Effective Feb. 23, the purchase or lease of used zero emission vehicles will be exempt from provincial sales tax (PST). The new tax exemption applies to both private and dealer sales.
Government changes on electric vehicle tax. More reason to go electric!
EXCLUSIONS:
For private sales, where ICBC collects the PST, the zero emissions vehicle must have 6,000 km or more showing on the vehicle's odometer to be eligible. (Note: the 6,000 km requirement does not apply to sales by GST registrants, such as a dealership, or vehicles imported from outside Canada).
The Government also announced changes to the way the graduated vehicle tax is calculated. Also beginning Feb. 23, the value of new zero emission vehicles are subject to the graduated vehicle tax which has increased to $75,000 from the previous $55,000. This change means new zero emission vehicles valued under $75,000 are not subject to the graduated vehicle tax. Note, the taxable threshold amount of $55,000 will remain in effect for non-ZEV vehicles.
(graduated income tax structure assesses greater tax rates on greater levels of income.)
Now, the change for new zero emission vehicles primarily impacts the B.C. motor vehicle dealers, as they collect the PST at time of purchase in the vast majority of new vehicle sales; however, us Autoplan brokers may need to collect the graduated vehicle tax on new vehicles purchased outside of B.C. If you’re purchasing a vehicle outside of B.C. or are moving to B.C. and have questions regarding tax collection, please give us a call!
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