Autoplan Insurance
Drivers, experience and crash history
Like other insurers, we carefully assess risk when determining your insurance premiums. Three key factors help us to assess risk: who drives your car, driving experience, and crash history.
Other factors, such as convictions for driving offences, also reflect your risk as a driver and can impact what you pay for some Optional coverages.
Who drives your car
When you buy or renew your insurance, you'll be asked to list who drives your car.
Crashes follow the driver. So if a friend borrows your vehicle and has a crash, the claim will go on your friend’s crash history, not yours. This helps to make sure the right person is held accountable for the crash.
Listing drivers won’t necessarily mean you pay more. It depends on each listed driver’s experience and crash history.
Who should I list?
You should list those who drive your vehicle, such as:
Household members, including family, friends and roommates who live in your residence
Employees, including full-time, part-time and temporary employees
Learner drivers who regularly drive your vehicle, including any learners who are household members or employees
Drivers can be added or removed from your policy at any time.
Why do I need to list drivers?
Knowing who will drive your car helps us to accurately assess the risk and ensure the right person is held accountable in the event of an at-fault crash.
If an unlisted driver causes a crash in your car, you could face a financial consequence unless you have opted for Unlisted Driver Protection. However, this does not protect you from the financial consequence if a household member, employee, regular driver or unlicensed driver causes a crash.
How do I list drivers?
When you see your Autoplan broker to buy, renew or make changes to your insurance, bring the full name, driver's licence number and date of birth for each person you want to list.
To list out-of-province drivers you will also need to know the jurisdiction of their licence (for example, Alberta).
You can add or remove drivers at any time.
Driving experience
Another factor in determining your premiums is driving experience – how long you and any listed drivers have been driving.
Up to 40 years of driving experience is recognized for Basic insurance discounts. That means with each year of driving experience, you will earn more Basic insurance discounts. (Previously, drivers stopped earning Basic discounts after nine years.)
Inexperienced drivers
We will continue to offer inexperienced drivers discounted premiums while they gain more experience behind the wheel. However, this discount will be reduced if they cause a crash, and eliminated if they cause a second one in the scan period.
Crash history
Your crash history is a key indicator of driver risk. The more crashes you cause, the more you will pay in insurance.
Like driving experience, the crash history of the drivers listed on your policy is also considered.
Crash history scan period
The scan period is the timeframe we use to review your crash history. As part of the insurance model, we have introduced a ten-year scan period.
So we look back at at-fault crashes from March 1, 2017* only.
Going forward, we will continue to "scan" back to March 1, 2017, until we reach 2027. From then on, the scan period will be 10 years. At each renewal, we'll review the previous ten years' crash history.
*At-fault crashes where the first payment on the claim occurred on or after March 1, 1, 2017.
Driver factor
Your driver factor is a number which represents risk and reflects the combination of your experience and crash history. The lower your number, the lower your risk. ICBC uses this number to help determine how much it will cost to insure your car.
You can get a report on your driver factor, the same way you can obtain your driving record. Read more about driver factor.
How are premiums calculated?
Each insurance policy starts with a base premium.
Your premium then increases or decreases depending on aspects related to the vehicle (such as its use and location) and its drivers – their experience and crash history.
Of the driver portion, the majority (75%) will be based on the principal driver – the person who drives the car the most. The remaining 25% will be based on the listed driver with the highest risk.*
* If the other listed driver is lower-risk than the principal driver, the premium will only be reduced if that listed driver is a household member or employee.
Convictions for driving offences
If you’re convicted of two minor driving offences (such as failure to stop at a stop sign or speeding) or one serious offence (such as excessive speeding or distracted driving) that occurred on or after June 10, 2019, your premiums for Collision and Extended Third Party Liability (two optional ICBC coverages) will also increase.
Crash forgiveness
We know that crashes do happen, so we will forgive one crash after 20 years of driving experience (at least 10 in B.C.), provided you have been crash-free for the last 10.
Repaying a claim
You may be in a crash that doesn't involve injuries or costly vehicle damage. It might make financial sense to repay the cost of damages to ICBC so it won't affect your future premium. For more information on what options are right for you, please contact your Autoplan broker.
