What's worse, ICBC or Canadian Direct?

[impalator]

Passed the aircare with no problem last Saturday... (although my Van garnished the clean concrete floor in the test-bay with some oil drops while the aircare-woman was revving the hell out of it...) - now it's time to renew my insurance policy...

So here it goes: Since all of us in the RHD community appear to have our issues, challenges and problems with ICBC (myself included - though not necessarily because of having a RHD vehicle - but rather because of their government backed might and their unilateral approach to many issues - it's their way or the highway...) I decided to give Canadian Direct Insurance a call to get a quote for my car policy which will come up on Sept. 4th (yes, we have our Delica for almost a year now...)

So I wait patiently on the phone for like 15 minutes and listen to the same endless recording blah-blah-blah until I finally talk to somebody. He takes all my information (principal driver, pleasure use, how many years driving, how many claims [none] etc.) and when he finally figures out that we're talking about a RHD (a fact that I mentioned at the onset of the call) he puts me on hold to talk to his stupervisor...

After another round of recorded "yadda-yadda" he comes back and tells me that they cannot insure RHD's due to them being "high risk"...

"High Risk?" I ask, "...like as in what? High risk of driving drunk, stoned, too fast, too slow, too aggressive or what? What would any of these have to do with the kind of vehicle and/or the side the steering wheel is mounted?" ... His response to my question you wonder?... "Well, they're just too high risk"...

Needless to say that I ended this phone conversation rather abruptly..

So I'm stuck with ICBC - but at least I got my insurance...

Anyway... Not that ICBC is good... but the other guys are just as bad or worse....

Cheers, Chris

[loki]

I use coast capital and I'm very pleased with the rates, I pay less than I did for my 2000 impreza wagon.

[Green1]

when I asked for a quote from Canadian direct they quoted me more than double the cost of the next highest quote I had found, FOUR TIMES the quote I ended up going with... and that was after arguing with them for a week about my VIN number because they wouldn't believe me when I gave them the JDM one.

kinda hard to recommend them based on that...

[Golf Cart]

I usually go through Candian Northern Shield for my extra coverage, but they don't cover Delicas. Their reason wasnt the RHD issue, rather the replacement costs/availability of parts.

This year I was 1350.00 bucks lighter on full coverage ( from BCAA with 42% Roadrash ,and they never asked the steering wheel location)

[bryanc]

Intact insurance (formerly ING) told my wife they wouldn't give her insurance on her L400 because of the vin numbers and that they have no vehicle history on l400's so we just went with ICBC .

[kidwrecked]

I never get optional coverage due to the fact that: one, you pay more each year. and two, if you endup causing your own fender bender and want to claim against yourself to get it fixed, you end up paying through the nose for the next ten years as your premiums will go up. I find it is cheaper in the long run to repair it yourself and keep your insurance record as clean as possible for less hassle in the future.

No, this is only my opinion from past experience.

[mararmeisto]

Usually an insurance company's unwillingness to insure has more to do with the cost-of-replacement or cost-of-repairs than what side of the vehicle the steering wheel is located. Just ask any of the antique English car drivers. Our private insurer wouldn't insure the Moon Machine any more, and the reason from the agent (who drives a JDM himself) was because of high repair costs.

In the end, you HAVE to buy ICBC coverage (at a minimum) in BC, so it's not as bad as a lot of people make it out to be. That being said, it seems the credit unions are a little more reasonable than the private insurers, but that's just my opinion.

[Green1]

I never get optional coverage due to the fact that: one, you pay more each year. and two, if you endup causing your own fender bender and want to claim against yourself to get it fixed, you end up paying through the nose for the next ten years as your premiums will go up. I find it is cheaper in the long run to repair it yourself and keep your insurance record as clean as possible for less hassle in the future.

No, this is only my opinion from past experience.

You're talking about "self insuring" which is exactly what I do on my vehicle as well, and what I recommend to most people. Just think about it, insurance companies are out there to make money. This means that on average you will pay them more than they will pay you over the long term. Insurance companies have a lot of practise at this too, they know what they're doing. By going with them you are in effect betting AGAINST their figures and saying that you will cost them more than they will charge you. (or basically saying that you are a worse driver than they think you are!)

If someone else causes a collision with me, I'm still insured under that person's insurance because they are at fault, however if I cause my own collision I will have to pay for my own repairs.

There are exceptions though to when I recommend self-insuring, one is liability insurance, because it is legally mandated. the other is for extremely large items where you simply can't afford to replace them if you have to (for example I carry insurance on my house because as much as I know that the insurance company is probably making more than they'll ever spend, I can't afford to replace my whole house if it burns down, and I'm not ever likely to hold a large enough cash reserve to do so. I do however still reduce my premiums by carrying a very large deductible, which in effect means that I am self-insuring the first few thousand dollars)

[Body File]

Thats one good thing about alberta insurance.
Being 28 and married, with 2 properties, 1 motorcycle, and 1 other car all through the same company (the personal)
my basic coverage on the van is 350/year, full coverage is only 700/year. thats with 100 collision and 200 comprehensive deductables. only catch is I had to pay a mechanic 100 bux to fill out a vehicle condition report for the company. but thats only because the vehicle is over 10 years old.