My First Lawsuit.... diary of a person fucked over by a monopoly
 

Okay... so here goes....the insurance in bc,canada ... is icbc... you have no choice but to go with icbc... if you wan't your car on the road.... you HAVE to use them....

back in september..... i changed my address and bank account information to my new address and bank account etc at the autoplan center.... everything is fine... december rolls around... and my car gets stolen.. ( 97 prelude ) .. shitty deal but i call icbc.. and guess what... my theft coverage has been cancelled because of missed payments.... why are there missed payments? because the autoplan center is fucking retarded and fucked up when updating my account information.. so this time they were trying to pull money out of my old account and sending the missed payment letters to my old house ( which the people don't even inform of us mail ) now in my contract with the insurance company it states that they cannot modify my insurance policy without a signature from me... or a sheriff siezing my plates.... none of which happened....

so i talk to icbc... and they pretty much tell me to go fuck myself and call me a liar saying i didn't pay for my insurance.... 450bucks a month was my insurance also.... now at this point i'm really upset because they basically tell me i wont even get paid for my car.... and they are calling me a liar saying i didn't update my information..

they tell me to get proof of them fucking up.... i.e. a signed letter from autoplan saying they messed up my account information update.. okay no problem....

i go into the autoplan center and they tell me they have a history of messing up account information because of old computers blah blah blah..... so i tell them to call my insurance company and tell them that etc.... they say okay..

weeks go bye.. i call icbc and check to see if they called or sent anything in... they didn't....

anyways now its april and JUST today the autoplan sent in a letter saying they fucked up and its their fault for messing up my account info... and what does icbc say? that they don't care... and they willl take a look at the letter when they have time... which he said may take a couple weeks to a couple months...

anyone ever sued your insurance company? do they usually try and settle when they know they are being taken to court.. especially when they know they're wrong and just trying to avoid having to pay?

:mad:

My mom is a paraleagal who works in a firm dealing with car insurance.

From what she says. They usually settle outside before going to court when you are lawyerd up. But in this case it can be different.

I don't understand why there's only one car insurance company. We have about 50 billion it seems.

i know.... its fucking bullshit... almost every other province in canada has privatized insurance now... EXCEPT BC... and the proffit they pull in each year is CRAZY

If there is a company in the US that will cover you, I sugguest that you use them.

if it happened to me id call the local news channel who'd do all the work for me and get me my $
too bad you're in canada, they'll piss on you and tell you its raining

move to amerikkka

it's lovely

this is hurting... i get the run around for 5 months.... and then they tell me to go fuck myself

Isn't ICBC government owned? If so good luck suing them! :(

Yeah, it's down right stupid in BC... one company to rule all.

They pretty much own you if you ever want to insure your vehicle. And they can decide anything they want.

Yes, ICBC sux but you should have noticed it when 4 months went by without your payment coming out of your account, dontcha think?

You're 18, right? Do you think ANY private insurer is going to give you a better rate than ICBC? Yes ICBC monopoly sucks, but at least you can get insurance. Private companies don't have to sell you insurance at all, where as ICBC does. :2 cents:

You are paying $450 bucks a month on insurance for a damn 97 honda prelude? Man take the missed payment money and buy another one for $1500 and cut your losses.

it was on auto withdrawl.... and i don't use bank accounts for anything else other then my insurance payments.... i just deposit my money and thats it....

edit : and also it shouldn't matter if i didn't notice it or not... my contract says i have to sign before they change my coverage.... and if i miss enough payments to warrant them changing my coverage a bailiff has to come to my house.. remove my plates from my car... and get a signature from me confirming i know i don't have insurance anymore.... they are 100% in the wrong

If you made the deposit every month like you should have, and show that to the judge ... that will help too

i don't really doubt me winning the case, its just bullshit how they handle things...

Can somebody explain to me why there is only one insurance company? Is it a law?

it is law... if you want your car on the road.. you HAVE to use icbc... also icbc controls the licencing shit as well

Provincial Monopoly. The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) insures everyone in BC. They can not charge you more money based on your age, number of seats in your car or otherwise. Collision and Theft insurance scale depending on the value of the vehicle, and no matter how many accidents you've had they can't deny you insurance as long as you're willing to pay the premium which gets higher and higher every accident you have.

That fucking sucks..Good luck man..ICBC sucks ass but we are fucked out here

it would be a nice chunk of money also to invest... this is robbery... i can't wait for court...

i hope they don't actually want to go through with court then because it will take 1 year +

It's not robbery, and if it were that would be for the Police to deal with, not you.

Your car is probably worth less than $10,000. That means Small Claims Court, where you appear without lawyers. Your best option is to continue to be polite, jump their hoops. There are arbitration processes at ICBC and you can politely ask to be bumped up the ladder. Keep trying bud.

14,000 is the average price based on buysell.com and thats what icbc uses to pay customers..

http://www.buysell.com/results.asp?r...yword&rcan=NaN

so would that still be small claims court or something else?

i didn't mean it like that when i said robbery..

haven't experiece it yet but i heard a llt about my friends and that really hurts.

They recently bumped up small claims to $25,000 from $10,000, so you're still in small claims, if it goes that far. Maybe you should call one of those legal society free (or $25) lawyers to talk to ICBC on your behalf. There is one in POCO his last name is Bledsoe.

No, you're right. I believe the dollar value is $9999 and less for small claims.

The problem is, like you said the time involved and on top of it the cost of lawyers. Try going back to the Autoplan Agent as ask to speak with the Manager. Explain your problem to him politely and ask him to call ICBC directly while you are still there. Make him understand that this was their mistake, as they've admitted, and that you have no car now because of it.

$25,000 now? Wow. The things you miss when you're not in the Country.

oh they already know... they already have taken full responsibility for it and even mailed icbc and faxed them, themselves...... i've also made it a point to make sure i keep my cool with them..

so i'm going to need a lawyer for sure if its not small claims court?

hrmm.. laywer fees etc would rack up a good portion of the claim... but if i win... are they obligated to pay my laywer fees etc? i've never dealt with a lawsuit before....

will look into that, thanks

only on gfy can you come get advice this fast on how to deal with dead beat insurance companies lol :)

Have they recovered your car? If not, then one of the reasons ICBC s not paying is probably because you're under investigation for fraud.One of my friends (when I was younger)had a similiar problem with them.

Yes, Rambler's advice is the very best in this thread. Look in to one of those small fee legal advice places. You'll get all your real options that way.

Be persistent with ICBC. I know they're a real bitch to deal with, but like you said it's the only option.

Ironically, you COULD have bought private insurance for theft and collision. The only ICBC insurance you are REQUIRED to carry is third party. The deeper irony is that the private insurance companies that are in BC either would not insure you or would not do it any cheaper than ICBC already was. :Oh crap

$450 a month for a '97 prelude? You must have a history of accidents or something because that's a lot of money for insurance.

brisk, he's 18. They really take advantage of people in that age demographic up here. My gf is 30 and I'm 26 and we pay 200 a month. it's rediculous. No accidents. But new drivers.

No, no no and no. ICBC is not allowed to discriminate based on age, sex, maritial status or otherwise. An 18year old with no surcharge pays the exact same ammount to insure a car as does a 40 year old with an equal level surcharge.

That's the up side of goverment run insurance company.

i had 1 accident when i fist got my licence when i was just before 17... but even before my accident i was paying nearly 300 for insurance...

my rates drop back to no surcharge in a couple of months...

sam, I hate to say it but I doubt you'll beat the big bad insurance company. You'll prolly be better off just buying a new car out of your own pocket and hope they pay up.

I hate to say it, but I don't think you have a case. The bottom line is it is YOUR responsibility to make sure your insurance is paid up - just because some third party, the "autoplan center" (whatever that is) screwed up your info doesn't relieve you of YOUR responsibilty to pay your insurance. I think you are screwed, I hate to say.

I think a judge would see it this way... "The bottom line is you didn't pay your insurance company and only one person in the world is ultimately responsible for making sure you pay your insurance - you."

What the hell is an "autoplan center" anyway? And why are they acting as a go-between you and your insurance company?

autplan is icbc, they are just the agents part of it..

The insurance is valid unless they remove the plates or inform you that your insurance is invalid.

If icbc had contacted you first , you would have owed them "back" insurance.