ICBC has announced new programs in an effort to save money on collision and glass repairs, amid rising claims costs.
According to ICBC, once the new programs are implemented, repair shops will be ranked by performance based on various metrics. The ranking will be placed on a shop-locator ICBC webpage, which all shops and drivers can use.
“After consulting with industry leaders, the redesign of the collision and glass repair programs will improve transparency and accountability of repair shops for drivers who get into accidents and need to choose which repair shop they go to,” B.C. Attorney General David Eby said in a statement.
“By publicly ranking the repair shops by performance, where repair shops strive to be the top performers, we expect that this will help curb some of the rising claims costs and pressures that ICBC is facing.”
The new collision program will take effect Feb. 3, 2020, and the new glass program will take effect March 2, 2020. Combined, both programs will encompass approximately 1,000 collision and glass repair shops throughout the province.
But ICBC said the repair shop ranking will be made available only after significant data is collected.
“ICBC appreciates the repair industry’s willingness to work with us to manage performance effectively, and we will continue to consult with our industry advisory committee and technical working group to continuously improve the new programs over time,” Nicolas Jimenez, CEO of ICBC said in a statement.
According to ICBC, savings will come from “improved performance and enhanced governance that drives higher efficiencies via faster processing of claims, faster repair cycle times and greater autonomy for high-performing suppliers.”
ICBC said key elements of the programs include:
- a strengthened governance model, including the use of random and targeted reviews to help reduce when shops have charged for repairs inappropriately, and increased auditing and drop-in visits with shops exhibiting deteriorating performance
- updated equipment and training requirements that would ensure collision repair facilities have the capability to repair the majority of today’s vehicles according to original manufacturer-repair procedures
- implementation of a quality-assessment measure of the shop’s ability to write a fair and accurate estimate, and its ability to adhere to the program’s policies and procedures
- encouraging glass repair over glass replacement, where appropriate, to increase savings for ICBC ratepayers.
- In many cases, a small crack or chip in a windshield can be repaired instead of replacing the entire windshield. ICBC’s comprehensive coverage for private passenger vehicles allows customers to have their windshield chip repaired for free with no deductible
- and other performance metrics for repair facilities, such as customer service.
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