Are you thinking about getting an insurance policy for your car? Or renewing the policy? Whatever is the case, you are, perhaps, worried about the premiums, thinking how much you might have to pay. Well, it’s no more hassle now. You don’t have to go to the insurer/broker to know what it might cost you.

Last year, ICBC, based in Kelowna, came up with the insurance calculator tool to help clients estimate how much it might cost. ICBC introduced the calculator as changes in insurance premiums were to come into effect dating from September 1st, 2019.

The insurance calculator will ask you some questions – some details regarding your car. You have to give answers to the question, and it will provide you the rate at which you have to pay your premiums.

So without further due, let’s get started and know how the ICBC insurance calculator works.

How to Use the ICBC Insurance Calculator
The insurance calculator is a three-step process. First, they will ask you to provide information regarding the car driver. Then, you have to provide information about your car and then thirdly about the additional driver, if any.

The Driver
So, it starts with information about the person who will drive the car. As you might know, estimating premiums requires hundreds of things to consider. For example, if the driver has had any bad record (accident) in the past

The first thing you have to select is whether you have a B.C driver’s license or a non-B.C driver’s license. If you have a non-B.C driver’s license, then the premium is likely to go up. Then you will be asked you about the years of driving experience you have.

They will give you five options, one of which you are to select – 0-9, 10-14, 15-24, 25-34, and 35+. As you can guess, the more the experience, the less the premium rate is going to be.

After you select the numbers, the next question will be if the driver has been responsible for any crashes since March 1st, 2017. You have to select one of the options – 0, 1, and 2+. If the driver has been responsible for any crash in the past, the premium is likely to increase significantly.

Another factor – or question, you might call – in determining the premium is the location where the driver lives. You – or the driver – have to select the location where you are from or live. It is relevant because crash rates across the regions vary due to population, traffic density, and infrastructure.

Then the final question about the driver is how s/he uses the vehicle. For example, you might use it just for pleasure. Or you can use it only to go to school and to come back from it. Also, you may use it for your business.

After you have put all the information, they will categorize you as a certain type of driver – Driver Type 34 – which will be further used to determine the rate.

The Vehicle
After you go to the next step, it will ask you to provide information about your vehicle for which you are getting the insurance policy. There are two questions – 1) if your car is driven less than 5000km per year and 2) if your vehicle has an autonomous emergency braking system (AEB).

If your vehicle has been driven more than 5000 km per year, it will increase your premium by around $100. Similarly, if your vehicle has an autonomous emergency braking system, a feature that automatically applies the brakes to help prevent a front-end collision.

As you can guess, if your vehicle doesn’t have any AEB system, it makes it more vulnerable to accidents. And if the vehicle does have AEB, it makes the vehicle less prone to accident. So, of course, the premium rate will vary based on the answer you give.

Additional Drivers
After you go to the next page, you will be asked to answer if you will have any additional driver who will also be driving the vehicle along with the main driver.

If you have no other driver, then you select on 0 (zero). However, if you add any more drivers to the list, you have to give their details as well. So if you want, for example, to add one more driver, you will be asked to provide his information – whether he is a B.C resident or a learner.

Also, you have to provide his years of driving experience. As you have done earlier, you have to select the number of years of driving experience the additional driver has. And finally, the same as before, the calculator will ask if he has been responsible for any crash.

Summary
When you give all the details, the last page will show you a summary of the information that you have provided so far along with the minimum premium rate showed on the top-right corner of the web page. However, you can also talk to ICBC lawyers to get any help regarding this.

Final Words
Getting or renewing an insurance policy is always troublesome. The amount of calculation and the level of complexity can sometimes be very high. But this ICBC insurance calculator can make your life simpler!

You just put in all the details, and it will provide a real-time calculation. You can edit the information at any time of the calculation and see how the rate changes. This is a really amazing feature, allowing you to do experiments as to how changing any answers affect the rate.