NOTE: The information below is no longer current. The provincial government of BC introduced legislation to limit the amount of compensation payable to persons injured in an accident in British Columbia. In summary, an injured person is no longer entitled to claim for injuries except in very limited circumstances.
When you are injured in an accident in BC, there is a good chance that you will be able to recover money for your injuries though the ICBC claims process.
The two most common questions I hear when someone is injured in an accident are: how much will I get and when will I get it? I am going to answer these questions in this post.
There are two types of accidents: accidents where you are at fault, and accidents where someone else is at fault.
At Fault Accidents
If you are at fault and you injure yourself, you may be able to claim up to $150,000 in medical expenses under ICBC’s Accident Benefits policy. This is not a settlement, but rather money to be used to pay for your treatment until you are well again. Damage to your car may be covered if you have Collision coverage. Damage that you do to other people or property may be covered by your Third Party Liability.
Not at Fault Accidents
Accidents where someone else is at fault are were settlements often arise. These settlements can range from $10,000 to millions of dollars. If you are injured by another driver then their Third Party Liability policy may pay for your injuries. If the driver who injuries you is uninsured, ICBC may still pay for your injuries up to $200,000 through their Uninsured Motorist Policy.
The amount of money you will receive depends on a great number of factors, but mainly include:
- How much it will cost to treat your injuries
- How much it will cost to repair your car
- How your ability to earn an income in the future has been affected by the accident
- How much it will cost to restore you to your previous way of life, if possible
- How much you have suffered as a result of the accident
Settlement amounts can become very large if you were a high income earner before the accident, and are unable to work afterwards. For example, imagine you are a manager making $100,000/year at 40 years of age. After the accident, you can no longer earn an income. You are now missing out on $100,000/yr until you are 65. As a very rough calculation, that amounts to $2.5 million dollars in income loss alone.
Typically, however, most people are able to return to some kind of work, and it is only very rarely that someone will be awarded such a large sum of money.
In fact, the average claim pay out is about $40,000. This amount is the entire settlement, designed to cover all losses, including injuries to a person and damage to their vehicle. Many claims will pay out less than this. Some claims will pay out more. A typical claim for a soft tissue injury to the neck may be worth about $40,000, but again, this can range very widely depending on the factors listed above. It is likely that many of the claims that are paid out by ICBC are in this range of $40,000, and very few claims make it up into the million+ dollar award range.
How soon can I get my money?
The second point I wanted to touch on was how soon you will be paid. The answer to this question depends on how much of your claim you are willing to give up in order to get your settlement earlier. ICBC typically does not settle until almost immediately before a trial. For an average case (light neck injury worth $40,000, for example), it may take up to 2 years until a trial. The big cases can take up to a decade to finish the trial process. If you want to achieve the full value of your claim, you must be willing to wait until your trial, unfortunately.
However, you can obtain your settlement earlier – provided you are willing to sacrifice some of the value of your claim. For example, the $40,000 claim could be settled with ICBC almost immediately (within 2 weeks of the accident) for a mere $15,000. ICBC adjusters mainly want to get claims off of their desk while paying out the lowest amount of money. If you are willing to settle quickly and for a fraction of your claim, you can choose to do so. Be aware that some lawyers have a practice of settling claims early. You should always talk about your full range of options with your lawyer before deciding on what you would like to do with your ICBC Claim. Remember – it’s your claim, not theirs.
