Bill to offer ‘flexibility’ in vehicle insurance decals

The B.C. government has introduced legislation that may see changes to the use of insurance decals that are placed on vehicle licence plates.

Bill 20, the enabling legislation, allows for validation decals to be non-expiring or valid for periods longer than one year and provides for regulations that could authorize ICBC to issue other documents regarding the validity of a vehicle licence instead of issuing decals.

Attorney General David Eby, the minister responsible for ICBC, told reporters that the bill was one component of the move to renewal of vehicle insurance online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“During the pandemic we’ve had renewals by email, by phone and it’s been going very well, but one of the challenges of course has been delivering the decal and how we do that and obviously it’s not possible to do remotely,” Eby said.

He said that with the introduction of the bill, officials can now consult with law enforcement and other key stakeholders before they decide to bring in a rule that extends the period of a decal or terminates the decals entirely.

For now, drivers will still have to get the decals and place them on their licence plates.

“We know from other provinces that despite them offering online renewals, the vast majority of them still go through a broker’s office,” said Eby.

“So ICBC will continue to be dependent on the broker network.”

Chuck Byrne, executive director of the Insurance Brokers Association of B.C., said that his group is “supportive” of the new bill.

“Obviously there’s some communication and consultation to come, on what it might mean for the actual flexibility it is kind of speaking to,” he said.

“Obviously we’re keen to see improvements if they can be made and we’ll be working with government and ICBC to kind of work out some of the fine points when the opportunity presents itself.”

The discussion about what to do with decals predates the pandemic by “quite a ways,” added Byrne.

“We’ve talked about decals and their kind of function or the changing environment and the use of the decals for some years, but specifically in the last year or so with the conversation around building an online system that the consumer can use to either complete or initiate some of these transactions,” he continued.

RCMP Cpl. Mike Halskov, media relations officer for B.C. RCMP Traffic Services, said in an email that it was the first he’d heard of the legislation and without further information, he wasn’t prepared to comment.