ICBC's "No Crash No Cash" Policy

This information was taken from Cowley & Company Law Office’s Fall 2009 edition of “The Intersection”.

Many injured individuals involved in motor vehicle collisions (“MVCs”) that are minimal in nature are often frustrated by their handling ICBC adjustors who refuse their claims and, to the injured person, seemingly refuse to acknowledge that person’s injuries.  In such situations, ICBC will justify its decision by telling the injured person that their claim has now been denied because it falls within their own internal Low Velocity Impact Program or “LVI” program.  This program has also become known in the legal community as ICBC’s “No Crash – No Cash” policy. 

This policy is seemingly premised on the simple notion that if ICBC determines that the damage that the accident caused to your patient’s vehicle costs approximately $2,000 or less to repair, then it is impossible that your patient was hurt in that accident.  What the handling adjustor often fails to mention to the injured person when denying their claim because if falls within their LVI program is that the injured person is still entitled at law to pursue their claims and potentially receive monetary compensation for their injuries.

Judges have often awarded monetary compensation to injured persons previously denied by ICBC because their claims were determined by ICBC to fall within their LVI program. In such cases, the courts have often quoted Mr. Justice Thackray’s comments in Gordon v. Palmer [1993] B.C.J. No. 474 at paragraph 4;

“I do not subscribe to the view that if there is no motor vehicle damage then there is no injury. This is a philosophy that the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia may follow, but it has no application in court.  It is not a legal principle of which I am aware, and I have never heard it endorsed as a medical principle.”

Simply put, ICBC’s LVI program is not recognized at law.  In the case above, the damage to the injured party’s vehicle was described as a ‘slight dent to the rear bumper” (paragraph 2). Nevertheless, the court awarded the injured party several heads of damage, including $5,000.00 for the party’s injuries.  Therefore, it is important that when an injured person’s claim is denied by ICBC based on its own internal LVI program, that the injured person is not left with the impression that they do not have a valid claim.  In many instances they do have a valid claim and should seek the advice of a personal injury lawyer immediately after the MVA.