--- title: "Opinion: One party says car insurance rates will double. The other says they stay low. Neither has shown a calculation" description: "The BC NDP says a Conservative plan would double car insurance rates. The Conservatives say rates stay low. The voche.me editors looked for the numbers behind both." canonical_url: "https://voche.me/bc/provincial-2026/news/opinion-car-insurance-double-rates-no-numbers" last_updated: "2026-10-10T04:06:53.693Z" --- *This article is the opinion of the voche.me editors. The facts it relies on are listed with their sources at the end.* Two parties are telling drivers two opposite things this week. The BC NDP says the Conservative plan "would double car insurance rates". The Conservative leader says his plan keeps rates "affordable for drivers". We looked for the calculation behind each claim. We found none. ## What started it Daily Hive reported that [Lorne Doerkson](/bc/provincial-2026/candidates/lorne-doerkson) signed a letter dated September 29 to four groups: the Insurance Bureau of Canada, the Law Society of British Columbia, the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia and the B.C. branch of the Canadian Bar Association. The letter commits a Conservative government to bring in a law in its first year. The law would restore the ability of people with serious injuries to seek compensation in court. He calls the result a hybrid system and names six provinces that have one. "Everything's on the table, including opening auto insurance to private competition to drive down auto insurance rates and bringing back sensible limits on minor-injury claims," he wrote. The letter became public on October 6. ## What exists today The public insurer, ICBC, runs a system called Enhanced Care. Victoria News reported that it began on May 1, 2021. A person injured in a crash gets care and recovery benefits, and cannot sue. ICBC said the change took most legal costs out of the system and saved $1.5 billion. Daily Hive reported ICBC's own estimate that customers saved an average of $490, or 28 per cent, when they first renewed. ## The Conservative claim has no number Daily Hive read the letter and reported that it "does not provide a premium estimate or a detailed financial breakdown". The party's plan page, posted on October 7, begins: "Low rates and justice for serious injuries in auto insurance." It gives no rate. Mr. Doerkson's own answers changed in one day. Victoria News reported that on Tuesday he said, "I'm not promising anything." On Wednesday he said the party is "definitely committed to a hybrid". He added that limits on what lawyers can charge will come "when we go forward with our platform". ## The NDP claim rests on one driver [David Eby](/bc/provincial-2026/candidates/david-eby) and his party say the plan would double rates. A party statement on October 6 gave the reason: an Ernst and Young analysis shows that Alberta drivers pay twice as much. Daily Hive described that study. It dates from 2022. ICBC commissioned it, with support from the public insurers of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It compared 30 kinds of driver in nine provinces. The figure that was cited is for one of the 30: an 18-year-old man, new to driving, with a 2012 Honda Civic. He paid $2,551 a year in British Columbia and $5,936 in Alberta. That is 2.3 times as much. Daily Hive added a caution. Those figures "describe that particular driver profile, rather than the average premium paid by all drivers in either province". So the claim compares one young driver, in one of the six provinces Mr. Doerkson named, using a study commissioned by the insurer whose system is being defended. The union that cited it, MoveUP, represents 5,000 ICBC workers. The Conservatives rejected the figure. Daily Hive reported that they accused their opponents of using unsupported figures to alarm drivers. ## A new promise, also without a cost On October 8 the BC NDP promised to freeze rates for three more years, until spring 2030. The release says rates would then have been frozen for ten years. It gives no figure for what three more years of frozen rates would cost the public insurer. ## The people in the middle Both sides talk about people with serious injuries. Mr. Doerkson said people with a catastrophic injury "must receive proper compensation and that is absolutely not happening in this province". [Mike Farnworth](/bc/provincial-2026/candidates/mike-farnworth), the transportation minister and a BC NDP candidate, defended the current system. Daily Hive reported his argument that under the old one, people could wait years for a court decision and legal fees took close to one-third of their settlements. He said work to improve the system continues. Neither party has said what a person with a life-changing injury would receive under its plan. ## What can be said in their defence A fair reader should weigh two points. Mr. Doerkson says his platform is still to come. Daily Hive noted that the party may have planned to announce this later in the campaign. The NDP did cite a real study, and ICBC's own figures show rates fell when the system changed in 2021. We have weighed these points. A driver choosing between these parties has been told "double" by one and "low" by the other. One figure comes from a single driver profile. The other has no figure at all. ## What we ask Advance voting opens on October 16. Before that day: **The Conservative Party of BC** should publish the yearly premium it expects under its hybrid system for three drivers: an 18-year-old with a first car, a 40-year-old with a family vehicle and a 70-year-old. **The BC NDP** should publish the study's full table for all 30 driver profiles in every province it covers, and the cost of its rate freeze. **Both** should say what a person with a life-changing injury would receive under their plan, in dollars. Read the sources below and decide for yourself. Our other articles ask [the Conservatives](/bc/provincial-2026/news/opinion-doerkson-no-new-taxes-deficit-numbers) and [the BC NDP](/bc/provincial-2026/news/opinion-eby-ndp-promises-priced) what their promises cost. Election day is October 24, 2026. ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](/bc/provincial-2026/sitemap.md) for all pages.