Longtime ICBC estimator says body shops over-inflating things like costs of parts, not not enough staff to police abuse

SURREY (NEWS 1130) – The same week drivers in BC face insurance hikes of more than six per cent, one ICBC employee is drawing attention to something that could help bring some costs down.

Lance Leswick, a longtime estimator at the Newton claim centre, says he’s been filing complaints since September 2001 when ICBC Express Shops started writing their own estimates.

“By the time it comes to payment parts, if we notice there’s irregularities in files, we can’t stop the payment. We have to pay it and nothing really ever seems to get done. I took it all the way up as far as I could into the corporation. They wouldn’t do anything.”

Five other ICBC estimators with at least 10 years’ experience each support his claim that abuse is going largely un-checked because their numbers have dropped from more than 400 in 2001 to fewer than 300 now.

“They’ve cut down our staff so much, we just don’t have enough staff to police all the things that are going on. We’re talking over 16 years, I know we’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars. I’ve documented claims that I’ve overpaid — forced to overpay of over $10,000 and $12,000. ICBC has that documentation in their files.”

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The insurance corporation’s Adam Grossman is aware of claims some shops have inflated repair costs, but he rejects Leswick’s suggestion that millions of dollars have been lost.

“In 2016, our reviews found no significant billing inconsistencies. Most importantly, customers have told us they want to go straight to a repair shop, have their guaranteed repair done, and get back on the road. They don’t want to make an appointment and have their vehicle estimated at an ICBC claim centre by an ICBC estimator.

Leswick says he is pleased his supervisors finally started listening to him earlier this year.

“They gave us an extra two cars, so we could get extra estimators out there and start doing drop-in visits at body shops, so we can do surprise visits and try to catch this stuff up front. By the time it comes to the back end of the thing, it is, we’re just out of luck. We have an automated system, so they have to pick and choose which ones they want to look at. The body shops have basically ruled ICBC since the Liberals gave them the power to write their own estimates.”

Grossman insists more than 300,000 crashes were recorded last year and no significant billing inconsistencies were identified.

“If we were to have a system which sees every single vehicle damage estimate handled in person by an ICBC claims estimator, the turnaround time on customers’ vehicles would be sincerely impacted. A repair today which takes days, could take weeks or more.”

Attorney General David Eby says concerns raised by Leswick are now being addressed by the review he ordered over the summer.

“It’s incredibly important that employees are canvassed because they’re on the front lines and they’re seeing these things. It concerns me greatly that there may be problems that haven’t been dealt with.”

Starting tomorrow, ICBC rates across the province are climbing more than six per cent.