B.C.’s Attorney General says drivers will soon be able to calculate what their insurance costs will be with major changes set to debut this September.

Speaking on Radio NL’s Inside #bcpoli Dave Eby says ICBC will soon offer a way online for people to calculate what their cost will be when insurance changes from insuring the vehicle to insuring the driver.

“ICBC is going to have a tool on their website that people are going to be able to go ahead and calculate what their rates are going to be under this new system. They can make a decision about whether to renew before the new system is in place in September or to renew after based on that. We understand people will want to make those decisions. This is something that ultimately high risk drivers will not be able to escape. Their rates will go up and go up significantly.”

Does ICBC have a responsibility to inform drivers of the new system well ahead of when it arrives this September?

“Absolutely. They will have this tool up imminently on their website so that people can go through and calculate the impact of different ways of insuring their vehicle.”

Eby says there will be a number of things determining who is, or is not, a bad driver.

“For people who have multiple at fault accidents, excessive speeding, driving while impaired and that kind of thing so if you have a record with a lot of stuff like that on it you can expect to pay significantly more. Low risk drivers without at fault accidents, without those kinds of infractions, and long safe driving records are going to see significant decreases.”

He says he “has no doubt” many drivers may think of themselves as good drivers who might be surprised when the system does not consider them as such.

Eby says it won’t be hard to demonstrate to those drivers why their rates will be going up.

In September ICBC will switch from insuring the vehicle to insuring the driver so all crashes, tickets, and other infractions follow each specific driver and not so much the vehicle.