April 23, 2020 by Jason Contant
Brokers in British Columbia are temporarily allowed to conduct insurance transactions such as vehicle insurance renewals by phone and email during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Measures are also being put in place to verify the identity of the customer to combat fraud.
Last month, the government of British Columbia said it would institute a temporary procedure to allow Insurance Corporation of B.C. (ICBC) customers to receive the following services from participating brokers:
“ICBC, together with the B.C. government, is allowing for a temporary business continuity procedure that allows most transactions to be done over telephone and email, without the requirement for the registered owner to attend in person and without a requirement for a physical or ‘wet’ signature,” said Aly Kanji, president and CEO of InsureLine. “I don’t believe a change was made to the regulations, but the government has allowed a variance to forego the need for a signature in the current situation, on a temporary basis.”
Kanji was one of a number of brokers pushing ICBC to find a solution to enable ICBC agencies to continue to operate without having to keep offices open. The B.C. government said in a press release that many brokerages remain open for business for people who want to visit in person or for transactions that cannot be done over the phone, such as vehicle registrations and new plate policies. Transfer of a vehicle (essentially selling a used car from one registered owner to another) and out-of-province registrations will still need to be done in-person, Kanji added.
To complete an ICBC Autoplan new policy or renewal, the insured is required to attend at an ICBC agent’s office and personally sign the policy documents in order to receive the policy and the decal, Kanji explained, noting that in B.C. the annual registration and basic insurance policy are tied together. Current regulations require an agent to obtain the physical signature from the registered owner in order to renew the registration and insurance.
“As you can imagine, this would require Autoplan agencies to remain open and require the motoring public to continue to physically attend an office to obtain their renewal policy. This does not follow the protocol for social distancing,” Kanji said.
Kanji noted that insurance regulations in the province are 40 years old and haven’t changed and kept up with the times. So given that business is conducted online or over the phone, how is fraud being detected and what extra layers of security exist during this interim period?
Traditionally, the customary practice was for a broker to see a client’s driver’s licence and then ask if they still lived at that address. “Instead, we would now ask open-ended questions over the phone to confirm the identity of the individual; not much different than how a credit card company or bank would verify your identity over the phone,” Kanji said, using the examples of name, address, postal code, birthdate and [driver’s licence] to confirm the identity of the caller.”
For signatures, the client is given two options:
By directly or indirectly replying to this email, and indicating that you agree, accept, or consent, you thereby
The client is then asked to respond by email with the word agree, accept or consent, Kanji said, adding that all phone calls are recorded.
“With the COVID-19 outbreak impacting brokers’ offices and customers, these provisional changes are the right move to help protect the health and wellness of everyone, while continuing to meet British Columbians’ insurance needs,” said Chuck Byrne, executive director of the Insurance Brokers Association of B.C.
Some brokers have been doing ICBC transactions by email or mail for many years without any problems. (the only difference is original docs & decal sent by bonded courier).
It just took a worldwide pandemic to get ICBC to realize it CAN be done this way.
Next step: eliminate signatures and decals.
Instead of ICBC management designing the post-Covid method of distribution and messing it up, speak to the brokers who already know how to do it.