Dear Editor:
Re: NDP Steers ICBC Property Away From Possible Sale, Sept. 13 news story.
I am writing in response to your recent article. My name is Ken McCormack and I am the president and CEO of the B.C. Automotive Retailers Association, an association that represents among others, the aftermarket vehicle repair sector in B.C.
The ARA and our members take exception to the incomplete reporting of the escalating vehicle repair costs in B.C.
According to your article, Annette Toth, from the union representing ICBC staff stated that auto body shops have been allowed to control repair costs. This is completely incorrect.
Industry has no ability whatsoever to control repair costs or influence rates paid to shops on work they do for vehicle owners making claims through ICBC. There is a great deal of literature available through ICBC on this fact as they insist they are unable to even discuss any issues relating to rates with industry due to what they claim are restrictive anti-competition laws.
Rates paid to our industry are determined at the sole discretion of ICBC, with limited or no input from industry that takes into consideration the true costs of repairing vehicles, and many of our shops have had little or no rate increases for as much as two decades.
We are an industry that is dependent on ICBC for the vast majority of vehicle repair work done in this province and the relationship is extremely unbalanced.
When combined with former Minister Todd Stone’s comments that included mention of vehicle repair costs increasing 30 per cent in the last two years, your readers may be left with the mistaken impression that repair shops are benefitting from these conditions. Margins to our small business repair shops are very small and many shops struggle greatly to remain viable. We have advocated to government for years to rectify the unreasonable rates paid to shops for these repairs.
While repair costs are actually rising for ICBC, those increases are the direct result of more expensive vehicles on B.C. roads and the high cost of replacement parts.
Repair shops are not the ones receiving the benefits from these escalating costs. We are, in fact, one more supplier to ICBC that has been neglected as they focus their efforts on other government priorities. We have been heavy subsidizers of ICBC profits at the expense of a sustainable industry.
Ken McCormack
Burnaby
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