The troubles for ICBC grew on Friday as Paul Taylor the Chief Executive Officer decided to step down from the public insurance company and head for a position in the private sector, a case of interesting timing and a fortunate parachute, as more and more demands of transparency and accountability were being made of the provincial car insurer.
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Those demands come as a growing scandal regarding rebuilt and resold automobiles continues to percolate across BC. Taylor was adamant that his decision to leave was unrelated to the current troubles, which he said ICBC is working hard towards solving.
ICBC found itself in the unwanted spotlight when tales came out about an ICBC research facility called the Material Damage Research and Training facility, a place which seems to have taken on the tasks that are normally associated with more infamous chop shops, fixing up heavily damaged vehicles and selling them off without disclosing any of their past history.
Even more disturbing was the process of rigging the car auctions, which found that ICBC insiders were all but guaranteed to pick up one of the cars at a decent price, always a step ahead of the regular public who might be seeking to purchase one of the vehicles. It would appear that ICBC employees may have used privileged information to outbid less-informed buyers at wholesale auto auctions, in effect the house arranged for its own staff to benefit in a less than up front manner.
Two managers and a board member have taken their leave since the situation first became public knowledge, long time employees some of whom won't discuss their status and one who says he had already put in his retirement papers prior to the scandal breaking out in the open, eager not to be tainted with the topic of the day we assume.
This mysterious office known as the Material Damage Research and Training facility, has been closed since the scandal broke out and not destined to re-open until a full investigation is held into the matter.
With the scandal launching itself across the province, the question that everyone wants to know is what exactly the ICBC Research facility is all about and what else besides insider selling is going on there.
Clearly ethics and fairness haven’t been high on the agenda and this situation that has developed over the last few months hasn’t done much to buff up the ICBC image in some segments of the BC population.
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Those demands come as a growing scandal regarding rebuilt and resold automobiles continues to percolate across BC. Taylor was adamant that his decision to leave was unrelated to the current troubles, which he said ICBC is working hard towards solving.
ICBC found itself in the unwanted spotlight when tales came out about an ICBC research facility called the Material Damage Research and Training facility, a place which seems to have taken on the tasks that are normally associated with more infamous chop shops, fixing up heavily damaged vehicles and selling them off without disclosing any of their past history.
Even more disturbing was the process of rigging the car auctions, which found that ICBC insiders were all but guaranteed to pick up one of the cars at a decent price, always a step ahead of the regular public who might be seeking to purchase one of the vehicles. It would appear that ICBC employees may have used privileged information to outbid less-informed buyers at wholesale auto auctions, in effect the house arranged for its own staff to benefit in a less than up front manner.
Two managers and a board member have taken their leave since the situation first became public knowledge, long time employees some of whom won't discuss their status and one who says he had already put in his retirement papers prior to the scandal breaking out in the open, eager not to be tainted with the topic of the day we assume.
This mysterious office known as the Material Damage Research and Training facility, has been closed since the scandal broke out and not destined to re-open until a full investigation is held into the matter.
With the scandal launching itself across the province, the question that everyone wants to know is what exactly the ICBC Research facility is all about and what else besides insider selling is going on there.
Clearly ethics and fairness haven’t been high on the agenda and this situation that has developed over the last few months hasn’t done much to buff up the ICBC image in some segments of the BC population.
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Never a crowd favourite, the fact that the insurance company seems to have done its best to dupe the public and assist its own, probably means that we won't be seeing this as the kind of self promoting propaganda that normally arrives in your insurance flyer, a fond reminder of their value to the insuree, just as the renewal of our policies comes around.
As Michael Smyth points out in his Vancouver Province column, the corporation is pretty quick to pat themselves on the back and point fingers at companies that it targets for investigation, so far however, they've been pretty quiet about the in house stuff however, a situation that we suspect won't be allowed to continue for long.
The call for an RCMP investigation has been issued, and the Mounties have replied that they can't actually act on the file until a complaint is filed. Surely somewhere out there among the provincial car driving public, is someone who will find the time to file the papers eager to see a an investigation into one of the provinces more controversial organizations.
As Michael Smyth points out in his Vancouver Province column, the corporation is pretty quick to pat themselves on the back and point fingers at companies that it targets for investigation, so far however, they've been pretty quiet about the in house stuff however, a situation that we suspect won't be allowed to continue for long.
The call for an RCMP investigation has been issued, and the Mounties have replied that they can't actually act on the file until a complaint is filed. Surely somewhere out there among the provincial car driving public, is someone who will find the time to file the papers eager to see a an investigation into one of the provinces more controversial organizations.
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However we can probably be sure that it won't be one of the 22 or so ICBC employees who took advantage of the deep discount days that the company seemed to offer. If ICBC won't make the official complaint, perhaps an unsatisfied customer may make that call, we suspect that at the moment there is no shortage of candidates.
While we wait for answers from ICBC and ponder just what kind of business identity and culture they are working under there. We can only hope that it’s nothing like the happenings that this short instructional video provides about the world of body shops… Though if some of the tales making their way out now are true, ICBC may actually be less scrupulous than this crew...
While we wait for answers from ICBC and ponder just what kind of business identity and culture they are working under there. We can only hope that it’s nothing like the happenings that this short instructional video provides about the world of body shops… Though if some of the tales making their way out now are true, ICBC may actually be less scrupulous than this crew...
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