ICBC Center Sold 98 Vehichles Without Proper Disclosure

ICBC Takes Action

ICBC's CEO Paul Taylor today announced the company is taking immediate action to address findings from an investigation that confirmed 98 vehicles from its Burnaby-based research and training facility have been sold without the proper designation and disclosure to buyers.

The investigation was announced last month in response to internal concerns that some vehicles repaired at the facility, which was established in 1988, were sold with a repair history that was incorrectly designated and disclosed to buyers. As a result, these customers had insufficient information when purchasing vehicles.

The internal investigation revealed that ICBC lacked clear and specific policies and procedures to govern the designation, repair and sale of vehicles from its research and training facility from Jan. 1, 1998 to present. As a result, 98 vehicles repaired at the facility were sold with incorrect designations and without adequate disclosure.

"I want to express my sincere apologies to all customers who were inconvenienced and purchased vehicles with incorrect designations", said Taylor. "This is a serious matter and we have taken immediate steps to correct the situation, including making things right with customers who purchased these vehicles."

ICBC has taken the following steps with customers who purchased vehicles without the proper vehicle repair history designation and disclosure:

• ICBC has contacted all but two customers who have purchased these vehicles, and is either buying back these vehicles or having them inspected and re-designated for customers who choose to keep their vehicles.
• All vehicles being bought back will not be permitted to be registered in the future and are being designated as dismantle only and being sold off for parts. Vehicles that sustained water damage will be crushed.

The investigation also revealed that:

• Several employees also purchased rebuilt vehicles at industry auction where the vehicle history was incorrectly designated and disclosed. While the sale of vehicles to employees is a standard practice at some companies, ICBC has no policies in place to govern this process.
• There is some evidence that the facility and staff time were used for non-business purposes such as repairing employee vehicles.

ICBC has also taken immediate action to amend company policy to stop the inappropriate designation of vehicles, and improve customer access to vehicle history information in the future. Actions include:

• Effective immediately, the research and training facility has ceased repairing or designating vehicles for sale. Work at the facility will be strictly limited to research for training and education purposes.
• Policies and procedures will be upgraded to ensure the proper designation and disclosure of vehicle history meets or exceeds current North American standards.
• ICBC employees will not be permitted to purchase any salvage vehicles, either directly or indirectly.
• Repair of personal vehicles will no longer be permitted under any circumstance. Employees face serious consequences for non-compliance, up to and including dismissal.
• The Vehicle Identification Numbers of all written-off vehicles will be available shortly on icbc.com so that individuals can confirm if a vehicle has been written-off as a loss by ICBC.
• All current and future staff will be trained on the upgraded policies and procedures, and employees will face serious consequences for non-compliance, up to and including dismissal.

For legal and privacy reasons, ICBC is unable to comment on personnel matters related to the investigation other than to say that changes have been implemented in response to the findings.

ICBC has also launched a separate independent investigation, which is being conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, into the operations of this facility. The findings of that investigation will be made public and if additional issues are identified, further action will be taken.