Four months after B.C.'s public auto insurer identified a multimillion-dollar billing error, cheques are being mailed to customers reimbursing them for the mix-up.

The Insurance Corporation of B.C. announced in April that some of its optional insurance customers had been assigned an incorrect vehicle description for as much as six years, meaning their insurance premiums were higher or, in some cases, lower, than they should have been.

ICBC says 441,000 letters are being sent to customers, with refunds being sent to those who overpaid, while drivers who underpaid will not be asked to reimburse the corporation.

The mix-up drew the wrath of B.C.’s Transportation Minister Todd Stone, who told The Vancouver Province back in April that he was “very, very angry when I learned there was a problem here.”

After the mix-up was made public, two independent external reviews were then ordered by ICBC’s directors.

In a statement released Friday, ICBC said: “The external reviews have been completed, 24 million individual optional insurance transactions have been checked and ICBC has been given the go-ahead to start mailing letters to optional insurance customers who were financially impacted by an incorrect vehicle description over the last six years.

“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this has caused our valued customers.” (continued.)
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According to a release from ICBC, the average refund amounts to about $18 per year.

When the problem was identified earlier this year, ICBC estimated refunds would cost the corporation $36 million, plus an additional $3 million in interest.

The six-year-long error cost the corporation as much as $71 million.

ICBC says new computer software will prevent future premium errors because the program automatically identifies and updates a vehicle's description using the vehicle identification number provided by the manufacturer.