What happened: A driver hit by an at-fault e-scooter asked ICBC to refund his $2,500 deductible.
Who's involved: Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) and a self-represented policyholder.
What's at stake: A $2,500 deductible.
Why it matters: E-scooters don't count as "included vehicles," so BC's fault-based basic coverage never kicked in.
Where it stands: The Civil Resolution Tribunal dismissed the claim on September 24, 2026.
The other side was 100% to blame. The driver still paid the $2,500 deductible - and a BC tribunal says his policy saw to that.
ICBC found the e-scooter operator fully responsible for the July 9, 2024 collision. The driver, representing himself, took ICBC to the Civil Resolution Tribunal to get his deductible back. ICBC's position was simple: his optional policy made him pay it no matter who caused the crash.
The tribunal sided with ICBC on September 24, 2026.
For crashes on or after May 1, 2021, BC's basic vehicle damage coverage works on fault. If the policyholder isn't responsible, ICBC covers the repairs, deductible and all.
There's a catch written into the law. Section 174(2) of the Insurance (Vehicle) Act only switches that coverage on for crashes on a BC highway involving at least two "included vehicles."
An e-scooter isn't one.
Both sides agreed the scooter was a "designated personal mobility device" under the Motor Vehicle Act. That kept it out of the included-vehicle category, so basic coverage never applied to this crash.
Even the paperwork took a few tries. Emails the driver filed showed ICBC first suggested he'd collided with a cyclist, then a pedestrian.
That left the driver's optional collision coverage. ICBC pointed to section 5 of Division 8, which limits its repair bill to fixing the car with similar material, "over and above his deductible amount," as the tribunal put it.
The driver offered nothing to the contrary, and the tribunal noted an earlier ruling had read the policy the same way. So ICBC had no duty to waive or refund the deductible.
Both sides pointed to a 2023 tribunal decision that also involved a car and an e-scooter. In that one, ICBC was ordered to pay back a driver's deductible.
The driver asked for the same result. The tribunal said no. In the earlier case, the fight was over who caused the crash, and ICBC had already voluntarily refunded 25% of the deductible - so the order to repay the rest followed ICBC's own move, not a statute or policy term.
The tribunal added that it isn't bound by its earlier decisions in any event. ICBC didn't claim tribunal fees, and the driver's claim for his was dismissed.
The $2,500 question isn't fully closed. The driver filed a separate claim against the e-scooter operator for the same amount. The operator never responded and is in default, and the tribunal decided that dispute at the same time - but hasn't published the result.
In BC, a full liability finding against an e-scooter operator won't erase a driver's deductible: with only one included vehicle in the crash, the optional collision policy's deductible still applies, and any recovery may have to come from the operator directly.
