Canadian Insurer BCAA lowers rates for ESC-equipped vehicles

BCAA (British Columbia Automobile Association) is the first insurer in Canada to offer ESC insurance premium discounts. The provincial automobile club affiliated with the national club, CAA (Canadian Automobile Association) is introducing a 5% discount on collision premiums for vehicles equipped ESC.

Passive devices like seatbelts, airbags, and child seats help drivers and passengers survive a car crash, but the safest vehicle is the one that does not crash at all, explains BCAA Auto Insurance Product Manager, Heather Prizeman. “By offering a discount we hope to encourage more drivers to select a vehicle equipped with this technology,” says Prizeman. “In addition to being a proven safety device, ESC makes good economic sense, as ‘losing control’ is one of the leading causes of road crashes in Canada. We feel customers with safe driving practices – technical or otherwise – deserve to be rewarded with lower premiums.”

According to Canadian crash data from 2000-to-2005, vehicles equipped with ESC were involved in approximately 30%t fewer severe crashes due to loss of control. Based on this data, if all passenger vehicles were equipped with ESC, there could be 255 fewer deaths and 1,440 fewer people seriously injured on our roads every year.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is requiring all new cars sold in the U.S. to be equipped with ESC by model year 2012. And Transport Canada is currently working on regulations that will require ESC on all new passenger vehicles in a similar timeframe. Currently, only 5% of Canadians have vehicles equipped with ESC, but it is available as a relatively inexpensive option on many models.