As of May 1, drivers in B.C. will no longer be required to put insurance decals on their licence plates. Drivers can leave the decals on if they wish or peel them off.
ICBC says drivers can legally display an expired decal, a decal that is blocked out with black marker, or covered with any colour of plain material that may or may not be reflective. ICBC is asking drivers not to use mirrored decal coverings or anything that has graphics, characters or patterns.
The change coincides with ICBC’s launch of online insurance renewals. Personal insurance policies that expire on or after May 1 can be renewed online within 44 days or less of their expiry. This applies generally to insurance policies where there is only one vehicle owner who does not plan to make changes in their coverage.
Drivers cannot renew their policy online if it’s for a jointly owned vehicle, a leased vehicle, a company-owned vehicle, a motorcycle, a collector vehicle, a commercial policy, an expired policy, if they want to change their policy, or they have outstanding debts owed to ICBC.
Once policies are renewed online, drivers can print out their registration to keep in their vehicle — which they are still required to do and may be asked to provide by police. Like renewals done at Autoplan broker offices, the relevant electronic records remain available for law enforcement and others authorized to reference the information.
Drivers looking to renew their insurance online can do so at renew.icbc.com.
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