Jeff's Idea Lab Blog

In British Columbia the law states that you have two years,from the date on which you were injured in a car accident, to either settle your case with ICBC or have a lawsuit filed.

So, in theory, you could wait close to two years before hiring a lawyer to handle your auto injury claim. And every couple months someone will phone me from the airport, just before getting on a flight to Cabo, to talk about their case which is 1day shy of the 2 year mark.

Back in the real world , however, the question you have to ask yourself is whether you're serious about getting your ICBC claim properly handled.

Most of the time when someone sees me with a case that's over a year old it's damaged goods.

What do I mean ?

A good settlement or trial judgement is a product of having done things properly throughout the life of your case. For 99.9% of British Columbians that means relying on the advise provided by their lawyer from very early on in the game. And not giving ICBC the opportunity to have their way with them for a number of months.

Besides, any personal lawyer who's experienced at handling ICBC injury claims is going to handle your case on a contingency( percentage )fee basis. Often, the percentage is the same regardless of when you hire that lawyer. So you might as well get full value and hire them early on.

ICBC injury claims are like alot of problems. They don't get solved to your best advantage by being ignored.