Snow tires – to install or not to install?
With winter closing in quickly it’s not too late to consider getting snow tires for your vehicle even if we aren’t as much of snow risk here on the Lower Mainland as in other areas of the province.
Snow tires are made of a softer, more pliable rubber than a regular tire and have better gripping and stopping power than regular or all season tires. At temperatures below 7C, snow tires perform much better than other kinds of tires.
A question that we get asked is whether your insurance is voided if you have an accident and you did not have snow tires on your vehicle when maybe you should have. A simple answer is “no” your insurance will not be nullified in this scenario. However, if you are considered at-fault as a result of not having snow tires you will lose some of your driving discount as you would have in any other at-fault accident. You may also be ticketed by the police depending which roads you drive on if you do not have proper winter tires or denied road access altogether.
That extra stopping power of a snow tire could mean a near miss or an accident. The cost of snow tires is small when you consider the potential extra insurance costs, especially if you do not have your full discount yet. With that in mind, ICBC is re-visiting its claim rated scale method of determining insurance premiums in the spring of 2018. You will experience a much faster decline in your savings versus the previous system if you are at fault. Visit www.icbc.com for more information on how your discount is affected by a crash.
Even with snow tires, give yourself extra room behind the vehicle in front of you. Multi-vehicle accidents are usually caused by people following too closely and a chain of crashes occurs. Don’t be a part of the problem and enjoy getting home safely.
