What happened to the broker who lied to her insurer about her claim

An impressionable ex-broker in B.C. is paying the price for heeding her friends’ advice to lie to her insurer about an auto accident for which she was not covered.  

Amanpreet Kaur was released from her brokerage, fined $2,500 by the regulator, pleaded guilty to a charge of lying to the province’s public auto insurer (she was ordered to pay costs totalling more than $5,000), was banned from acting as a representative of the Insurance Corporation of B.C. for a year, banned from buying optional insurance for three years, and had her broker’s licence suspended for a year. (Her licence was cancelled for non-renewal in August 2024, and the regulator will not consider a renewal application for at least one year.)

Kaur told the province’s broker regulator that had she known the steep consequences of lying to her insurer, she would have told them the truth at the outset. But she said she panicked when she got into the accident and all she could think about was that she didn’t have the proper coverage.

“Council had some sympathy for the former licensee, who appeared to have been a competent Level 1 salesperson while licensed,” the Insurance Council of B.C. wrote in its disciplinary decision posted in April. “Council was inclined to view her, at least to some degree, as an impressionable person who had decided to act dishonestly while in a panicked state of mind and while receiving dubious advice from her friends.

“However, her actions following the vehicle collision amount to clear breaches of Section 3 (trustworthiness), Section 4 (good faith), and Section 8 (usual practice: dealing with insurers) of the Code of Conduct.”

Kaur bought basic and third-party liability ICBC Autoplan insurance for her vehicle in January 2023. She did not purchase optional collision coverage at the time.

One month later, on Feb. 19, 2023, at about 4 am, she lost control of her vehicle on ice and hit a light pole. Later that morning, just before noon, she purchased ICBC optional collision insurance for her vehicle with a $1,000 deductible.

She then reported to ICBC’s insurance adjuster the collision with the pole happened at about 5:30 am on Feb. 20 (i.e. the day after it happened, and the day after she purchased optional coverage).

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ICBC’s claim investigation revealed the municipality created a work order on Mar. 1, 2023, to repair the streetlight damaged in the collision. “The work order showed that a towing company had been called at approximately 4:00 am on Feb. 19 to tow a vehicle from the site,” the council’s decision reads. “When the tow truck driver arrived at the site there was no vehicle, although he did find vehicle parts at the accident area.”

Challenged with this evidence, Kaur admitted she had lied to ICBC to make it seem she had insurance coverage for the accident. She explained that she was on her way to pick up a friend when she slid on ice and hit the pole.

“She called her friend after the incident, and the friend and the friend’s boyfriend then drove to the accident site,” as council’s decision explains. “The friend’s boyfriend called for a tow truck, but the former licensee became concerned about her lack of insurance coverage and the tow request was soon cancelled.

“The friend’s boyfriend was able to start the vehicle, and the former licensee drove it home. She then added collision insurance to her ICBC policy later that morning.”

Her friends encouraged her to lie to the insurer about what happened.

“When asked about why she had attempted to deceive ICBC following the vehicle accident, the former licensee explained that she had been scared, realizing that she did not have collision insurance, and had been encouraged by her friends to lie,” council said in its decision.

“She had heard that ‘a lot of people lie about these things’ and were never caught by ICBC, and she succumbed to the encouragement to act dishonestly.”

During council’s investigation of the matter, she confessed “she had not known that dishonesty in a claim submitted outside of her professional life could have repercussions on her insurance licence,” council’s decision reads. “Had she understood that risk, she never would have attempted to mislead ICBC.”