How to research a vehicle accident repaired in British Columbia

When a vehicle has been repaired in British Columbia by ICBC, there is a document that is created by the body shop called a CL14 Repair Supplement.  ICBC refers to this as a Detailed Damaged Report.  A template of the report is shown below.  This document is used by body shops to invoice ICBC.  It has all the information regarding the repair i.e. parts, labor costs, and the breakdown of structural, mechanical or body work.  This is an important first document.  You can purchase this document from ICBC for approx $19.00.  This document is used by other insurance companies as well, but we'll focus on ICBC for today.

Why this is important to have is it gives you an understanding of the damages.  Most people only look at the number.  Often a buyer will hear "it has a $6000 accident".  To some people this might frighten them away because they don't understand what that number is.  The detailed damage report or CL14, allows you to have some background to the repair.  Parts, especially OEM (Original equipment manufacturer) parts can be very expensive especially headlights with LEDs (Light emitting Diodes).  I've seen vehicles that have $2000 headlights or $11,000 brake rotors.  

You can contact ICBC directly at 604-661-2233 and ask for a Detailed Damage Report for a vehicle that has been in an accident.  There is an automated attendant.  Select 1 for vehicle claims history.

You will need:

1. The VIN (Vehicle Identification Number)
2. The date of loss
3. Your drivers license number

The ICBC representative will verify that there is data worth purchasing and once they have data they will ask for the payment.  This process is manual and it can take up to 24 hours.  They will need to fax it to, they are not setup to email as of yet.

In the next article we will go through the repair supplement.  

Question?  Let us know.

CL14 Example