Photo: The Canadian Press

Castanet readers appear fairly evenly split on what should be done with provincial auto insurer ICBC.

The Crown corporation has been slammed as a financial train wreck as studies forecast dramatic rate hikes and drastic structural changes will be needed to save it from ruin.

We asked readers: Should car insurance in B.C. be privatized. And the responses cut almost exactly down the middle.

Out of 13,455 votes cast, 48.48 per cent said Yes, while 46.93 per cent said No.

Only 4.59 per cent were undecided.

"Trim the fat. Get rid of all the 'executives' that know nothing and do even less. Hire competent front-line staff and fire the slackers. Start running the thing like it was run back in the beginning – as an affordable alternative to private insurance," commented reader Trudy Smith.​

"I've been driving for 55 years and never had a claim. Still, my rates go up every year. Should not they be going down? My vehicle is 35 years old, and the insurance is more than the truck is worth. Every year! There is so much rot in the organzation that the only way to fix it is to tear it down and start again," said poster Randydandy.

"Stop trying to make money on it like a private insurance company, and stop siphoning money from it to balance the government's budget," added a reader named Brent.

The issue is shaping up to be the first major financial hurdle for B.C.'s new NDP government.

"ICBC, as described to me by senior bureaucrats, is on the path to insolvency," Attorney General David Eby said.