'I think it's shameful': Driver involved in fatal tree crash frustrated with ICBC response time

One of the drivers whose vehicle was struck by a falling tree in South Vancouver last month is criticizing the service provided by ICBC.

On April 12, a large tree crashed down onto Marine Way, striking two vehicles.

A person driving a green Honda Accord with an Alberta licence plate was killed in the incident.

The driver of the other vehicle, Marcus Carvalho, and his passenger walked away uninjured.

"If I was two seconds ahead, probably I wouldn't be here,” Carvalho told CTV News.

While grateful to still be alive, Carvalho is far from grateful from the service he says he’s received from ICBC following the crash.

"This is shameful,” Carvalho said.

Carvalho says despite his case being deemed “high priority” by ICBC, he struggled to get any sort of update for weeks after the incident.

"If I'm waiting for three weeks and I have no response, I can only imaging low priority customer is waiting two, three months?”

Carvalho says he was given a free rental car for a week, but says he couldn’t afford to keep paying for it after that.

“British Columbia has one provider of that service, and you’re pretty much hostage to that service,” he said.

"I'm not asking them to do something special for me, I'm just asking them to do a quality service like other companies would do.”

After CTV News reached out to ICBC about the case, the corporation confirmed late Friday that a settlement had been reached.

“Earlier today we deemed the vehicle to be a total loss and have reached a settlement for the vehicle with the registered owner, Fabiana Zaranza (Carvalho’s Wife),” the insurer said in a statement.

“Some claims and damage to vehicles can take time to access and we attempt to work with our customers to finish every claim as soon as possible.”