[xpl0sive]

Usually the process is as follows:

If the car is severely damaged, it goes to the Centralized Estimating Facility where an estimator calculates the repairs required and they determine whether or not the car is worth fixing.
If the estimator thinks the car is a write off, they will call you to collect some more tails about the car if they need, things like KM's, maintenance info, options, etc. They send off the info to the third party company, who then plugs all the info into their system and compares your car to others on the market and they come up with a fair market value of your car.

If the car isn't badly damaged, they will send it to a shop of your choice. Make sure you pick a reputable shop who will be able to spot all the potential damages and estimate them right away. That way, if the total cost of the repairs comes close to the Market Value of the vehicle, ICBC will write it off. If the shop misses some damages, and ICBC decides that the car is worth repairing, you may end up with a car that should have been written off but instead you are stuck with a car that wasn't repaired property and has a huge dec on it.

I've had mixed results in my previous experiences with ICBC, I've ended up being better off having the car written off than what I could have gotten for it if I was to sell it myself. Another time, I lost quite a bit of money when my car got totaled a week after I had a $2,500 timing belt job done. ICBC called the job "regular maintenance" and told me I was out of luck getting that $2,500 reimbursed. I also had aftermarket wheels on the car and two of them were damaged, and ICBC told me that my OEM wheels were worth more than the aftermarket wheels, so they weren't paying me for the damage to the aftermarket wheels. Luckly the OEM wheels were in good shape and had good tires on them so I was able to sell them on craigslist for a decent amount...