Inspecting my own car before bringing it to a ICBC claim center?
 

I got rear ended today.
Ignoring the other driver's request on not notifying ICBC (because I want my passengers to be covered in case they get back pain), I now have an appointment for next week to have my car checked at an ICBC claim center.

Out of my own curiosity, I want to take off my rear bumper cover to check for hidden damages.
Although on the outside, there are only two visible damages (imprint of his front plate and misalignment of my bumper), I strongly believe there to be damage under the bumper cover due to the force of the impact.
Is there any problem with me taking off the rear bumper before bringing it to the claim center?
or should I do that after letting them look at it?

They are not idiots. they know what to do, and if they do miss it, the body shop will find it and tell icbc, and your covered, leave it alone.

dont take off the bumper or it will change the look of how it got hit.

QFT

always ALWAYS notify ICBC, regardless of what the other driver says. If the other driver does not make good on their promise to fix it, then you have a record with claims, and you will be able to get your car fixed. Once you've had claims look at it, the other driver can, at this point, pay out of his own pocket to have your car fixed at the shop of YOUR choosing, or you can go through ICBC, get your car fixed, and the other driver can then pay ICBC back, and not have his insurance go up. If he decides to flake, then you've gone through claims, and you can just take your car in to get it fixed, and ICBC will deal with him through his policy. Also, don't just take a cheque from the guy after getting quotes from the shop. There could be, as you suspect, hidden damage and the quote could increase after it's in the shop and apart, making you have to go after the other guy to get him to cover the extra expense, or having to pay for it yourself. Your best bet, in this situation, is to just go through ICBC like you normally would, and let him figure out how he wants to deal with it afterwards, i.e. pay back ICBC so his insurance doesn't go up.

might be a bit late,
but another option that I've used in the past is instead of filiming a claim with ICBC, I brought my car directly to an ICBC Valet shop, and at the shop, they will inspect the car and deal with ICBC on your behalf. During this process, the shop may let you inspect the car "with them" so that they dont miss anything.

Another option you have is to go to the body shop of your choosing before your meeting with ICBC, and have them take a look at your car, and ask if they can go WITH you to your appointment with ICBC. When I had my windows smashe on my RSX, I brought along the bodymen from a bodyshop with me to ICBC, most big bodyshops will have staff that knows the ICBC adjustor quite well, and they will look thru the car together, and the bodymen will usually make sure that the adjustor doesnt miss anything.

And everyone above is correct in that you should ALWAYS use ICBC, the other guy has the option of paying ICBC back himself to avoid an insurance increase.

Let's see some pics.

Would you even know what to look for? I doubt it. But if I were you, I wouldn't touch the thing with a ten foot pole until ICBC does. Especially if you plan on making injury claims...

I do not pay people to work on my car, and has worked behind the bumpers a few times before (rear parking sensors, rear view cameras, etc), so i know what is out of place and what is not.
i have decided to not do anything myself this time based on the above suggestions.

From what i can see on the outside, there is a clear imprint of the other car's license plate, and the bumper and body now have a small gap. The small gap between the bumper and tail light is now uneven between both sides, and i am 100% sure they were even before.

Hey man, I'm the same as you.. I never let other people touch my car, I do everything myself. I've done body kits, replaced stock bumper covers, rebar, etc, welded quarter panels and frame rails and even tubbed a front end once too... but that said, I still wouldn't know what to look for on my own car for wreck damage.

I don't know the specs for the crush panel thickness or the shock absorbing bars on the rebar, I don't know how to look to see if the damage got transferred from the crash bar to the frame rails or the quarter panel sheet metal. Unless it's something blatantly obvious (like the quarter panel is folded in on both sides), I wouldn't know how to estimate how much to straighten the frame. Even if I could, I don't have a rack to put it on to do it.

That kind of stuff, is best left to the people who know what's what.