i thought icbc would cover only up to whatever you declared the value of the car was when you purchased the insurance? if icbc deemed the car to be worth less than the declared value, then you work with that number.

or am i getting this all wrong here?

My understanding is that the amount they are willing to cover is based on what the current market price is for a similar vehicle. i.e. If I were to buy a car with mechanical issues for $1000 and I fixed all the issues myself (making it worth $10000), it wouldn't make sense for them to only cover what I paid. They need to give me enough money to purchase the same vehicle in the used market.

that's only if you purchase "declared value" insurance. IIRC it's not available for purchase through ICBC for regular vehicles. If you have collector plates, you purchase declared value insurance, which is when you get your car appraised and insure it for a certain amount. in an event of a total loss, that's how much you get. Most other vehicles ICBC insures are insured on an "Actual cash value" basis, which is the market value of the vehicle immediately prior to the accident. As others have said, it doesn't matter how much you said you paid for the car when you bought it, you'll get the market value of it.

yea, i don't know how that works then. its just because when i purchase insurance for my car, they never ask how much the value of the car is. but when i purchase motorcycle insurance, they always ask me how much the bike is.

Motorcycles and large commercial vehicles are rated for own damage based on declared value. But regular vehicles are based on rate group.
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The way I see it, it doesn't matter even if it was a gift.

A gift totalled = end of gift value = loss of money (because you could choose to sell that 'gift' for $$

ICBC still has to compensate for the loss.