Thanks, everyone!
I called the insurer (ICBC), too, and learned as much as I could there.
One of my questions to them was one since brought up here, "But if someone is injured, doesn't our BC Medical cover the health costs?!?" They said BC Medical only covers some things. This is true, and in my opinion unfortunate, but I doubt ICBC would cover things BC Medical doesn't considered a valid remedy.
I believe the 2mil liability is required in BC, but I'll check.
In BC, all vehicles are required to have insurance, but that doesn't mean everybody does. We do have a fair amount of vehicle-related crime here (theft, uninsured, hit and run, etc). The first $150,000 for underinsured is required. (This is for vehicle repair/replacement but also medical costs.)
If the car was totalled, I do have cash to replace it. But I wouldn't. I wouldn't fork over $20,000 for a car in my current circumstance (four years ago things were infinitely better). I would just go without for some months first and, if I determined I needed one, I would get something cheaper. But even I could stand to go without, I think I'd still want a car this new/costly to be replaced by insurance. i.e., I'd rather pay $100/yr toward replacement than $20,000 to replace it myself. If I didn't need the replacement car, I could at least sell it. Am I misunderstanding something here?
I will call a service centre and ask about windshield replacement costs.
I haven't yet read of a discount for having a safe driving course, but when I looked up the extra discounts, I saw one for disability, which I appear to be eligible for. This will be 25% off! So I'm pursuing that. Not one of the ICBC agents mentioned this, despite my question, "What else can I do to reduce this?"
I don't have property/house/massive amounts of money to protect.
A car is a tough call for me. I LOVE having one after 17 years without, and I LOVE having one that just works all the time! I got terribly burned (financially) on a previous purchase: $3000 for one that constantly broke down, cost me $300 for each repair with no results, etc. I figure unless I can learn mechanics or get really savvy with the repair guys, an imperfect car is just a lot of frustration and expense for me.