that's correct, but that's not was was being said clearly. after u fail your 1st aircare test, you get a 3 month conditional. in that time you need to make an attempt to fix the problem (some $ value something like $200-300) wherever you get your car fixed (aircare approved facility) they will know how much it will cost to fix the problem. if its more than the accepted $$ amount then they will suggest that you spend up to the $ amount, give you a aircare vouncher to get your car retested at the reduced test price, and if you're lucky, u pass, but if you know there are still problems with the car then you'll fail again. At that time you can go back to your insurance agent and insure for the year based on the fact you have made the minimum $ value of repairs to get your car closer to passing aircare. This is the part where posters aren't explaining what they are saying clearly
gotta do the min repair then retest before you can get your 1 year renewal after the 3 month conditional. Now i'm not sure if you can get another renewal after the 1 year without doing the min $ repair again or if you have 2 years before you need to go through the hoops.
What i did find out is that icbc or aircare are getting stricter with their approved aircare repair shops because a lot tend to give out too many vouchers and do too many min $ repairs instead of fixing the problematic cars 100%. There is rumour that the min $ repair loophole is being reviewed and possibly changed. To what, i don't know.
Hope that clears up the confusion.