Every thread is a waste of time so don't sweat it. But nice result with the payment

+1

nice payment indeed.

Sounds like a great result.

You'll probably think I'm arguing semantics, but that isn't exactly true, at least in Oregon and Washington. Unless you have replacement coverage (which is not standard), when your vehicle is totaled you are entitled to the fair market value of your vehicle immediately before the accident/incident. People equate that with, "enough money to replace what I had," but the fact is that's rarely the case because rarely is your exact model with exact specs and stats out there.

You can 100% negotiate, and should. I used to do a bunch of personal injury work and would often negotiate the property damage/total loss portion for clients as part of it. I can't think of a single time we didn't get more out of the insurance company. If it's a new/expensive car the disparity between what it's actually worth and what they offer is going to be bigger, so it could be worth hiring an independent appraiser to determine FMV. My wife just totaled her car and it turned out our policy (through Allstate) actually has a procedure for this: if you challenge their assessment with one of your own, they'll hire a third-party appraiser (different from who they used at first) to conduct a review, and the two get together to decide on value. The initial appraiser is nearly always going to be the hack they use with every one. Their second one is still a hack, but better. Long story short, we got $3k more than they had originally offered, and she was acting like it was "take it or leave it" until I mentioned my own appraiser.

Something to always remember with insurance companies even (especially?) your own: they are happy to take your money, but when you need to collect on what you've been paying for, their entire goal is to get out as cheaply as possible. Don't let them, and if they're definitely out of line, don't hesitate to call an attorney; even on small cases there are laws that allow attorneys to take these on without charging you.

Now I'm just ranting, but an example of the above: auto insurance companies offer something called Personal Injury Protection (PIP), and in some states it's mandatory. PIP is no-fault medical insurance (if you don't have it, get it, and if you have it, up your coverage....the difference between $15k and $100k in medical coverage is like, a couple bucks a month). A few years back, and probably today, a major insurance company would say, "hey, yep, you have coverage, we will pay for chiro/PT/etc.," but then three months later, almost like clockwork, they would send you to an "Independent" Medical Exam. "Independent" is in quotes because they're not independent at all; 99% of them ONLY do exams for insurance companies. I have never seen an IME come back that DIDN'T determine that the client was either healed, or the treatment they're receiving isn't related to the accident (which means they don't have to pay).

What burns me is they know, for the most part, that their reports are BS, but they ALSO know that the majority of people will get the letter and not do anything about it. In my state they have to pay attorney fees if they deny a claim, get sued, and lose; the vast majority of times that happens (and every time I've had to do it, probably 5-6 time), the letter/call/email you get is "what are your attorney fees; we'll cut a check." It's bad faith, but I'm sure they've run the numbers and it is worth it to them to do it.

Sorry....I hate insurance companies.

This is basically how I expected it to go. However, in this particular case, there were a few mitigating factors that I think made it easier.

First, there was no dispute about the fault here; it was a national news level tornado and my car was parked in my driveway as it was indicated on my insurance (eg, not parked on the street if they wanted to try and pick nits).

Second, because it was such a known thing, and insurance companies have such a crappy reputation, there were multiple politicians looking to score points and making grandiose statements about "if the insurance companies try to screw you, we will step in"; nice to get the support, even if it's just a bunch of virtue signaling.

In this case, and this case only, I suspect the insurance companies acted like you wish they always would. Most of my neighbours have pretty similar stories; eg, one family of 6 is being put up in a luxury condo for 15K/month for several months while their house is made structurally sound again. I suspect in a normal situation, they'd be at a Motel 6.