[Tx Firefighter]

I've built some nice cars in the past that got hit by someone and have had to go through the insurance fight like you're dealing with. They always offer low ball up front.

Twice I just took my receipts to an attorney and had them draft a letter to the insurance company explaining that I have documentation to money invested and that their offer was unacceptable. Both times the insurance company paid me after I handed the letter to the adjuster. If you stonewall them and put up a fight they'll pay you. It's cheaper for them to cough up a couple thousand extra dollars than to drag the fight out.

My wife drove a real nice 5.0L Mustang notchback for years. An old lady hit her and the insurance tried to total the car at like 3500 bucks. I supplied receipts for over 9k dollars worth of parts in the drivetrain and they still refused to budge. The attorney wrote the letter (I paid her 100 bucks to do it) and Farmers Insurance wound up paying us nearly 6k for repairs and not total the car (blue title intact).

Another time I had my Dodge diesel in the shop getting rear end damage repaired. The insurance company was going to buy aftermarket parts to do the repair with. I told the body shop manager if they used any aftermarket parts I'd refuse to pick the truck up and accept the repair. Work stalled and the body shop threatened to start charging storage fees to my insurance company, so they finally paid for genuine Mopar parts and I got my truck fixed like new. It was a nice truck and I didn't want aftermarket parts from Sum Flung Dung China on it. Dodge original parts are poor enough quality in the first place.

You've just got to out stubborn them.