That makes more sense. In my experience, when it comes to structural repairs insurance adjusters work from a "replacement" point of view vs a repair view. It's the reason most aircraft get scrapped even though the damage appears repairable. And in some cases replacement structural parts can be non-existent or have 3+ year lead times. All in all, your dent could have been "repaired" at a much more reasonable cost or left alone if not out of limits.
Depends on a few things. Back when I pursued project aircraft each insurance carrier/provider had different rules depending on where the policy issuer fit into the food chain, the type of aircraft, and the type of loss. For one-off events and the insurer directly handled the recovery and storage the owner would usually have a better chance at buying the wreckage. But in larger scale events (tornado, etc) or the insurer/underwriter contracted out the recovery one would usually have to deal with the salvage/3rd party recovery company for a shot at buying the wreckage. Most of my project aircraft were purchased through various salvage/recovery companies but I already had a relation with most in my region so that was a bit unique.
I'll just add, from an adjuster's POV, we do what's prudent cost and time wise. All things being equal we don't have a preference. We may have a suggestion based on experience. And aircraft values are stated on the policy, so if the cost to repair(the estimate) exceeds that value, it's by definition a total loss. Everything is repairable with enough money, it's just a matter of what value the the owner wants to pay premium for. So if you upgraded an old bird which took the value from $70k to $150k, it's wise to update the hull value with your broker. None of us wants to total out a bird with a fresh panel and interior for a propstrike or ground loop.
It depends on the policy. I'm an adjuster and some policies(usually larger fleets) have first right of refusal, but most small GA do not(at least in my company). Now, in practice we usually ask the insured if he/she wants to purchase the salvage back from us anyway. This saves us the hassle of recovering or storing the aircraft and putting it up for bidding, and the associated paperwork for the FAA. Most owners just let it go, because a big repair job is no small matter.
Curious. Back when I followed around adjusters looking for projects another point they had made on occasion when it came to their decision to fix it or total it was if the OEM had a published repair manual vs using AC 43.13-1 to repair the aircraft. Is this something you still consider today?
