I will note that tragically, the way this is set up is the insurance company is expected to pay only what the apparent value of the vehicle was, with some allowances for fees and the like. It's not at all based on the actual replacement cost of the vehicle. That and I can't easily recreate the deal I got on the car either.
We had two vehicles totaled (hail and deer) within the last 30 months. All I can say is that my experience was totally opposite of your claim. Each time I was presented with two detailed documents, prepared by two independent vendors, that placed a value on the loss. In both cases, replacing the vehicle with the check provided was an easy task, and included all fees and taxes. In one case the adjuster even showed me where he massaged the options list on the car to bump the value into the totaled column.
Well I got a number prepared from a report showing comparable vehicles. The problem is, as I explained, that you can just count 3 comparable vehicles instead of say 5 instead of different numbers, and why is this third party better than another third party that's more favorable to the consumer?
That's the problem here, the insurance company will just pick a third party that gives lowball numbers and keep shopping around until someone makes a data service that's biased.
I mostly talked them up by getting a couple of vehicles thrown out that weren't really comparable, that helped me somewhat but not radically, they actually did a decent job gathering data that made sense.
You mentioned dealer fees. Bottom line. Dealer fees are for chumps that pay them. I don't care if your salesperson tells you that "there is no way for a vehicle to leave the lot without paying the fee" you tell them fine, but it's still being deducted from the price you are willing to pay for the car. I have purchased vehicles, new and used, in an area where a $700+ dealer fee is standard. There is a lot of whining, but in the end they didn't get a dime of that scam.
Well there are fees, and there are fees. Inventory fees or stuff like that I agree with you.
But dealers don't set any number of the fees. Dealers can't do anything about what the state charges for registration, etc. If the state says the title fee is $X, there's nothing you can realistically expect to do about that other than refuse to pay more than the legally imposed amount. I got this amount included in my settlement at least. I don't feel like however it's my job to protect the interests of an insurance company with the way I choose to shop, you know?
I live in an area where the dealers at least have lots of competition, so there's many establishments that are actually pretty good about not charging dumb fees. However what if I lived in a rural area where you don't have competition and dealers can set whatever fees they want? Seems like there should be some allowance for it.