The only possibility of scam here is if the car being sold at the dealer is indeed your old car and it does NOT have a salvage or rebuilt title.

When a vehicle is "totaled" you have the option to sell the vehicle to the insurance company in return for an agreed upon payoff. You received that $13.5K and you presumably gave them the title. The insurance company is not in the business of rebuilding cars so they sell them to outfits that do and that is almost certainly what happened here.

Once the car was restored it was likely sold at auction to the dealer who has now placed it on their lot. In nearly all cases, however, a "totaled" vehicle must be flagged as "salvage" or "rebuilt" so that the buyer knows that this was totaled at one time or another. In most US states, making the "salvage" flag disappear is a crime. Once it's there it should stay there.

You did not have to "sell" the vehicle to the insurance company and you could have negotiated another deal that allowed you to keep the car in return for a different payout. Often something like the $13.5K - the salvage value would be the case. Then you get the money and the wrecked car and NO salvage title. You can fix your car, have it fixed, drive it like it is, whatever you want. It's all yours.

Generally insurance companies want to settle quickly and most insured parties want to just put it behind them as soon as possible. Likely this is what happened in your case, they did not necessarily point out all your options although I suspect they were clearly spelled out in your settlement agreement. You did read the fine print, right??

At this point the deal is done. You got the money, they got the car, it's been fixed and it's now for sale. You could buy it if you want but you'd have to pay what the dealer is asking or what you can negotiate it down to. But it's no longer your car and likely no scam has occurred.

The only possibility of scam here is if the car being sold at the dealer is indeed your old car and it does NOT have a salvage or rebuilt title.

When a vehicle is "totaled" you have the option to sell the vehicle to the insurance company in return for an agreed upon payoff. You received that $13.5K and you presumably gave them the title. The insurance company is not in the business of rebuilding cars so they sell them to outfits that do and that is almost certainly what happened here.

Once the car was restored it was likely sold at auction to the dealer who has now placed it on their lot. In nearly all cases, however, a "totaled" vehicle must be flagged as "salvage" or "rebuilt" so that the buyer knows that this was totaled at one time or another. In most US states, making the "salvage" flag disappear is a crime. Once it's there it should stay there.

You did not have to "sell" the vehicle to the insurance company and you could have negotiated another deal that allowed you to keep the car in return for a different payout. Often something like the $13.5K - the salvage value would be the case. Then you get the money and the wrecked car and NO salvage title. You can fix your car, have it fixed, drive it like it is, whatever you want. It's all yours.

Generally insurance companies want to settle quickly and most insured parties want to just put it behind them as soon as possible. Likely this is what happened in your case, they did not necessarily point out all your options although I suspect they were clearly spelled out in your settlement agreement. You did read the fine print, right??

At this point the deal is done. You got the money, they got the car, it's been fixed and it's now for sale. You could buy it if you want but you'd have to pay what the dealer is asking or what you can negotiate it down to. But it's no longer your car and likely no scam has occurred.

On the idea that a "few thousand dollars" would have done the trick is a common misconception. You'd be surprised how little damage it takes to get into the "totaled" category. All insurance companies have their own rules on this but let's say if the estimated repair cost exceeds 60% of the value of the car, they deem it totaled. You could have requested more details on how they arrived at their numbers but you appear to have skipped doing that.