Car Insurance insisting on car being salvaged

Mildly_Miffed

Read your policy - it's almost certainly entirely up to the insurer to decide a claim based on whatever criteria they want, and you delegated the decision to them by claiming.

Write-off doesn't mean it can't be repaired, just that the insurer have decided to pay out the value instead of repairing it, because they think on balance it'll be cheaper for them to do so. Hire car costs are a part of that, so's the amount they'll receive from the sale of the salvage.

They've decided to write it off. No great surprise with a relatively low-value car.
They do not HAVE to offer the chance to retain the salvage. If they do, then they'll reduce the payout by the expected salvage value.

You say the car is worth £4k.
Let's say it's worth £750 at the salvage auction.
They probably expect £1,500 of hire car costs while it's being repaired.
That leaves £1,750 for repairing the damage... That's REALLY not a lot, by the time they've paid for some parts, labour, paint including blending across panels so it matches, with a bit of contingency for stuff that'll become obvious once it's dismantled... No, they won't even bother sending an assessor for that. Straight to Copart.