My sweet ride is totaled, should I buy it back?

When someone else is at fault, your own insurance agent does not want to get involved. In my case, I had issues filing a claim witht he insurance company. My agent deals with that company and offered to help me start the claim and then they were done.

I got spoiled growing up in Canada where my Dad was my insurance agent.

 

Not necessarily.
A little patience and you won't have to pay yet another disinterested party.
It's a 13-year-old hatchback - NOT a new luxury car.
No blood in the street and the OP didn't get hit by a commercial vehicle, presumably.
The diminished value claim will, at best, be around 5k - and the margins are an ACV fight - for what???
A few thou?
EVEN If USAA pays all of that it's not going to be a case that will draw the eye of a legit law firm.

My Mom was an agent in a small town.
I got to see how the sausage is made, and I might actually switch back to a local agent for car and home.
The prices are all about the same and with an actual agent who is actually a person I can park my actual backside in an actual chair in their actual office and go eyeball to eyeball with the actual person who got the commission for my policies.

It's sorta like it is with the phone company.
They offer the best deals to a new customer and it never hurts to get quotes, especially if you have a no-loss history, no kids or elderly drivers, and live in a relatively low crime area.

 

Normally diminished value claims are for reduced value after repair even if the repair is complete and successful.

When an insurance company totals a car they are acknowledging repair costs and dimensioned value could easily exceed the pre-accident market value.

If you buy back the vehicle after a totaled payoff you are on your own.

 

If that is true the delta between the actual cash value and the ACTUAL actual cash value is probably less than a few thou.
Not enough to get a lawyer involved.