<prompt> Human: So, to preface, this is a mildly long story, but Im not knowledgeable at all when it comes to insurance matters, so I wanted some advice. A few weeks ago, in the flooding in Madison, WI, I drove my truck out to my roommates place of employement because she couldnt get her car through the flooding and I thought my truck would be able to handle it. Turns out, it couldnt, and it died while trying to get through a particularly large puddle. Being mechanically inclined as I am, I knew not to start it after being flooded because thats how you kill a vehicle, and had it towed and filed a claim with my insurance. They immediately have it shipped off to a salvage yard, for storage and inspection, which from my understanding is fairly standard procedure. Two weeks go by and I hear nothing. Ive been provided with thirty days of a rental vehicle from my insurance so Im mildly ok with waiting but got fed up and called them. Got told they were passing me off to a total loss expert and that id hear from them soon. Another week goes by and I got nothing, until they called and said that the salvage yard had my truck running and driving, which initially had me very excited but as I thought about it, very much confused me. Insurance goes to take my truck to a mechanic to get it checked out, and the mechanic calls me and says the motor is completely seized and most likely threw a rod, which for those of you who dont know, means the motor is completely shot now. This could have ONLY happened as a result of the salvage yard running and driving a hydrolocked vehicle, and I know this because it ran before they drove it, and didnt after. Insurance is now quoting out a replacement motor for me with 140000 miles which Im not pleased about, and Im about 5 days from having to pay out of pocket for my rental. Where I need advice, is on how to proceed from here. Obviously, I understand that I caused the original damage to my vehicle, so Im on the hook for some of the repairs, but had my insurance had the vehicle looked at before the salvage yard randomly, and without permission, drove it and subsequently totalled the motor, the damages to me couldve been significantly less. I wouldve still had to pay part of my deductible, but most likely not the full 1000, which to me, is a SIGNIFICANT amount of money. I feel like Im being taken for a ride and dont know how to proceed. TLDR: truck was damaged in flooding but fixable, but then a second party salvage yard caused catastrophic damage and now Im on the hook for more of the cost. ALSO, Apple air pods disappeared from the vehicle before I could get my things out of it, and a 200 Bluetooth speaker was thrown in the bed of the truck by someone not myself to get rained on and destroyed while sitting at the salvage yard.  <response>: Document everything. See if you can get the mechanic to provide a written description of the damage that he assessed and then send that to your insurance company. The more documentation you can provide, the better, because thats the only thing an insurance company will respect and be forced to act on. They know you are in a position of weakness so be ready to state your case and support it with evidence. They are used to angry phone calls, not people who have receipts. 