Insurance company repaired my car without my permission

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rdohl

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Should an insurance company contact the owner or primary policy holder before repairing a car?
My 18 yr old daughter is in Oklahoma. I am in Illinois. She was involved in an accident in Oklahoma and called the insurance company. They had her take the car to a body shop for "estimates". They gave her a rental. I figured the car would be totaled. The next day the body shop called her and told her the insurance said to fix the car. Not knowing she had a choice and that I had not been contacted by them she just said OK. This was a Friday. I found out over the weekend what had happened from my daughter. The body shop or insurance co. never called me (the owner) or my husband (the primary policy holder) at any point.
I tried to stop them from repairing but was told on Monday morning the car was almost done (even though the body shop was closed all weekend?). I heard this from both the body shop and insurance since we had called and left voicemails for both of them over the weekend. They said it was too late to stop now and I had no options. It is now Thursday and somehow the car still isn't done.
I have been told the car was 250$ (by their figures) away from being totaled and now they have found more damage which does total the car but since they have started repairs it is too late. On top of that I now have to pay them 500$ to get the car back.
I would have never repaired this car. The original "estimate" on it would have paid the loan off.
I know what they have done is underhanded and dirty but is it legal?
I have told the insurance company to just pretend they handled this correctly, write me the check for the totaled car, and we can all be on our way. They have not replied.
By the way...this is Farmers insurance company with whom I have had everything I own insured by them for 24 years. This is not some fly by night company.
 
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