insurance trying to screw meeeeeee

The insurance company will not repair your vehicle to a better state than it was in before the accident. If there is previous damage they will not fix it even though it might have been damaged in the accident. Case in point - a bumper that has existing damage to driver's side and then is involved in an accident that damages the rest of the bumper. They will deduct the percentage of the cost for the previous damage and pay only the difference. You say it's totaled but they obviously disagree. This is the sticking point. As a side note, should they finally agree that it's totaled then you should not have to pay the deductible.