If he had insurance and it paid him out, it became the insurance company's vehicle when it was recovered. He no longer had any say in what became of the vehicle. Same as if he had sold the vehicle. But they had no problem letting him recover his personal possessions that were still in the vehicle. I have seen that play out many times and have even been involved a couple of times as I have contacted previous owners and returned their personal property. Photos most often.

And we are seeing a change as you have noted here. It used to be that a recovered stolen vehicle would almost always be given a 'salvage' title. Now, more and more often they are run through with an unbranded title. Still, there can be surprises in that situation as all vehicles are sold; as is-where is. No warranty of any kind. And there is no test drive or anything of the sort. In fact, more and more locations won't even allow you to start the unit. Copart and their counter parts have a near monopoly on the industry and are moving to only buying on line with no personal contact with the vehicle until the transport unloads it at your place.

One more thing, they handle ALL vehicles with fork trucks. Multiple times. And the turn over of those drivers at these yards is huge. Most of the vehicles we buy have fork truck damage. Most is minor. But sometimes, it is not minor. Last week, we looked at a car that the fork truck had knocked a hole in the transaxle. That shows the value of being able to inspect a vehicle BEFORE bidding on it. Lots and lots of things don't show up in their photos.