No, normally an insurance company will not pay more than a car is worth to repair it. In fact many times if the cost to repair the car is anywhere from 75 percent to 100 percent of the value of the vehicle an insurance carrier will not pay for repairs but instead total out the vehicle and pay the policyholder actual cash value (ACV) for the vehicle.

When a car's damage reach, and especially they exceed, the value of the car it is not economical for an insurance provider to repair the car instead of settlement with the owner for the ACV or fair market value of the vehicle. Repairs, storage costs, towing, rental reimbursement costs are all taken into consideration by an insurance company when determining if a car should be totaled out or not.

If the cost of damages is nearly the ACV of the car and there are other expenses such as storage and towing of the vehicle that are also costly then many times the car will be declared a total loss even if the damages alone are not as costly as the the value of the car however with the extras it makes more economical sense to total out the vehicle and sell it for salvage.

If you have a car that you would rather have repaired then totaled out but the repairs cost more than the ACV of the vehicle it is unlikely that you can talk the insurance company paying on the claim to repair the car. If you would like to keep the car and repair it yourself then you could speak to the insurer about buying it back for salvage value.