"Not@home" wrote in news:L8idnUXhH7
:

If you are dealing with your own insurance company, you have a contract
and both you and the company must adhere to its terms. Usually that
means you get the current market value of the car.

Exactly so. And there is some room for negotiation. A few years ago, my son wrecked one of
our cars. Nobody hurt, thank goodness, but the car was totalled. Insurance company told us
how much they would pay. I looked up the Kelley Blue Book value, and saw that they were
somewhat under that. Called the adjuster, told him it appeared they hadn't accounted for the
value of the all-leather interior. Oops, we missed that, he says. I said it also had a full tank of
gas (true: my wife had just filled it up on her way home from work that afternoon.) Adjuster said
send us the receipt and we'll pay for that too. I did, they did -- final result was a check about
$500 more than they originally offered. Not bad for maybe half an hour of my time.