I was recently in an accident. The offer that my insurance company is making is much lower than NADA and Kelley Blue Book values--the insurance company is offering 9,200 and the NADA value is 11,600 (KBB is 12,500). They said that their estimate was based on the local market value and was an average of private party and dealer values. They looked within a 100-mile radius and found "similar" cars. They then adjusted the value to reflect the mileage of my car, but I don't know how exactly they calculated this adjusted value. I bought my car from a dealership seven months ago--shouldn't the replacement value be the retail value? Also, I had a Subaru WRX and they compared it to WRXs and to Impreza Outback Sports. I looked on autotrader.com and on other Internet resources and found WRXs that were listed much higher than the WRXs in their market report, and I don't know what to do--I don't want to spend the money for a lawyer, but I feel as if I am fighting a losing battle.

your insurance company will always try to low ball you .. go out and find an identical car for sale and give them the details or tell them to replace the car you had .. don't sign off on anything they will eventually have to come up ..

Ask them for the reports that they got and call the dealerships yourself. The value of the vehicle not going to be exactly what is on NADA or KBB. They have to adjust for mileage (either high or low) and also any damage to the vehicle (scratches, dents etc.). What you purchased your vehicle for 7 months ago is not what it is worth today. There is depreciation on a vehicle every day. Ask the adjuster to set up an appointment with you so you can go over all their paperwork and find out where they are coming up with the figure they offered you. Or, if you don't want to deal with the adjuster, ask your agent to call them and find out what you need.

unfortunatley auto policies are NOT written on replacement value. they are on actual cash value. this is because a car depreciates the minute you drive away in it. their offer sounds solid to me. i always tell people to purchase gap insurance to cover the difference on what they owe and what the car is actually worth. pull out your paperwork from the purchase and see if you have it. a lot of auto dealers place this coverage at time of purchase. if you dont have it, you dont have a lot of options.