Here's a little advice based on 11 years as an insurance adjuster ...
Remember that the insurance company is actually contracted to the guy who hit you. That means they insure him for amounts that he would be legally liable for if he didn't have insurance. That amount is the Actual Cash Value of the vehicle ... best described as the amount you could have sold it for the moment before the accident.
Typically, the industry does not establish ACV based on Blue Books, Gold Books, Black Books, etc. Those are resources that are used to check ACV's or in situations where a car is rarer as one of the tools. Most insurers now outsource the actual ACV calculation to a third party and then may or may not adjust it themselves. Most of my third party experience involves a product called Autosource, which is provided by a company called ADP. The Autosource search will include all advertisements for like/similar vehicles in the recent past (less 10% obo), regular dealer surveys, etc. ADP will average these prices and condition of vehicle to establish a baseline. The baseline will be something like:
2000 Ford Contour SE Sport V6: $XXXX
Avergage Condition: Good
Average Mileage: XX,XXX
Average Tire Wear: XX
etc.
The evaluation the appraiser has done on your vehicle will be compared to create a series of adjustments:
Your Condition: Excellent (+xxx); Poor (-xxx)
Your Mileage: below (+xxx); above (-xxx)
Your Tire Wear: better (+xxx); worse (-xxx)
etc.
It was always my practice to share the Autosource, and any adjustments I may have made to it, with the customer, preferably face to face where you can walk through to get agreeemnt to the ratings, or discuss differences (better to know now than in arbitration or litigation). Typically, Autosource and its competitors will only provide an evaluation if they have 30 vehicles from your geographic area in their database. They will provide a partial evaluation if they cannot find 30 vehicles.
Generally, my experience is that ADP is pretty reasonable if it is a complete evaluation. The way to counter an Autosource or other evaluation that you do not feel is accurate is with research. Pull your local papers, esp. things like the Buy and Sell or Auto Trader (whatever your local equivalent is) and look for comparable vehicles. Make sure you agree with the ratings used for your vehicle or can provide documentation/reasonable arguments to counter the ones used. Most importantly ... ask to see the appraisal so that you are comfortable with what you are being offered.
Hope this is of some value ....
