Guides to disputing a total-loss offer

Your car got totaled, the check looks low, and the report reads like a wall of numbers. Here's how to read it, find where it shorted you, and push back in writing.

You upload the insurer's own valuation report, we rebuild the math inside it, and you see where the number went wrong before you pay anything.

You just got a lowball total-loss offer, and now something online says it can help. Fair to be skeptical. Here's exactly what our method is, what it isn't, and how it's different from the contingency firms.

When your car is totaled, the insurer pays its actual cash value, not what you paid and not what a new one costs. Here's how that number is built, what belongs on top of it, and where it tends to come out short.

When your car is totaled, the insurer's offer rests almost entirely on a handful of comparable vehicles. If those comps are stale, too far away, or adjusted the wrong way, the whole number is off. Here's how to read them.

Your insurer's CCC ONE report is 20-plus pages built to look final. Here's how to read each section and find where the arithmetic quietly shrinks your number.

Your insurer's total-loss number came out of a Mitchell or Audatex report. Here's where the comparables and adjustments hide, and how to check the math yourself.

If your total loss offer came in low, a condition adjustment is one of the first places to look. Here's what it is, why an identical deduction across every comparable doesn't hold up, and how to push back using the insurer's own report.

Your total-loss offer may lean on comparable cars priced below what they actually sold for, based on a negotiation the seller and buyer supposedly had. Here's why that adjustment is contested and how to challenge it line by line.

If your insurer won't budge on your car's value, the appraisal clause in your policy is the formal way to break the deadlock. Here's how it works, what it costs, and when the math makes it worth doing.

A counter-offer letter is strongest when it argues from the numbers already in the insurer's own valuation report. Here's how to structure one, flaw by flaw, with a deadline and an escalation path.

If Allstate's total loss offer came in under what your car is worth, the number to question isn't the payout itself. It's the valuation report behind it, and the adjustments it made to each comparable vehicle.

If a Farmers total-loss offer came in under what your car is worth, the answer is usually in the valuation report they attached. Here's how to read it and check the math yourself.

A total-loss offer is a starting number, not a final one. Here's how to check Geico's math against your own car before you sign anything.

If Progressive's total loss offer feels low, the reason is usually sitting in the valuation report they sent you. Here's how to read it, what to look for, and how to check the number for free.

A step-by-step way to read your State Farm total-loss valuation, find the adjustments that pull the number down, and decide whether to push back.

A calm, factual walkthrough for reading a USAA total-loss valuation, finding the adjustments that quietly shrink your payout, and countering in writing.

Clear answers to the questions people actually ask after the insurer calls their car a total loss and the check comes in lower than expected.

Your insurer's total-loss letter is full of terms that quietly move the number. Here's what each one means, in plain English, so you can read the report and spot where the value went.