Total-loss car insurance laws by state

Colorado regulates the total-loss process at the level of method and paper trail: one consistent, documented valuation method, your car's unique characteristics considered, taxes and fees included, and a decision within 60 days. Its remedy statute for unreasonably delayed or denied claims is among the strongest in the country.

Maryland has one of the strongest total-loss rules in the country, and the least-known part of it is the best: the regulation covers your counteroffer, and gives the insurer 5 business days to explain in writing why your evidence is worse than theirs.

Half the internet cites a Michigan total-loss rule that was rescinded in 2015. Here's what actually governs your settlement: the good-faith statute, a 60-day payment clock with 12 percent interest behind it, and your policy's own appraisal clause.

Missouri does not tell insurers how to value a totaled car. No comparable rule, no local market radius, no approved sources. What the law does give you is a deduction rule you can cite, a sales tax credit most owners never claim, and a penalty statute for a refusal without reasonable cause.

New Jersey has one of the most specific total-loss valuation rules in the country. Your insurer's cash offer has to come from one of three defined methods, in writing, and you get 30 days to make them reopen it.

North Carolina regulates total-loss settlements in more detail than almost any state, and most summaries cite the wrong law. Here's the claims rule that actually binds your insurer, and the checks worth running on your offer.

Ohio's unfair-claims rule tells insurers how a total-loss offer must be built, what they owe you in paperwork, and what happens if the settlement can't actually buy a replacement. Here's the rule, with the parts worth checking.

Tennessee tells insurers how to build a total-loss number: comparables from your local market inside 90 days, taxes and fees inside the settlement, and betterment deductions that have to be measurable and itemized. The 75 percent everyone quotes governs the title, not your check.

Wisconsin's 70 percent figure lives in the vehicle-title code, and it is measured against a defined fair market value rather than actual cash value. No Wisconsin insurance rule tells your insurer how to value your car. What the law gives you is an explanation on request, short clocks, and interest when payment runs late.

If your car was totaled in California, the insurer's valuation has to follow specific rules. Here's what the law says a fair offer looks like, and how to check yours against it.

Texas has no rule dictating how insurers must value a totaled car. Here's what the law does give you, and why the strongest argument is usually the arithmetic in the insurer's own report.

If your car was totaled in Florida and the payout looks low, the state's own claim-settlement statute sets rules the insurer has to follow. Here's what it says and how to check the offer against it.

If your insurer totaled your car in Washington, the offer has to follow real rules. Here's what the state regulation requires, and how to check the math yourself.

Illinois puts a hard $500 cap on condition deductions and bans dealer-prep cuts. Here's what the rule says, how insurers get around it, and how to check your own offer.

What Georgia's total-loss rule actually requires, where it goes quiet, and how to tell whether the offer on your car holds up.

If New York declared your car a total loss and the check looks low, the state's own rule sets a floor for what the insurer can pay and what it has to prove. Here's what Regulation 64 requires, and how to check your offer before you accept it.