Independent total-loss appraisals
Your insurer’s total-loss offer is not the final word.
Nearly every auto policy gives you the right to an independent appraisal when you and your insurer disagree on what the vehicle was worth. We build the case for what it was actually worth — on comparables, equipment and published values you can check line by line.
- The first review of your offer is free
- A reply within one business day
Claim file
2021 Toyota RAV4 XLE Premium
- The carrier’s offer
- $18,400
- Comparables in the file
- 6
- Options they didn’t credit
- 4
- Mileage adjustment
- +$1,120
Appraised value
$24,950+$6,550
Why people call
Does any of this sound familiar?
A total-loss valuation is a desk exercise. When it goes wrong, it usually goes wrong in one of three ways — and all three are arguable with evidence.
The check won’t replace your car
The offer lands thousands under what the same year, make and trim is actually selling for near you.
Comparables from three states away
The vehicles behind their number are higher-mileage, older, or hundreds of miles from where you’d have to go buy one.
Your equipment wasn’t counted
Packages, an upgraded engine, all-wheel drive — equipment your vehicle was built with that their report never credited.
How it works
From their offer to a number you can defend
You send documents once. Everything after that is ours to carry.
Step 1: Send us the offer
Their valuation report, the itemized breakdown behind the number, your title, and photos if you have them. If you’re missing something, we’ll ask the carrier for it.
Step 2: We appraise it independently
Comparable vehicles recorded as evidence with a date and a source, a line-by-line mileage and equipment check against how your vehicle was actually built, and published guide values pulled under the edition, region and basis they belong to.
Step 3: You get the number in writing
A report you can hand to the adjuster, where every adjustment shows how it was derived — not a total you’re asked to take on faith.
Step 4: The appraisal clause, if it comes to it
We act as your appraiser, work with the carrier’s, and an umpire decides anything the two of us can’t. Any two of the three signatures set the amount of loss.
What you get
A file that holds up when someone reads it closely
An appraisal is only worth what its evidence is worth. Every figure in ours arrives with the reasoning attached.
Comparables that are evidence, not screenshots
Every comparable carries what it was — an asking price or a sold price — the date it was observed, and where it came from. Vehicles we considered and set aside stay in the file with the reason, because a selection you can see is a selection you can defend.
The option gap, checked against their own code list
What your vehicle was built with, against what their report credited it with. Options they could have ticked and didn’t are one figure. Equipment their system has no code for at all is a separate one. The two are never added together, because they’re two different arguments.
Guide values quoted the way the publisher wrote them
Edition, region, mileage, condition and basis, all recorded. Retail, trade and wholesale are summarized apart and never blended, and a published figure is never re-adjusted by a breakout already inside it.
Math you can check
Every dollar on the report is computed from operands the report shows you. Nothing is estimated by a model, and nothing rounds its way to a conclusion.
For attorneys, body shops & public adjusters
An appraiser your file can rest on
Independent valuation, written to be read by the other side’s counsel. We work as your client’s named appraiser, or as the second opinion that ends the argument.
Independent appraisals
Total-loss valuation for your client, documented to the standard a carrier’s counsel will read it at.
Rebuttals to a carrier’s valuation
A line-by-line response to a CCC, Mitchell or Audatex report: which comparables don’t support the conclusion, and which adjustments can’t be derived from what the report shows.
Named appraiser under the clause
We serve as your client’s appraiser through umpire selection and the signed award.
Referring a client? Reach us directly.
Questions
What people ask before they call
If yours isn’t here, ask it on the phone — no charge for the conversation.
What is the appraisal clause?
A provision in nearly every auto policy: when you and the insurer disagree on the amount of the loss, either side can demand an appraisal. Each side names a competent, independent appraiser, the two appraisers pick an umpire, and the agreement of any two of the three sets the amount. Read your own policy — the exact wording and the deadlines vary by insurer and by state.
Does invoking it put my claim at risk?
Appraisal decides the amount of the loss. It is not a coverage dispute and it is not a lawsuit. What it can and can’t resolve is set by your policy language, so read the clause — or have someone read it with you — before you demand it.
What does it cost?
A claim review is free. If we take the appraisal on, the fee is agreed in writing before any work starts.
What do you need from me?
The carrier’s valuation report and the itemized breakdown behind its number, your declarations page, the title or loan payoff, your mileage at the loss, and photos if you have them. Send what you have — we’ll tell you what’s missing and, where we can, request it from the carrier ourselves.
How long does it take?
A first read on your offer comes back within one business day. A full appraisal depends on how quickly the carrier releases their file; the appraisal clause itself runs on the deadlines in your policy.
Where do you work?
Most of this work runs on the carrier’s own file rather than a physical inspection, so where you are matters less than you would think. Call and we’ll tell you straight whether we’re the right fit for your claim — including if you’d be better served by someone local.
Free claim review
Send us the offer. We’ll tell you what we see.
No charge, no obligation, and a straight answer — including “that offer looks about right” when it does.
Prefer to talk it through? Calling is faster, and it reaches the appraiser rather than a queue.