When You Disagree Only About the Number

There is a specific tool for one specific situation: you and the insurer agree the loss is covered, but you cannot agree what it is worth. That is what an appraisal provision exists for, and most people have never heard of it.

How it works

Each side appoints its own competent appraiser. The two appraisers try to agree on the amount. If they cannot, they select an umpire, and an agreement between any two of the three sets the amount. It is a valuation mechanism, deliberately narrow.

What it does not do

Appraisal decides amount, not coverage. If the insurer says the loss is not covered at all, or that a particular item falls outside the policy, appraisal is the wrong instrument. It also does not address how you were treated during the claim — that is a handling complaint, which goes elsewhere.

Check whether your policy even has one

This is the part we most want you to hear: an appraisal clause is a policy provision, not a California statutory right for auto policies. Some auto policies include one, some do not, and the wording differs where it exists. Look under the conditions section of your policy, or ask your carrier directly. Do not assume it is there because a website said so.

The cost, honestly

You typically pay your own appraiser, and the umpire's fee is usually shared. On a modest disagreement, that cost can consume the difference you were arguing about. Appraisal earns its keep on a substantial gap — a total loss valuation well below solid comparables, for example — and rarely on a few hundred dollars of a repair estimate.

Do the cheaper things first

1. Get the insurer's full valuation or estimate, not the summary.
2. Submit specific evidence: comparable listings with dates and VINs, a shop's written line-item disagreement, service records.
3. Escalate to a supervisor, in writing.
4. Then consider appraisal, and consider a Department of Insurance complaint if the problem is handling rather than amount.

Want to know what your policy actually says? Send us the declarations page and the policy form.