[thstone]

Yes, you'll need an appraisal of the pre-accident value. This is best provided by a professional auto appraiser. In a perfect world, the appraisal would have been performed prior to the accident and that your insurance company can verify that the appraisal was the basis for the insured value of the car.

You can still get a post-accident appraisal of the car's value prior to the accident but the insurance company may not accept it since it was after the fact and they will assume that it was rigged to show a certain value.

Then you'll need a post-repair appraisal showing the value after repair. The difference between the two is the diminished value lost simply because the car was in an accident. Again, the hard part is getting the insurance company to accept/recognize the post-repair value.

In summary, you're looking at a prolonged fight with the insurance company, so if its not a substantial value, then it might not be worth the time and effort.

This is all based on my personal experience with a classic car. I bought the car for $2K and restored it. Then I had two professional appraisals done so I could get the insurance value increased to the market value. Both appraisals showed the car was now worth $15K. I submitted all of this documentation to my insurance agent.

Shortly thereafter, the car was involved in an accident at my fault. I asked for the $8K in repairs to be paid from my comprehensive coverage. The insurance company came back and said that the car would be totaled since the value was only $2K (purchase price). I argued that the value was increased by the restoration and submitted the same two appraisals.

After quite a bit of back and forth with the insurance company, I found out that my insurance agent never submitted the appraisals to the insurance company. So, I was right and the insurance company was right.

After much, much, much more arguing; the insurance agent was fired, my car was repaired under my comprehensive coverage, and my insurance policy was cancelled the day that I picked up the car from the repair shop.