This is if your car has been totaled off by your insurance company and you still own it. I am by no means saying you should do any of the following, this is just a general guide to "how to get the most back."


First off, until you sign over the car it's yours. Never forget that. The insurance, can't touch the car or do anything to it without your consent. DO NOT sign it over until you are happy with the payout and have it in writing.

Some things you can do to "bump" up the value:

1) Provide receipts for everything you had modified on the car. Some insurance companies will pay you back a percentage of these modifications.

2) You can take your modifications off the car as long as you replace with stock parts.
(on a side note)A majority of insurance companies aren't going to notice if your upgraded anti sway bar is missing and you didn't replace it with stock.

3) Include receipts for any maintenance you had done. This includes if you bought oil to do an oil change. Any proof that the car was well maintained will add to the value of the car. Include pictures of the car at it's finest. I would/did compile these into a folder and dropped it off at my insurance adjusters desk. It was organized with pictures/receipts for modifications/receipts for maintenance. INCLUDE EVERY RECEIPT <---- Even if it's wax... it's up to the insurance to go through, it's not your problem.

4) Find vehicles of the same year and mileage in your area for sale. Insurance will look at those prices to help guide what your payout should be. Don't include them if it's really low, this will not help.

5) ALWAYS reject the first payout offer, and act like a pu$$y. Say this is the first car you've totaled and are not sure of the process, but the price they are offering seems really low.

6) This next step is risky, but I will offer it up as a suggestion. Talk to the manager of the insurance firm. Ask that you be switched to a different adjuster. Say they are making you feel detached from the process and you are worried the whole process is snowballing you. You just want to move on and get this done and over with. The reason why this will help is because one of three things will happen

a) you are switched over to a new adjuster and they will want to get you out of their hair as fast as possible because you are a whiney b!tch that can ruin the credibility of the adjuster. No one likes a bad report to their manager.

b) You will be asked to stay with your current adjuster but the manager will "talk" to them about their performance. This may cause the adjuster to raise the payout just so you are done and over with. Yes they will hate you, but they will grin and take it.

c) The bad news... they will fvck you over "yeah this guy wants to fvck with me.. lets see how he likes getting fvck all for his car"... this is a risky thing to do.. that's why it's kind of a last ditch resort.

7) Talk to the adjuster about how your "lawyer mentioned that" the car should be worth xxx amount. Make xxx amount seem kind of high.. and then say "but i think he may be wrong, even though he wants to go to court over this, i'd be much happier settling for xyx" xyx is the amount you actually want to be settled for.

8) Once you are near completion... and have a number you like.. and the insurance company is ready to get you to sign over... STOP. Say "my friend billy had his car privately appraised, and he said this helped because it showed a much more accurate representation of the vehicle." Insurance do not like these. Tell the insurance "but i don't know.. it would cost me 500$ to have it done... if you are willing to add the 500$ to the payout amount, i'd be willing to skip the appraisal." Usually they will just throw in the amount... or half of it.

9) If you really think you are getting screwed over, get the vehicle privately appraised. This could actually increase the amount by a large sum if the vehicle was well maintained.

By no means am i condoning this next point.. it's just something i heard some people do

10) Get receipts from friends with similar cars, for mods that your car didn't have. The insurance company will usually just pay out according to paper, and never actually check the car. Unless the payout is a very large amount. I DO NOT CONDONE THIS OR AM IN ANYWAY SAYING THIS IS LEGAL!