Auto Insurance Claims: insurance claims, kelley blue book, blue book values

Question
My car was stollen....does the insurance pay on the tradin blue book values or the retail bluebook value?

Answer
Dear Joy,

Your insurance policy says they will pay the actual cash value (ACV)of your vehicle, which means the cost to replace it with one of like kind and quality. The book values may be sufficient to do that, but at times the insurance industry has used databases that are notoriously low. You are free to decline their offer in settlement of the claim and demand that they show you a car that is of like kind and qualtiy to your former car.

If they do use a Kelley Blue Book value to settle the claim, it should be the retail value.