Auto Insurance Claims: Auto Claim, liability questions, auto claim

Question
My car was wrecked while sitting in my driveway. I don't have any liability questions, considering there's no way they can tell me I am at fault. However, I'm concerned about how much they are going to give me for my car, it's not paid off yet. I know they will give me book value, but, on KBB they give three different (very different) values. Trade-in, Private Party and Retail value. I don't know which to look into. Also, what should I be prepared for? Me nor anyone in my family have ever had to do this. Thank you.

Answer
What the insurance company owes is "actual cash value".  This is not the same as "book" value.   Book value represents suggested "asking" prices for a vehicle on the market.  Actual cash value represents what the vehicles are actually selling for. I can ask for the moon but what someone is actually willing to pay governs what something is worth.  The retail MSRP is for a completely reconditioned, perfect or nearly perfect vehicle sitting on a retail lot and often with some type of warranty.  Even then, it's only a suggested "asking" price and in reality, most vehicles actually sell for about 20 less than that price.  The private party value is much closer to the real actual cash value.

Good luck!