Auto Insurance Claims: Insurance Claim Difficulty

Question
My family and I were involved in a car accident.  The other driver was driving drunk, crossed 2 lanes and hit us.  She was arrested and found at fault.  My insurance is through State Farm and so is hers.  During the accident my cellphone(Galaxy S2), my Ipad(3rd generation 16 gb) was damaged and also 2 car seats...my kids and I had picked up my husband from the airport.  I called State Farm about these claims, State Farm  they would pay for them but the items have to be the same or else State Farm will pay the depreciation value of the items.  Samsung doesn't make the Galaxy S 2 anymore...Tmobile tells me the next best thing is the Galaxy s3  while Apple stopped making Ipad 3s...the replacement was Ipad with retina display.  Everything worked great until this car accident and now State Farm is telling me they won't replace them but will pay the depreciation value only. How can I fight them? Also I can't buy the exact same car seats bc every year new car seats come out, how do they expect me to find the exact same one?  Please help!

Answer
Hi KC,

This is typical of insurance companies. What they owe you is the value of the items you had at the time they were damaged. So it is correct that they will only pay the depreciated value of the items. Insurance is supposed to make you whole which means to put you back in exactly the same position you were in just before the damage. If they bought you new updated items, they would be putting you in a better position than you were in prior to the damage. It is unfortunate but, that is the way it works. You will be paid for the depreciated value of the items. Then it will be your responsibility to purchase replacements.

Of course you should seek information on the useful life of the items to be replaced. Ask the insurance company to provide a printed depreciation schedule or you can research that on the internet.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh