Appraisal demand template
When you and your insurer disagree about what a vehicle was worth, most auto policies provide a way to settle it that is not a lawsuit. This is the letter that starts it.
The short version
A dispute process inside the policy you already signed
An appraisal provision is a clause most auto policies carry for one specific situation: you and the insurer agree the loss is covered and disagree about the amount. It hands the number to two appraisers and, if they cannot agree, to an umpire.1
It is not a complaint, not a lawsuit, and not something the insurer grants you. It is a term of the contract, and either side can generally invoke it.
Before you send anything
Find the provision in your own policy
Not every policy has one, and the ones that do word it differently. Open your policy document and look for the section that sets out conditions or how a loss is settled. The clause is usually headed “Appraisal”.
Read what it actually says before you send the letter below: who appoints whom, who pays for what, whether an award binds, and whether there is a period inside which it has to be invoked. Those four answers are in your policy and they are not the same in every one.
How it runs
Two appraisers, and an umpire if they disagree
Each side appoints an appraiser
You name one, the insurer names one. The policy generally requires both to be competent and impartial, and each side usually pays its own.
The two appraisers try to agree
They value the vehicle independently and compare. Where they agree, that figure is generally the amount of the loss and the process ends there.
An umpire decides any difference
If the appraisers cannot agree, they select an umpire between them, and the cost of the umpire is generally shared. A court can appoint one where the appraisers cannot agree on that either.
The award is written down
An agreement between any two of the three is generally the award. Whether that award binds both sides, and on what, is set by the policy and by state law.
What it cannot do
An appraisal decides the amount, not whether you are covered
This is the distinction the whole route turns on. If the insurer accepts the claim and offers a figure you think is too low, that is an amount dispute and appraisal is built for it.
If the insurer has denied the claim, disputes that the loss is covered at all, or is arguing about the cause, that is a coverage dispute. Appraisal does not reach it. The routes that do are a complaint to your state insurance regulator and, past that, a court.
The template
Fill in the brackets and send it
Both figures in this letter are yours to fill in: what the insurer determined, and what you consider correct. The letter invokes the process rather than arguing the number, because the process exists to decide the number.
To [Insurer name],
Claim number: [Claim number] Policy number: [Policy number] Date of loss: [Date of loss] Vehicle: [Year, make, model and mileage]
The dispute
You have determined the value of the vehicle above at [The amount the insurer determined]. I do not agree with that figure. The amount I consider correct is [The amount you consider correct].
Invoking the appraisal provision
This is a dispute about the amount of the loss, and the policy provides for such a dispute to be resolved by appraisal. I am invoking that provision and asking you to proceed with it.
My appraiser
I appoint the following competent and impartial appraiser: [Your appraiser's name and contact details].
Please appoint yours and have the two of them proceed. If they cannot agree, the policy provides for an umpire to decide the difference.
What I am asking you to do
Please confirm in writing that you accept the appraisal and name your appraiser by [Response deadline]. Please also confirm that invoking the appraisal provision does not waive any other right under the policy, and send me a copy of the appraisal provision you are relying on.
Yours sincerely, [Your name]
Send it the way you would want to prove later that you sent it.2 If it comes to a court instead, your state’s page has the small claims limit where you are.
The other one
If you still have the car
A repaired vehicle is worth less than one that was never hit, and that loss is a separate claim, usually against the at-fault driver’s insurer rather than your own, and carried on evidence rather than on a provision in your policy. The diminished value demand is the letter for that one.
Disclosures
- 1.Satisfy is not a law firm, does not provide legal advice, and is not a licensed insurance adjuster. This page describes a contractual provision and provides a blank letter invoking it; whether your policy contains such a provision, and what it requires, is set by that policy.
- 2.Whether an appraisal award binds either side, how the cost of an umpire is shared, and any period within which the provision must be invoked are set by the policy and by the law of your state. Nothing on this page states a figure, a deadline or a valuation.