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How much is my car worth in the eyes of my car insurance company?

I have full coverage insurance on my 2019 Chevy Malibu. I am wondering how much my car is worth to my insurance company? Would I get the total value of my car back if it's totaled?

avatar
Emily Maracle · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
“Full coverage on your
car insurance
is a great way to protect your vehicle in case of an accident as your insurance would pay out the value of your vehicle.
The value that your insurance assigns to your vehicle is not how much you paid when you purchased it. Insurance companies use
actual cash value
to decide how much your vehicle is worth.
Actual cash value is the value of your vehicle minus depreciation. When determining how much your vehicle is worth, insurance companies are looking at the replacement cost of your vehicle and the resale value of similar cars in your area.
If you have a loan on your car, you could end up owing more on your loan than your vehicle is worth due to depreciation. This is why lenders and dealerships recommend
gap insurance
with certain financing.
If you’d like to see your vehicle’s value, you can look on sites like
Kelley Blue Book
or Edmunds. Both will give you the approximate value of your vehicle based on its age and condition.
Should the value come back lower than what you currently owe on your loan, you may want to consider adding gap insurance to your insurance policy. If your current company doesn’t offer it, you can request quotes from other companies or use
Jerry
.
An intelligent AI-based tool like Jerry is the easiest and most effective way to find a car insurance policy that is customized for you. After providing you with a comprehensive cross-analysis of the best policies across providers, Jerry will handle the phone calls, paperwork, and renewals for your top pick so that you don’t have to. So why do all that extra work when Jerry can do it better?”
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