I’m in Hawaii, and my vehicle was recently declared a total loss, but I was not at fault. The valuation report primarily used West Coast comparable vehicles. The adjuster explained that there were not enough recent local sales that met their matching criteria year, trim, mileage, so the valuation vendor expanded the search radius to the mainland.
I understand payouts are based on actual cash value ACV, not replacement cost. My concern is whether mainland comps are standard practice in smaller or geographically isolated markets like Hawaii, and whether local market conditions are typically adjusted for.
If I submit Hawaii based listings that closely match trim, mileage, does that usually trigger a re-review? Or is the valuation vendor’s generally final
Hawaii total loss insurer using mainland comps due to limited local sales. Is this normal??
byu/Forward-Concern403 inInsurance
Posted by Forward-Concern403
2 Comments
This is standard practice for isolated markets like Hawaii where there simply aren’t enough local comparable sales to generate an accurate valuation. Most insurers will use expanded geographic areas when local data is insufficient, but they should be making adjustments for market differences like shipping costs and local pricing premiums. You can try submit local listings as supporting evidence for a revaluation, especially if they show a clear price differential that wasn’t accounted for in the original assessment.
[https://law.justia.com/codes/hawaii/title-24/chapter-431/section-431-10c-311/](https://law.justia.com/codes/hawaii/title-24/chapter-431/section-431-10c-311/)
Here’s the Hawaii insurance code. You can try submitting 3 local dealer quotes for them to rework their estimate. You can also invoke the appraisal clause. You can also receive the settlement and then locate a similar car which costs more than the estimate, then submit to the insurance company for excess recovery.