Joseph,
      Insurance companies goal is to offer a low settlement and hope that the
person just accepts it and walks away.  Many seem to do just that, take far
less than is actually owed them.

       I had a windshield that was damaged by a dump truck, it took me 6
months and photos of the truck uncovered to get the money to fix the windshield.
They told me they could do nothing.  I persisted and got my money.

       I had a 73 Bus that I had put a lot on money into restoring.  It was
hit in the side and the insurance company was going to only give me $850 (I had
that much in the cylinder heads alone...) I showed them receipts and they
said that it would not help much.  They went on the blue book value.  I asked if
I could prove it was more valuable would they adjust their value, they said
yes.  I went out to a VW shop and had the owner put a value in writing on my
bus.  He told them that it was worth $4500 to $5000 with the improvements I had
made.  Went to the insurance and they had me get it estimated to fix and wrote
me a check for $2500 to cover the damages.

       When dealing with insurance companies be persistent and do not settle
for a low ball claim.  Get it valued and go back with the info.

Robert