My daughter went through this.  The comp her company used started at $11,000
('87 GL Westy).  They started deducting for everything they could, since she
had a lot of previous damage and looked generally tired.  When they got her
claim down to near $5000 it was really fair, considering the state of her
van.

I have posted this link before.  It's the (heavily redacted) evaluation with
her van vs the comparable van.  
http://mysite.verizon.net/respxpf0/

Good luck with this.

Tom Salicos
'87 Syncro Westy EG-33

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Stephen Cebula
> Sent: Friday, December 18, 2009 1:55 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Insurance Frustration
> 
> Okay,
> The insurance company of the person who totalled my Westy wants to give me
> $4100 including the salvage cost of my van.� I know there are some
> bargains out there, but mine was in great running shape.� I finaly got to
> where I had nothing left to fix.� I had no worries about taking it on 500+
> mile camping trips.� Can I really spend only $4k on a replacement and not
> expect to turn around a sink another $2K on it?� The insurance company
> refuses to budge.� They have some report that they are faxing me with only
> 9 comps on it.� I threatened with the state insurance commissioner and the
> agent said that all he needs to prove is that he didn't arbitrarily
> produce that number.� Any advice?� Man...I just want what I had.� Is that
> so much to ask? �I know I didn't have collision insurance, but it wasn't
> my fault.
> 
> Thanks Y'all
> Steve
> 
> 
>