Here is the end of the story for those who are interested...

The adjustor came and looked at the van.  He was not an auto
adjustor--all the auto adjustors locally were at a conference so he was
pressed into service from residential duty.  He declared the van a total
loss due to water damage.  I asked how he would come up with a price and
luckily for me Farmers does not go by NADA retail like most companies,
they have a more thorough process.  ( NADA for my van is $3,675 )  They
take market conditions into account, first searching local classified
ads and calling dealers in the area to find out what the cars are
retailing for locally.  This benefits someone like me with an unusual
vehicle as there are NONE in the classifieds or on dealers lots locally.
The next place to use would be internet ads he said, but he had no
internet service at his office.  Well, I had taken the liberty of
finding 6 or 7 pretty cherry Westys at high prices ( 6-8K) and printed
them off to use as ammo.  He said sure, he would be glad to get that
info I had, it would help him a lot ( heh heh).  So he took his
appraisal sheet and my internet stuff back and said he would call me the
next day ( today).  He called promptly today, told me that he also had
contacted an individual in the MO-KAN VW club here locally ( pretty
resourceful I thought ) and that person had said in their opinion my van
was worth $4-7K.  Therefore, his conclusion was that he would give me
$7500 for the van minus my $500 comp deductible, plus my rental
reimbursement.  If you have Farmers Ins and do not have this get it now!
It is called K5 and gives me $50/day for a 20 day max per claim
regardless of if I use it or not, so $1,000 to me even though I have 3
other cars and a company car so I have no need for the rental, I still
get $1K. So he came up with $8,000 total.  This is if they keep the van.
If I want to buy it back, salvage value is 30% of his bid in the end to
make a long story less long, the van minus salvage 30% plus $1K rental
coming to $5,600, and the van.  Well, as much as it hurt, I think 8
grand will do me better than 5 and a half and a waterlogged van that I
have no time to mess with and will never sell to anyone as salvage for
$2,400.  So it will go bye bye and I will likely use half of that 8G to
get another and 4 to pocket for future VW projects.  In the end I am
completely happy with Farmers and the overly fair amount I received
promptly and with no hassle.  All I have to do now is go in and pick up
the check next week.

My conclusions:  Keep good insurance.  I pay a little more for Farmers
but they are outstanding consistently.  Get good ammo if you need to
substantiate a loss on your Vanagon.  Minimal work on my part got me
twice what book was on the van and more than replacement value.  Lastly,
belong to a good list like this one whose members have given me much
support and good advice consistently.

Thank you all, and I may continue to lurk in the event that I will in
the upcoming months get another van.

Matt Brickell
83 Jetta TD
86 Jetta D
84 Westy soon to go to the great beyond and to donate its parts
hopefully to many needy salvage yard VW scavengers.  Or, to some lucky
soul who has the time to rebuild it and will enjoy it.

Olathe, KS