i heard a trick from a insurance adjuster. before you go make sure the car is spotless inside. rugs, seats, no trash, washed and pretty. the adjuster will see its well cared for and allways treat it differently than a neglected dirty car.
And for gods sake, if you are going to have an appraiser come out and look at your car CLEAN THE DAMN THING, vacuum it, clean all the fries out of the seats, wipe the 5 years of dust off the dash, take out your kids car seat and all its toys, try to scrub off the crayon marks your small human put on the rear door panels, scrub the tires, DETAIL DETAIL DETAIL. The number one thing we write in our reports is "Needs detail". It isn't that hard to spend a few hours cleaning and detailing your engine bay.
I have shown up to look at cars and asked the owner if they want me to leave and come back after I get some lunch so they can clean their car before I do my report. You would be surprised how much money you will loose just due to the lack of detail!
