Insurance covers damage to the other party if you were at fault, any medical issues. To only see its value for taking care of your own car and nothing else is short sighted and ignorant.

What do you mean 'the insurance'? The other parties insurance, right? They usually have to provide an equivalent replacement, accepting a payment should be your choice. Dont know what its like in your specific case though.

So it sounds like your insurance company is trying to game the system. This isn't necessarily a problem with insurance as a concept, it's just something that happens because private companies are greedy m************.

You can appeal a total loss settlement. They’re supposed to take into account the cost to replace the car at local rates, so unless that 16k model you’re looking at is in dramatically better condition or has way way less mileage on it, they need to justify that.

Needing to own a car to exist in society is a tax.

If you can afford to, you should go for liability only coverage. We recently bought a new car and have comprehensive on it. But for years we just had a single old Toyota as our only vehicle. And we didn't keep comprehensive on it. Instead we purchased the highest liability policy the insurance company sells. A car that cheap is a small part of our financial world; we can afford to replace it. But the potential damage a vehicle can cause? It's very easy to cause a million in damages with any vehicle. Long term care and medical bills add up quick.

I recommended just sticking to liability if you can otherwise afford to replace a vehicle. It's a lot easier to figure out what you're buying when you're buying liability coverage as well. If I cause an expensive accident, the company will be liable for it. They can't easily weasel their way out of paying a fake amount. If I have a $1 million liability policy, and I lose a judgment for $1 million, there's not much the insurance company can do but pay for it. In fact, their lawyers will be fighting the case for me, as they're the ones who will ultimately have to pay if it fails. From an insurance purchase point of view, liability insurance is a pretty good deal. It's easy to know what you're purchasing, and it's hard for the company to weasel their way out of payment on the back end.

Insurance is for liability. To pay for the damages you do to someone else. What you're describing is full coverage.

Once you've paid off your vehicle, you may consider dropping down to liability only. Full coverage is convenient because they'll pay you when your vehicle is damaged, but the monthly payments will quickly far exceed the money you will recover if you get in an accident.

This is just an example of insurance companies making it more convenient to continue paying them extra money. In the end, insurance still isn't a utility, and it continues to be run by private, for-profit companies that will nickel and dime you at every corner.

Now add up your total payments

You just didn't understand what you were buying.

If you want guaranteed value insurance you should purchase that.

Did she have any injuries to put it towards?