Legal Question in Insurance Law in Louisiana

That is arguable (literally). If someone wrecks into you, their insurer only has to pay you the actual value of your vehicle. They are not required to pay more than that and they are not required to pay "replacement value". Where this mostly becomes an issue is when people are "upside down" on their loan for the car. If you owe $12,000 on a car that is only worth $10,000, they only have to pay the $10,000.

That being said, you can argue about the "actual value" of a car. Your car may have had extras that made it more valuable; may have had low mileage; may have been a "classic", etc. There are several reasons reasonable minds could differ on the "actual value" of a car. My advice is to go to Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com) and input ALL of the infomration on your vehicle (including milage, extras, add-ons, condition, etc.) and see if kbb.com comes up with a higher number than the insurance company did. If so, print that and use it to negotiate with them. Sometimes, you can even squeeze a little more than that kbb.com number by showing that new parts were recently put on (like new tires), or that it was recently repainted, etc. kbb.com wouldn't account for things like that.

Failing that, you could make an argument that the "actual value" of your car is what the car you are buying is selling for (as they are the same model, mileage, etc.), but that is a harder argument to make. Try the kbb.com route first.

If you were injured in the accudent, you should hire an attorney immediately (I handle auto accidents in Orleans/Jefferson) and get to a qualified doctor for treatment. Injuries don't always manifest themselves until days after the accident. Attorneys do not charge any fee to you for auto accidents with injury and handle them on contengency, meaning you only pay us if we win your case.

Good luck!