Claim Terms Glossary
Plain-language definitions of the terms used across this site's calculators and guides — each one links back to where it's used in context. This is a reference page, not legal advice.
- ACV (Actual Cash Value)
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The insurer's base value estimate for your vehicle before any deductions or additions — deductible, tax/fees, loan payoff, or salvage deduction. It is a starting figure, not the final check amount.
Settlement Check Breakdown calculator → · ACV vs. Replacement Cost vs. Loan Payoff vs. Asking Price →
- Comparable (comp)
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A vehicle used to estimate market value by comparison — either from the insurer's valuation report or one you found yourself. Comps are compared on year, mileage, trim, condition, distance, and listing status; asking price is never assumed to equal sale price.
Total-Loss Offer Audit calculator → · Finding Your Own Comparable Vehicles →
- Deductible
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The amount subtracted from your ACV on a first-party claim (filed against your own insurer). It generally does not apply to third-party claims (filed against another driver's insurer), since you're not collecting under your own policy.
Settlement Check Breakdown calculator → · First-Party vs. Third-Party Auto Claims →
- Diminished value (DV)
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The gap between a vehicle's pre-accident value and its value after being damaged and repaired — even a fully, properly repaired vehicle can be worth less on paper once it carries an accident history. Whether it's recoverable, and from whom, varies by state and by claim type.
Diminished Value Baseline calculator → · What Is Diminished Value? →
- First-party vs. third-party claim
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A first-party claim is filed against your own insurer under your own policy. A third-party claim is filed against another driver's insurer for damage they caused. The two follow different rules — deductibles, diminished-value eligibility, and available protections can all differ depending on which one applies.
First-Party vs. Third-Party Auto Claims → · Does Your State Allow a First-Party Diminished Value Claim? →
- GAP coverage / GAP shortfall
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GAP (Guaranteed Asset Protection) insurance is an optional product, sold separately from your regular auto policy, that can cover the difference between what you owe on a loan or lease and a lower total-loss payout. A GAP shortfall is that gap amount — it is not automatically paid; it depends on your specific GAP certificate's terms and exclusions.
Settlement Check Breakdown calculator → · What Happens to Your Loan or Lease After a Total Loss (GAP Insurance Explained) →
- Lienholder
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The lender that holds a loan or lease on your vehicle. In a total-loss settlement, the lienholder is generally paid first out of the gross settlement, up to the loan or lease payoff amount, before any remaining money goes to you.
- Loss of use / rental reimbursement
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Compensation — often a daily rate up to a policy cap — for the time your vehicle is unusable while being repaired or while a total-loss claim is processed. What counts as a "reasonable" rental period or rate is not fixed nationwide and depends on your specific policy language.
- Market evidence
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Real, user-entered comparable listings (separated into clean-history and accident-history groups) used to build descriptive statistics — mean, median, and range. This site never averages market evidence with a formula baseline like the 17c calculation; the two are shown side by side because they measure different things.
- Outlier (possible outlier)
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A comparable more than 20% away from its group's median price, flagged for you to double-check. This is a disclosed review heuristic, not a legal or professional appraisal standard, and not a rule for excluding a comp — a real vehicle can legitimately fall outside that range.
- Owner-retained salvage
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When you keep your totaled vehicle instead of surrendering it to the insurer, the insurer deducts an estimated salvage value (what the wreck itself is worth, e.g., to a salvage buyer or for parts) from your ACV before paying you, since it isn't taking possession of and reselling the vehicle.
Settlement Check Breakdown calculator → · Owner-Retained Total Loss & Salvage Titles →
- Percentage-threshold total-loss law
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A state rule that declares a vehicle a total loss once repair cost reaches a fixed percentage of its ACV (for example, 70% or 75%, depending on the state). This is one of two common state approaches; the other is the Total Loss Formula.
- Salvage title / rebuilt title
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A permanently branded vehicle title issued after a car is declared a total loss and the owner retains or repairs it. It is a lasting record on the vehicle's title history — branding criteria vary by state and should be confirmed with your state DMV.
- Total Loss Formula (TLF)
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A state rule that declares a vehicle a total loss once repair cost plus expected salvage value reaches or exceeds the vehicle's ACV. The same damage can be a total loss under TLF in one state but not a total loss under a simple percentage-threshold state.
- 17c formula / 17c baseline
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A commonly published diminished-value calculation — pre-accident value × a base-value cap × a damage-severity multiplier × a mileage multiplier — that traces back to a 2001–2002 Georgia class-action settlement. It is not a national or state legal standard, and this site never treats it as the final word on what diminished value is owed.
Diminished Value Baseline calculator → · The 17c Formula: History, Calculation, and Limits →