<prompt> Human: I have a 2010 Ford Focus with 86k miles. I was actually selling it and had 3 interested buyers for 4,000. The car had a dent already on the opposite side of the garbage truck impact. The city is basically saying without the dent my car would be worth 4,087 however the KBB value of it with the dent and scratch is 4,100 and in goodgreat condition 4,500-5,000. So they are already low balling me there. Not only that but they said if I wanted a rental the car was unable to be driven I would need to go through my insurance and file a claim. My insurance said they should be paying for it. previous accident the company of the truck that hit me paid for damages and a rental Now, to the price they are offering me because of the prior dent damage... 2,854 tax included. Is there anything I can do about this? I really needed at least 4,000. This is my first post on any financialadvice sub so please let me know if Im in the right place or if there is any other information yall may need to know. . . Edit: So Ive gotten way more advice than I could have hoped for. A couple of things I have already done since posting. Ive used both KBB and NADA as well as looked at local postings of the same make, model, year of vehicles for sale. They are around and over 5,000 with well over 100K miles. So with the previous damage of a quoted 1,400 I should still be getting close to 4,000 regardless. I have spoken to my insurance company and will make a claim with them if I do not get a reasonable offer from the city in response to my documentation and email. Only reason I dont want to go initially through insurance is due to the fact that I will have to pay a deductible and risk my premium going up as some people have mentioned. Also, I recently reduced coverage on the vehicle. . Edit 2: Also, for those stating to claim injury or speak to injury attorneys lawyers. I was not in the vehicle at the time of the incident. Garbage truck hit it, took off, then over an hour later came back down the other side of the street when the cop stopped him. He initially claimed to have not hit my car grease and yellow paint all over my blue car then claimed he didnt know he hit it even though the paint on his truck from my car seemed as if he tried scraping it off. Usually garbage trucks do not take over 30min to come back down the other side of our street either... . Edit 3: My state is Texas. I will be looking into filing a loss of use claim for sure. I will also be making some more phone calls to my insurance company and going from there. I have read a lot of your comments with similar stories who have had great outcomes. Hopefully I will report back with the same. Thank you all again for the good and bad advice and the cold hard truths of the possible negative outcomes o_o thanks . Edit 4: Last update for today until I reach a milestone. For those saying I need to use my insurance company, I was told by my insurance company that they cant do anything since I recently changed my coverage to Liability and Personal Injury. Didnt include collision due to me selling the vehicle soon. Just my shitty luck. So thats out of the question. On to fighting the city by myself with the help of Reddit.Assistant: Ask them for the document they used to get the value of your car. Pour over that document and find anything and everything they missed that your car had. They like to forget options or choose the lower option package that isnt quite right but lowers the value of your car. You have to know all the options your car came with to do this really effectively. Its annoying work but Ive added several thousand on when the insurance company decided my car didnt have leather seats when it actually did. Then they added just the leather seats as one option when it actually had a full package that included the leather, I pointed that out and they fixed it and suddenly the amount was much higher. They will take advantage of you if you dont know what you own.Then go on Craigslist and search for cars similar to yours. Insurance companies dont always use KBB or NADAguidesthis one is better imo but they often check in your local area for similar vehicles being sold to see what the market value is there. If they see the market value is 3400 for a car similar to yours but without the dent they will reduce the amount they offer. You need to find cars in similar condition to yours pre-accident and show that the value of yours is higher. Do you have any quotes on getting the previous damage of the car fixed? Lets say you find that the car is selling for 3400 with no dents again but you have a quote for the previous damage for 400, you could easily ask for 3000 and have a valid reason.Just remember this, it is a negotiation first and foremost. They will come at you with a lower number hoping you will just take it, many people do. Be realistic though. If their first offer is 2800 I would expect to be able to argue it up to maybe 3500 max but you never know. You need to prove your car was worth more than they are offering. Do you have any maintenance records for the car proving its in great mechanical shape? Any big repairs you have done recently with bills? Things like that increase the value by increasing the score they give your car based on condition. Human: This is actually the first thing I did. I just finished writing a lengthy letter on the additional features my car has like SYNC, Bluetooth, and Sirius Radio, as well as the appraisal listing my car in Good condition. I included that I recently purchased a new battery and tires for it as well. Ive stated that I can provide proof of the potential buyers I had at 4k as well as my research on other 2010 Ford Focus selling for around the same price or more but with well over 100,000 miles on them.  <response>: How long ago did you purchase the tires? It depends on the length of time but you can sometimes get near the full purchase price back through insurance.The other guy that replied made a valid point possibly accidentally. If you just have emails to prove people were willing to buy it the company might silently ignore those because they could be easily faked. Do you have any proof other than that, assuming emails is the proof? 