AAMI’s total loss payout is too low, how do I dispute it?

Total loss disputes are usually valuation disputes. If your policy is market value, the insurer owes what your specific vehicle, make, model, year, kilometres, condition, options and your local market, would have cost to replace immediately before the loss. Insurer valuations frequently come from valuation databases that lag real listings and average away your car’s specifics. You are entitled to ask AAMI for the valuation report and the comparable sales it relied on, and the General Insurance Code of Practice supports access to the information behind claim decisions.

Beat a low valuation with better evidence: gather current listings for genuinely comparable vehicles in your area, same model, similar year, kilometres and condition, and recent sold prices where available. Document your car’s condition and extras with photos, service history and receipts for recent work. Then dispute in writing: the claim number, the offered figure, your evidenced market figure, and the comparables attached. Separately, scrutinise the decision to write the car off at all if repair was viable, and the arithmetic of the settlement, excess deductions, registration and CTP refunds, and who keeps the salvage are all components people accept without checking.

If AAMI holds the low number, lodge an internal dispute resolution complaint, which the Code requires be answered within roughly 30 days, and then take it to AFCA, free, independent, and binding on the insurer. Valuation disputes are bread-and-butter AFCA work: it examines the comparables on both sides, and insurer figures sourced from generic databases regularly lose to documented local market evidence. Do not cash a settlement presented as final before the dispute resolves without checking it is not framed as full and final acceptance.