Vermont total-loss rules

Recorded as partial: the definition and the 15-day salvage-title duty come from secondary sources, and neither § 2001 nor § 2091 was retrieved verbatim. Vermont has no fixed statutory percentage. That matters less here than in most states, because Vermont regulates the SETTLEMENT with unusual precision — see “how the settlement must be valued” and “how comparables must be chosen”, which are among the strongest in the ledger.

The floor is the distinctive feature and it is unusually concrete: 'Such cost shall be no less than the average of: (a) the retail value given such vehicle by the National Automobile Dealer Association (NADA) Used Car Guide or Older Used Car Guide, as applicable, in effect at the time of the loss; and (b) the retail value of a comparable vehicle furnished to the insurer by a third party vendor'. A Vermont offer below that average is below a stated minimum — arithmetic, not argument. Special equipment is excluded from the base average and then ADDED to it under § 8(B)(2)(c). Vehicles not listed in NADA are valued 'based upon a reasonable and verifiable method including but not limited to the local marketplace' under (e).

A DEFINED radius anchored to the garaging zip code — Washington and Kentucky give numbers but Vermont defines the market itself, which removes the usual argument about what 'local' means. Three checkable points follow: an older-model-year comparable is outside the definition; a comparable outside 75 miles is outside the local market; and a listing older than 90 days is not 'available'. The vendor methodology must also 'give primary consideration to the values of comparable vehicles that are available in the local market', must adjust out-of-market vehicles back to local values where credible price differentials exist, and may use only vehicles available for sale within the United States.

The second limb is the one that matters and Vermont shares it only with Connecticut: where the insurer relied on a source that is NOT publicly available — which is what a proprietary valuation product is — the report itself must be handed over. § 7(B) adds that 'All claim payments shall include an appropriate explanation of the basis of the payment (example, full explanation of all deductions for depreciations, deductibles or coinsurance).'

Vermont's vehicle tax is a purchase and use tax rather than a conventional sales tax, but the regulation speaks of 'all applicable taxes' without qualification. The quoted wording is the replacement limb at § 8(B)(1); the cash limb at (B)(2) carries the same package.

Naming registration fees expressly removes the usual argument about whether they fall within a general 'transfer fees' phrase.

Recorded as partial because the FIELD concerns a policy appraisal provision and the regulation contains none. Vermont's substitutes are the mandatory dispute notice and the documented-rejection rule, which are weaker than the 20-to-60-day recourse rights elsewhere in that neither obliges the insurer to reopen or re-price — but stronger in that the claimant is told of the right to dispute on the face of the offer, and the rejection is preserved in the file. Note Vermont licenses motor vehicle damage appraisers separately under 8 V.S.A. § 4791.

All periods run in BUSINESS days. Vermont has the full set — acknowledge, decide and pay — which fewer than half the states in this ledger do. Payment text, verbatim from § 6(G): 'After settlement has been agreed upon, insurer shall mail payment in amount agreed to claimant and/or loss payee within ten (10) business days'. § 6(E) adds a protection shared with Kansas, Washington, Tennessee and West Virginia: written notice 30 business days before a first-party claimant's time limit may expire. § 5(C) requires a response to a Department inquiry within 15 business days.

The frequency qualifier applies to the regulation as well as the statute, so a single mishandled claim is hard to pin on either — which places Vermont with Arizona, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, Connecticut, Delaware and North Dakota. The regulation's own purpose clause is nonetheless useful in correspondence: it exists 'for the purpose of protecting the interests of the public and to insure prompt and equitable claim handling by establishing minimum standards for all types of claim settlements'. It applies to all policies except Workers' Compensation, Title insurance and Surety, and is expressly not exclusive.

Six years, framed as a general rule for civil actions rather than as a contract-specific period. The retrieved text does not confirm in terms that a policy action falls under it rather than a special provision. Check the policy for a shorter suit-limitation clause as well.

Filing online lets you upload supporting documents; mail and fax are also accepted. Insurance Consumer Services: 800-964-1784, dfr.insuranceinfo@vermont.gov; fax 802-828-1446.

The regulator's name as it appears on its own complaint page.