Thanks IRLANDERS - I value your advice too. It turned out to be happy ending - I had insured my car with this co for 10+ yrs.
The root cause of the prob comes from the valuation company called - CCC Valuescope, cccis.com.
My exp was similar to: (source - http://ccc-valuescope.pissedconsumer.com/ccc-valuescope-need-another-class-action-lawsuit-20090904156567.html)
"4. Written by Matt Rutkowski, on 02-11-2009 10:05
My daughter was hit by another driver this past week. My insurer used CCC to base their ACV they offered. Upon viewing the report which compared other sub models to my daughters (known to be less value) and alsi cited many dealer/autotrader with the low price they eventually offered me. As i followed up each one I found only 1 autotrader was real and that that car did not have many of the features my daughters had and the photo showed significant side damage. Also, of the low dealers I called directly (CCC left out the mileage) the car they cited in the range they offered was 165K miles not the 86k miles on my daughters car (and could be worse as no pics were avail and was 75 miles away). "
You know, less than 8hrs into ordering the report, CCC … report was made available - it included a “Auto Check” too. I called CCC after conducting due diligence with one of their comparable - CCC was speechless!
They also estimated $55 for 2 weeks old Michelin tires that coated me $480, among other things. Anyway, I fought and it became a “partial loss” eventually with verbal agreement for fixed cost repair - that is whatever they estimated and paid me is it - no going back with additional receipts (estimate used lower sales tax etc-never mind) - I am happy, anyway.
Morale of the story, if your ins uses “CCC Valuescope” - just run away.