Are Market Value and Cash Value the Same in Home Insurance?
No. Market value is what the house would sell for. Cash value is rebuilding cost minus depreciation, which is what claims pay.
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Why your payout looks nothing like what the house is worth
The adjuster's number is tied to rebuilding, not selling. Actual cash value starts with what it costs today to rebuild the damaged part of the house, same materials, same size, then subtracts depreciation for its age and wear. A 15-year-old roof gets paid out as a 15-year-old roof, not a new one, even though market value for the whole house might reflect a recent remodel or a hot neighborhood. If your policy pays replacement cost instead of actual cash value, you get the depreciation back after you complete the repair and show the receipts, usually within a set window. Your declarations page says which one you have. If the offer seems low, ask the adjuster to show the depreciation schedule they used.
If this payout seems short, the gap usually traces back to which coverage the policy carries and whether the limits match what rebuilding actually costs now, not what the house was worth when the policy was bought. Comparing policies shows where coverage falls short and whether another insurer would price the same rebuild differently, which matters most the next time something goes wrong.
What if I don't agree with the depreciation the adjuster used
The depreciation schedule is where most disputes start. An adjuster applies a percentage based on the item's age and expected lifespan, so a 15-year-old roof rated for 30 years might get marked as half depreciated. If the number feels too steep, ask for the worksheet itself, not just the total. It should show the age they used, the lifespan they assumed, and the percentage applied to each damaged item separately, roof, flooring, cabinets, not one blended number for the whole claim. Sometimes the error is simple, like the adjuster using the house's build year instead of the year that specific roof or water heater was actually replaced.
If you have receipts, permits, or photos showing an item was newer than the adjuster assumed, send them. A kitchen remodeled five years ago shouldn't be depreciated as if it's original to a 20-year-old house. Insurers are working from averages because they usually don't know your repair history unless you tell them, so this is one of the few parts of the process where documentation you provide can change the number directly. If you don't have paperwork, contractor estimates or even listing photos from when you bought the house can sometimes establish age.
You can also get an independent estimate. A contractor who gives repair quotes for a living will sometimes push back on both the scope of damage and the cost to repair it, not just the depreciation math. If that estimate comes in meaningfully higher than the adjuster's, that difference is worth raising directly, in writing, with the specific line items where the two estimates diverge. Most insurers have an internal appraisal or reinspection process for exactly this kind of disagreement, and using it doesn't require a lawyer or a public adjuster, though both exist if the gap stays large after that step.
If your policy pays replacement cost rather than actual cash value, remember the depreciation fight matters less in the end, since you recover it later once repairs are done and documented. The ACV check is the advance, not the final word. Keep every receipt from the repair itself, because that paperwork is what triggers the second payment, and insurers generally won't release it without proof the work was actually completed to the standard the policy describes.
What counts as proof when the adjuster's numbers look wrong
Photos matter more than most people realize, and not just photos from right after the damage. If you have pictures from a family gathering two years ago that happen to show the kitchen counters or the flooring, those can establish condition and age before anything happened. Date-stamped phone photos work fine. So do old listing photos from a real estate site if the house was ever for sale or rented, since those often sit online for years after the listing closes and can be pulled up with an address search.
Paid invoices are the strongest documentation, but they're not the only kind that helps. A permit filed with the city for a roof replacement or a water heater swap shows a date even if the original invoice is long gone. Many counties keep permit records searchable online by address, so this is worth checking before assuming the paperwork is unrecoverable. A contractor who did the original work may also keep records longer than homeowners do, and a quick call asking them to confirm the job and its date can be enough.
For damaged contents rather than the structure itself, the standard is different and often harder. Furniture, electronics, and appliances rarely come with saved receipts years later. Bank or credit card statements from around the purchase date can stand in, as can product registration emails or warranty cards. Some policies ask for a contents inventory as part of the claim, and if that inventory lists purchase dates or approximate ages, it becomes part of the record the adjuster has to work from rather than guess at.
None of this needs to be sent all at once or perfectly organized. Sending what exists, with a short note explaining what each document shows, is enough to put the burden back on the adjuster to respond to it. If the documentation changes the depreciation on even one or two line items, it's worth submitting even when it can't be found for everything on the claim.
Before you accept the offer
Check whether your declarations page lists replacement cost or actual cash value coverage. That one line decides whether depreciation is final or something you recover later, and it's worth confirming before you sign anything.
