Advice for Dealing with Insurance Company

Middlesex Auto Body (Steve) gave me excellent advice on dealing with the insurance company after the insurance company decided that my car was beyond repair. He warned me that the insurance companies always try to low ball you when they have to make a cash settlement. Steve advised me not to be confused by how they define replacement value...the key is that there needs to be an available car of same model, mileage, etc for you to purchase at the time of settlement and recommended that I do some research on autotrader.com about the value of my car so when the insurance company makes an offer I would have the data to argue if the initial settlement offer is low...it worked. They offered 7K but eventually agreed to 8.5k. Thanks for your help.