[Christien]

It really depends on the wording of your policy. If the appraiser's amount is higher than the policy should pay, I would keep mum about it and cross your fingers. Most of the adjusters and claims handlers are fairly dim, in my experience, so if McLovin is right that they should pay out the lesser of the 2 values, there's a good chance nobody will actually notice that, and they'll just write the cheque for the appraised amount.

Next time, get an agreed value policy that states that upon total loss they'll pay out exactly that amount, no more, no less. If your insurance company doesn't offer such a policy, change companies.