Your rights in California under the Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations for an auto insurance claim include:

• Insurers must acknowledge claim, start investigation, provide forms and instructions, and provide reasonable assistance immediately but in no event later than 15 days after receiving notice of claim. (Notice of claim is any written or oral communication to the insurance company which reasonably apprises the insurer that you wish to make a claim.)
• Respond to communications received from you immediately but in no event later than 15 days.
• Accept or deny the claim immediately but in no event later than 40 days after receiving proof of claim. Proof of claim is documentation in your possession which provides any evidence of the claim and supports the magnitude or the amount of the loss such as estimates of repair or police report indicating theft of your vehicle, et cetera.
• Offer a fair settlement. If you suffered a total loss, settlement must include taxes, license and transfer fees. The settlement must reflect the value of a comparable vehicle of like kind and quality. If you retain the salvage, deductions from the settlement for salvage must be fair, measurable, and discernable.
• Once the claim has been accepted, the insurer must pay the claim immediately, but in no event later than 30 days from the date settlement was reached.

This is a few of the highlights of these CA regulations paraphrased for you. You may view a complete copy of the Regulations by visiting the California Department of Insurance website.

So your insurance company should accept the claim within 40 days and than go on to offer you a settlement for your stolen car after their investigation of the theft. Once you agree on the settlement amount they should then pay you within 30 days. You should discuss with your insurance adjuster how long the investigation should take into your stolen vehicle and when you should expect your settlement offer.

The insurance company does not take into account the amount you owe on the vehicle. They only will offer you actual cash value (ACV) for the car whether this is more or less than you owe is not usually of their concern. If you owe more than the settlement offer you will still need to pay on the car to your lien holder unless you have Gap insurance to pay off this difference. If you owe less than the ACV amount then your lien holder gets paid off and you get the money over that amount.

Your vehicle's ACV is determined by comparing your vehicle's condition to similar vehicles. This may include input from local auto dealers, private parties or recent sales which the adjusters use in their valuation. Condition, equipment and mileage differences are also taken into consideration.

In addition, your insurance company may use a computerized evaluation process to assist them in determining the value of your vehicle. These systems have databases and systems that contain benchmarking tools to find the true value of a vehicle from repair shops and dealers.

If you have any more questions about the time period an insurance company can take for claims, etc in CA than contact the California Department Insurance directly for consumer help and advice.