The major difference is that insurance is not supposed to put you in a better position than you were before the loss. (This gets slightly tricky when, for examp

The major difference is that insurance is not supposed to put you in a better position than you were before the loss. (This gets slightly tricky when, for example, you insure an item at its replacement cost, instead of its depreciated cost...but that's about as far as it is supposed to extend.)