MorganMay

My $96,800 MSRP, 2015 Z06 3LZ, Crystal Red Tintcoat, 8 speed auto, 19,600 miles, etc.... was rear ended. It's now back from an almost $20,000 repair and looks flawless. Rear bumper and attached bits replaced along with impact bar, frame rail extensions, rear floor pan, roof opening frame and a long list of things attached to these parts. I inspected the repairs at various points along the way and all GM procedures and materials were used.

Other party's insurance fully covered the repair cost and is estimating current, repaired value at $75,000.

Question: Does $8300 sound like a fair settlement for diminished value?

0Terry@BMS

Sounds reasonable to me if you're able to get it. Insurance companies are generally very stingy with diminished value in my experience.

mdz06vetter

agree with Terry. they typically will look at KBB and other venues and get a median price for a used car of similar mileage, condition, etc. in your area.

OH THREE Z

Is your settlement $8000 before or after attorney fees?

I just setteled my dv case. My car was backed into by a school bus. Damage was to the rear fascia, rear quarter and taillight assembly. $3100 to fix and setteled for $6500. My attorney even cut his fee to give me $4500 walk away money

The flip side is my car was 3 months old when it happened and only had 600 miles on it

I would want more than $8000. You have to ask yourself if your car was sitting next to an exact match but without the damage history how much less would you pay for your car compaired to the car with the clean history and feel okay about it. An $8000 discount wouldnt swing me to the damaged car.

Good luck

Glenn Quagmire

Sorry to hear about this and hope you weren't hurt. This is precisely why I have agreed value policies from Chubb on all of my vehicles. It's obviously more expensive...but not nearly as much as the haircut to be taken on a total loss of very expensive exotics. A good friend took a $90K hit last year on the loss of his Maserati, after a guy blew a light and hit him head on. He had Allstate and after learning his lesson, switched to Chubb.

I hope you get it worked out to your satisfaction.

PS - the offer doesn't sound too bad.

Dfwz06

I'd be happy with that

silver74vette

I would be happy with it.

And I respect your concern over the repairs. You get what you inspect not what you expect..

1rawTA

That assessment sounds very good. In some states it is very hard to even get diminished value. i would settle with the 8k for sure

STLUCIEAPPRAISAL

Here's the story on the diminished value of your Corvette. I know a bit since I have prepared more than a thousand DV reports. If your car had any structural repairs or air bag deployment it will take a hit of approximately 40% of its trade in value prior to the accident. If no structural or air bags, figure 8% to 10%. Why the disparity? Cars that have a repair history will lose something and that depends on the car. A Honda Odyssey, for example, won't lose much if any value after a minor repair because they are so much in demand. That same Honda, however, with structural damage or air bags becomes a a pariah, something that can't be certified and will be questionable as to whether it will turn a profit at auction. A dealer will pay much less for it as a result.

So if you car was worth $80K before the loss and suffered structural damage and/or air bag deployment your diminished value will be in the $20,000+ range.

AORoads

That's good info to have fr. st. lucie above. BTW, OP who or what dealer did the repairs to your car (was it out in White Bear Lk.)?

MorganMay

No attorney, no fees....just a flat out offer.

MorganMay

Thanks. Very helpful quantitative information. No structural damage and no airbags deployed in my case...so I'm getting a consensus opinion that an 11% offer for diminished value, with no need to get an appraisal or attorney, is an offer I should accept.

383vett

I'm having trouble figuring out the math here. Your car sustained $3100 damage, you settled for $6500 and you walked away with $4500? Isn't that walking away with $3400 with no attorney fees? Bummer to have a new car damaged. Hope it's as good as new.

MorganMay

LaMettry's Collision Repair, Glass and More at their Maplewood, MN, location. They do a lot of high end cars and have all the major manufacturer certifications hanging on the wall. After witnessing their work at various steps along the way (aluminum welding of frame rail extensions, structural adhesive bonding of the rear compartment, tintcoat paint matching for example), they have my complete confidence.

Glenn Quagmire

Being a fellow Minnesotan and knowing Rick and Joanne LaMettry, I won't bring my cars anywhere else.

STLUCIEAPPRAISAL

Affirmative.

Classic-Chevy-Guy

Suggest you might get a document from the selling dealer on the difference on a trade-in.

STLUCIEAPPRAISAL

A) Very difficult to obtain anything written from the dealership regarding loss in value.
B) Insurance companies routinely reject these citing the dealer's obligation to buy low and sell high. This is understandable.

For the vast majority of DV claims, an independent appraiser is the way to go. For the OP and the small percentage of people who receive fair settlement offers nothing else is necessary.

OH THREE Z

This happened almost 2 years ago (march of 15) It took that long to come to an agreement. The insured paid to have my car repaired and then the suit was filed. So their total cost was $9600.

Breakdown

$3100 repair
$500 appraisal
$1500 attorney fee
$4500 yours truly

Bill Dearborn

KBB shows the top private party sales price estimate for a vehicle in excellent condition as $67.7K. Fair condition price estimate is $61.8K or about $6K less than the top price.

Not sure diminished value will be an easy sale to the insurance company.

Bill