My 99 Coupe was rear-ended and received almost $10K in damages. The insurance company won't total the car. Even after getting repaired, I'm sure the value of the car will be substantially diminished due to the accident. Anyone have any success claiming diminished value due to a major accident? If so, how did you go about it?

 

New Mexico insurance companies can exclude diminished value claims in their policies. I would think a local attorney could advise you on the availability of this type of relief in NM by sueing the at-fault party.

http://info.insure.com/auto/collisio...shedvalue.html, this site has some info that may be of help.

Good luck.

 

That was a very informative article. Thanks for the input.

 

The insurance industry has been fighting this hard, obviously would cost them, and eventually the insured, us, a bundle. Good luck, again, post the results.

There's more out there on Diminished Value, ran a search in Google.

 

Kelly Blue Book doesn't even list a monetary catagory for "poor" condition, which would indicate a branded title history. Would you have to pay for an appraiser to evaluate your vehicle?

Steve

 

I know that my insurer specifically states in their policy that they won't allow "diminished value". I'd talk to an attorney, and see if you have a case. The insurance company probably won't just give it to you, no matter what you do.

 

Probably EVERYONE'S policy here says you don't get DV... That's not the issue. In nearly every state you get it if the OTHER person was at fault. I've gotten it several times for myself and clients. Contact a local DV appraiser and you might be able to do it without an attorney. Ballpark on $10K damage you're probably looking at another $3K-$4K DV...

 

Hmm...

I've never heard of this before. What about in Texas if you're claiming on the other's (at-fault) policy? Could I claim DV on theirs? Also, how would I know if my vehicle is DV?

 

Diminished value depends on the state that you're in. For example, in NC, you don't have to declare that a car has been wrecked if it is over 5 years old or less than 25% of the retail value at the time of the accident.

Very rarely will you get DV if you are the insured....usually only as a claimant.

Rule of thumb, you'll get 20% of the value of the DAMAGE only. In 22 years, I have never seen a customer get much more than that. I even had a customer last year who was a lawyer and told me he had nothing but time on his hands.... 6 months later, he called me to tell me I was right... he got 20%.

DV is based on the fact that the car is not in the condition it was before the wreck. Misaligning parts, different textures, colors, metallics, gaps, etc, etc... will cause a car to be worth less.

If the car is repaired PERFECTLY and no one could tell, the stigma that it carries since (depending on your state laws) you have to declare that it's been wrecked will still cause the car to be worth less.

BTW, the amount diminished according to what a car dealership will give you and what the insurance company will give you are NEVER even close.

HTH's,

Mark

 

Here's a wrinkle to my story, don't know if it matters or not. Although I was rear-ended and declared not at fault, I'm having to get my car repaired under my "uninsured motorist" provision on my policy, as the person that hit me didn't have insurance.

I'm reading the above posts, and it sounds like you could be sucessful with a DV claim, if you aren't at fault and file the claim against the at fault party's insurance. What happens in my case, where I'm not at fault, but must file the loss with my own insurance?

 

99% of all policies have a fine line written that excludes them from having to pay DV to their own policy holders. It's not 100% but you'll find that most won't pay it.

One word of advice:

If you are going to try to get diminitive value, WAIT until ALL the repairs are done.

I tell you this for 3 reasons.

First. If the job sucks, you have a better chance of getting a higher amount

Second. You want 20% of the gross total. I'll give you an example. Last Friday, I returned a wrecked 2004 Rousch Mustang to the customer. Today, almost a week later I closed out a supplement for the total bill. The supplement was over 4K more than the original total. Point is, if he had applied for DV before the total bill was finalized, the customer could have ripped himself off 20% of 4K... almost an add'l grand.

Thirdly. I have had adjusters ask me point blank if I think the customer was going to ask for DV. If I say no, I have had them say, well, let's give them factory parts. If I had said yes, they may have used aftermarket. An adjuster is more apt to give you things if they think you're going to be easy on them.


Again, point is, any insurance company that thinks you are going to try to squeeze even more out of them by asking for DV will be more stubborn than necc.

Just a word to the wise....

Mark

 

Let me clarify that... I returned a repaired Roush Mustang to the customer... not a wrecked one...




Mark

 

LOL, I was beginning to wonder about those Ford guys...

 

This sums it up very well.

 

The problem with diminished value is you don't have it unless you sell the car. I becomes very hard to figure or predict what diminution in value, if any, there will be when the car is sold at some future unknown date. Let me explain.

My Corvette's hit in the rear and the other driver is at fault. It's $10,000 to repair it and his insurance company pays me $2,000 for DV. I put the $2,000 in the bank. Six years later I put the car up for sale for $20,000. I tell a buyer it was hit in the rear. He says, because of that he'll only give me $19,000. We split the difference and he buys the car for $19,500.

It looks like I lost $500 on the sale price because the car was in an accident. But I raked in two grand six years earlier either from the person who hit me (if he had no insurance and had to pay me this to make restitution and get his drivers license back) or his insurance company. What do you think? Should I send the $1500 I shouldn't have gotten back to the guy who hit me or his insurance company? Or should I just keep it....

 

Damn michigan no fault insurance, no chance of pinning it on the other party

 

You should give it to the new owner of the car, so he can pass it on to the next owner, and so forth, and so forth. OR, just send it to me.

 

Love it.... great idea.

Mark

 

It would seem to me that the DV comes into play now that more and more people use CarFax. You'll find out that car had a major collision in it's history because the insurance company reported the loss to the IDB. As a result, the dealer or the individual may give you substantially less for your car than it is worth, hence DV. Hell, some dealers (i.e CarMax) won't even take your car if it has a major collision reported, no matter how well it was repaired.

Most insurance companies will tell you to get bent and go hire a lawyer if you want DV. Then you have to figure is it worth it to give a third of what you win to the lawyer.

I have a friend right now going thru it. He had a brand new 05 Jeep that got slammed. Not-at-fault, $10,000+ in damage. At the time of the accident, KBB wasn't even carrying the Jeep because it was too new. Now he wants DV from the other guys insurance co. and they've told him emphatically "NO". He's getting a lawyer....

 

I had a 99 Blk Conv and I had about 11K in damages. My first vette, I had just purchased it in Sept of last year and was hit two months later, broke my heart.

I first made them use all new parts, and then I filed a diminished value claim. You must get a written evaluation of your vehicle. My DMV claim was paid at $4800. Then I was able to sell it at somewhat of a reduced price.

If you have other questions let me know.