Sadly my C7 was a victim of vandalism that set me back around 6-7k though fortunately covered by insurance. Does anyone know how to actually calculate the diminished value of the 2018 GS due to the repairs, carfax etc? Do you just take it to a dealership or KBB? I am trying to make a claim to my HOA since it was their fault. The car new had a MSRP around $71,000. My guess is that around 5k must be right at the window at the moment. Mechanically its ok but the body damage isnt pretty. Back trunk lid is a mess as is right passenger door

Any advice appreciated.

 

My experience with diminished value is that you have to make the claim to the responsible party's insurance company. In my case I had someone back into the passenger door of my 05 C6 and rip the fiber glass. This was in 2012 so the car was 7 years old and was probably worth somewhere around $23k-$24k conservatively. They had State Farm. The adjuster came out and did their regular thing and estimated the cost to repair the damage. I also told him that I wanted to file a diminished value claim. After he submitted his paperwork another person from State Farm called me and told me that they estimated diminished value to be $1000. I told them I disagreed and after some back and forth we settled on $1700 and they cut me a check.

 

I'm making a claim for diminished value now. I went to my local dealer, the one I had do the repair. I asked the used car manager what they would give me for the car ( it was a low mileage car in pristine condition) for a trade in, before and after the accident ( assuming it was repaired and looked perfect)? He explained that prior to the accident, it would be a "clean" trade in and after the trade in, it would be in poor condition. He showed me the trade in values before and after; and the difference was about $4,000. I have submitted this claim, along with copies of the paperwork, including the managers name to the insurance company.
I'm currently waiting for their response.

 

It would be interesting to know how the HOA is responsible for your diminished value. It is also interesting to see you suing yourself for this loss and the HOA using your funds to defend themselves.

 

Fair point. The HOA has a budget of 2.5 mill so 10k is a drop in the bucket. The issue is that the security systems that have been broken for about 1 year despite the special assessment each unit paid. They had 3 major car crimes in 1 year. The gates, scanners etc should have been fixed

 

There is an answer to those problems you point out. You seem to be an astute judge of what is possible and I am sure your neighbors would welcome your being a candidate for the board. You might then better appreciate that regardless of the size of your Association, you are asking a large number of innocent fellow members to participate in paying for your theoretical loss in value.

 

There are many different methods for determining diminished value, formulas, algorithms, carfax.com ad comparisons, auction results, etc. We query the sales managers at multiple Chevrolet dealers to obtain six of their opinions on how much value was lost as a result of this incident. The difference between obtaining a dealer quote and our report is that the insurance company will imply that your dealer is biased, has a profit motive, etc. while our quotes are completely unbiased. Your car now has a repair history so your claim is for Inherent diminished value.If you can convince them to accept a letter from your own dealer, so much the better since it won't cost you a dime. BTW, I'm guessing that your car will only lose about 10% - 15% of it's pre-loss value.

 

Yeah all good points. The diminished value is only theoretical until its quantified by some means. It’s more appropriate for the HOA and it’s owners to pay than insurance customers, but either way, yeah it comes from a pool of people. What I want is for the HOA to get punished. There are other back story issues but yeah just being nice and turning the other cheek doesn’t work. They need negative reinforcement

 

You want to "punish" the HOA? Aren't you part of the HOA? "They" that need negative reinforcement includes you. Claiming the HOA is at fault for a criminal damaging your car is a stretch.

However you determine diminished value, which as you note is purely theoretical until you sell or trade the car, good luck getting the HOA to pay for it. You'll likely spend far more trying to get it to pay than what you might get from it.

 

I think you have to know more of the details before you can pass judgement and I purposely am holding back some details. If the HOA is charging regular fees, plus a special assessment of over 10,000 per unit, then being negligent on security multiple times, yes they can be found negligent. The reason is because they didn’t use the money to provide safety which is part of the contract w the HOA in the first place. It’s so bad other Corvette owners moved their cars out of here. So the parking spots we paid for are basically useless.

The diminished value isn’t theoretical. The car is an asset, like anything else, you can find experts to appraise it. Same for house, boats, etc. My thread is on how to calculate it. It’s a given that it’s tangible.

I’m surprised at the pushback but if the recommendation is to have a useless garage spot, ignore the fees they charge, ignore the broken security etc., just a move along...umm no. Lol

 

Well, it would be nice to know "the rest of the story." It's likely you'll have to sue the HOA to get anything from it; good luck with that. BTDT.


It's purely theoretical at this point. You've lost nothing until you either sell or trade the car, and the longer you keep it the lower the dollar value of the loss. It's like looking at the stock market and saying you've lost or made money, but aren't selling or buying; it's a logical fallacy.


That's not what I'm saying. I've sued an HOA years ago for more than what your claim is likely to be. It's not a quick, easy, or cheap process, and like any lawsuit there's a chance you'll spend the money and time and not win. In your case it's likely much easier to make a diminished value claim through your insurance company than to sue the HOA for it, but if it's really all about punishing the HOA, go for it, but go in with your eyes wide open. Good luck whatever you decide.

 

Talk about a bunch of happy Horse Manure!

What an example of a naive and greedy society we are fostering. Here we have someone wanting their innocent neighbors to pay them for vandalism they were not responsible for. This payment is in case of a future theoretical loss because of a company called Carfax. This company may or may not even know about the incident but action is needed just in case.

While the insurance is going to pay for the damage, should there actually be diminished value? If the damage is basically cosmetic and fixed properly, ninety-nine percent of the public would never know it happened while looking at it. They will only know it happened if it is reported by Carfax which will have absolutely nothing to do with the actual reality of diminished value!

Then we have another participant justifying his business of supporting this egregious process making a total S.W.A.G. stating the OP, in his professional opinion, probably lost as much as 10-15% of his value. This of course depends entirely on whether it is picked up by one of these reporting agencies. It also depends entirely on when and if the OP decides to sell the car in question. I am sure that if it is totaled next month, the OP will pay the neighbors back their contributions or tell the insurance company he already collected for a partial amount.

Here is an idea...if you really dislike your neighbors that much and are embarrassed by the HOA you are a member of...MOVE! Sounds like a dangerous place to live anyway.

 

No one is asking anyone else to pay for his damages. HOAs have insurance policies to cover losses such as the one the OP is describing. He's a member and resident and has legal standing to file said claim especially if the reason that he and others have experienced theft or vandalism is due to the HOAs negligence. Give me a break...

 

It's always amazing to see some of the posts on here, the way people actually think. In my opinion, and if your story is accurate, I think you're doing the right thing pursuing the HOA for the damages and diminished value claim. Absent some type of enforcement they will continue to skirt their responsibility while still charging you fees. The funny part here is that I'm sure that if you fail to pay your dues or violate the bylaws they would be quick to fine you and slap a lien on your property. Good luck and keep us posted, and ignore these other negative nellies.

 

I think you're going to find that this isn't going to go how you think it will. Hopefully you've lawyered up, because they will certainly have legal staff on deck. Also, it's going to be very difficult to prove that the HOA is responsible for your car getting damaged, because your car could have (and very well would have) been vandalized despite having all possible security measures. Many thieves are absolutely not deterred by normal security measures. I do not think you'll get what you're after. Best of luck with it all.

 

And you don't think the HOA's insurance policy has a deductible?

 

As you pointed out in another of your erroneous posts, it is always interesting to see how people think. The HOA does not exist independent of the members. It is the property owners in the association collectively and the responsibility of management of the association is the elected Board. The Board members are going to be required to be owners within the community and are unpaid. If there is negligent mismanagement of the association it is the fault of the owners individually and collectively.

The HOA is in fact generally required to have insurance. The insurance is going to insure the physical assets of the HOA and liability insurance. They generally are also going to cover insurance to defend Board Members against frivolous claims such as suggested here. The insurance is not going to defend the Association against vandalism to unowned property because of supposed neglect or mismanagement. The OP would in fact be asking each and every neighbor to pay for his misfortune. Even if there were to be insurance who do think pays for it?

I have built multiple projects that are ultimately run by a condo association or HOA. I have been the President of multiple HOA's and Condo Associations. I previously held a cam license. I am currently an association President at my residence. You are like so many people who do not understand the process. So many people want to blame the mythical "They" for all the problems where all the time the owners in the Association are in fact the mythical "They"!

 

So what if it does? It all part of the cost of doing business, and that's the point...the HOA is a business in every sense regardless of whether it's made up of the homeowners or not. Business have a responsibility and in this case the HOA is apparently responsible for certain security measures that they have charged residents for and failed to implement. Hence, they are (may be) liable. Do you know how liability insurance works or how HOAs work?

 

I did very much the same thing. I had to work through the other parties ins co. It was a business since I was asking 8500. Learned claims under 10K they dont want to go to court. I hired an attorney and he made contact w/ins co rep.
they started at 1200 and advanced to 1450, before I got fed up and said I was advising my lawyer to file papers w/court and they would be advised of the date. Very quickly I had two contacts and we settled on 5500. It would have cost about 1500-2000 for courts/lawyer costs.

 

BS. I've served on HOAs before. A bona fide HOA where membership is compulsory (required by title) and not voluntary is for all intents and purposes a business, albeit non-profit, and they have the ability to enforce membership and compliance via liens, which means that it's a two way street and residents can certainly demand action or relief if the HOA doesn't comply with its duties.

Depending on the individual HOA bylaws, some less restrictive than others, if the bylaws or charter assume certain responsibilities or levy fees for services, in the OPs case alleged security improvements, then they certainly can be held/deemed liable for some/all of his damages especially if they took money from residents and didn't use those funds for said purposes. At the very least the OP could make an argument that whatever fees he paid for such security improvements be reimbursed towards the loss he's experienced. No different than if the HOA charges and contracts for garbage pickup and the contractor doesn't show because the HOA failed to remit payment, the residents don't go after the garbage company individually they would file a complaint with the HOA. Again, give me a break.