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My accident free 2014 C7 was backed into at a service station in tennessee. The other driver lives in florida and I live in ohio. The damage was cosmetic but I know it will show on carfax. I also know that it will now be more difficult to sell. The insurance company (Progressive) has said the policies originated in florida do not recognize DM. Policies originated in ohio do. This seems unfair. Any thoughts?
Being a 9 yr old mass produced car the diminished value is going to be difficult to calculate. If your state allows for DV claims you could potentially pursue it through your state insurance regulator. For the most part ALL insurance companies will lead off with the statement that they don't recognize DV. You need to start with the market value of your car before the accident. Then calculate DV. That number will be a percentage, you multiply by the original value. You then have to prove that number is accurate. No insurance Co is just going to calculate and hand over a check for DV. If the damage is minor I really wouldn't worry about it. A 9 yr old vette only has so much market value to begin with. I would say research DV in Florida first and go from there. I think whatever you get is going to work out to be minimum wage when you calculate what you get for the time and effort it takes to get it.
I was going to persue this with accident to a different car. Low Mileage S63 and the state limits dv claims to $2000 or something. The appraisal was $750 plus legal fees. It didn’t help that the state minimum for insurance is $15000 and repairs far exceeded that.
Just have it done without involving insurance. No need to get them involved unless it's to much money.
But if there is a police report, it would show up, I would think. Regardless, I don't think it is going to change anything radically. We aren't talking about an antique car. Just some run of the mill car here. IF the damage is really cosmetic, I wouldn't bother to hide it.
One thing you might do that might help resale, although not DV, is take a bunch of pictures of the damage and then the repair. Maybe even buy a newspaper and include it showing the date in some of the pics. At least you can show all these to a prospective buyer to prove it really was just slight cosmetic damage.
It won't show up if you ask the body shop guys not to report it
Originally Posted by kodpkd
Just have it done without involving insurance. No need to get them involved unless it's to much money.
Originally Posted by Vetteman Jack
Would be a good way to go if you can work it out.
Seems like there are people here that encourage and/or advise others to go hide this inconvenient incident. So, for all of you and anyone who advocates doing it, the question is this. Would you be fine with it if you paid top dollar for a car that was supposed to have never been in an accident only to find out that someone fixed and hid it and you discovered it AFTER money changed hands? Specifically if money changed from YOUR hands to HIS/HER hands?
One thing you might do that might help resale, although not DV, is take a bunch of pictures of the damage and then the repair. Maybe even buy a newspaper and include it showing the date in some of the pics. At least you can show all these to a prospective buyer to prove it really was just slight cosmetic damage.
Probably would do that but I am not sure how much harder it would be to sell or how big a hit you would take. I suppose pictures and invoices would help.