Diminished value

[Sevn86]

Originally Posted by MiracleAces

Diminished value is only recoverable if someone else hits you. Not for damage you did to your own car. Also, you do have to hope the other person has the proper coverage for this to be paid to you. Otherwise you have you have to go to small claims court which even if ruled in your favor is almost impossible to enforce.

My friend was at a gas station with his 6 month old g37 and some drunk reversed into his car while he was pumping gas. His whole front was smashed cuz the other vehicle that hit him was a truck. He filed diminished value and got $6,000 for it.

[1BADLS3]

I've worked for a few different insurance company. Diminished Value claims and the surrounding laws and rules vary from state to state. In some states, you are unable to claim DV.

We used to deny DV claims if the car was not being sold, and IMO, rightfully so, especially in small accidents. When you buy a used car, the assumption is that it's 'used' - that it may or may not have been in minor collisions and the price gets adjusted accordingly if the seller discloses that information (as he/she should...)

But, we did pay out on a number of DV claims where the claimant went to sell their car which had been repaired after heavy damage and they subsequently received less money in return for the car. It wasn't a LOT of money, that's for sure, and the people who thought they needed a lawyer to navigate those waters were surely surprised when the lawyer took almost all that money in fees for him/herself.

DV claims only apply to claimants, i.e, if you are claiming under someone else's insurance, and they have valid liability insurance with sufficient limits.

This is not the same as 'gap' coverage which covers specified differences between the market value of the vehicle and the outstanding value of a loan/lien in the event of total loss.

[eggydoo]

i've claimed diminished value plenty of times...if the insurance company won't give it to you, time to get a lawyer.

[firestone_ss]

my camaro was hit when it was 2 weeks old,i got diminished value from state farm for 8000.00.I had to have it appraised by a automotive appraiser,that cost me 450.00 but well worth it.The insurance company will try to say that once its repaired there is no diminished value but dont give in and you will prevail,just get the appraisel and they should give you a nice report of the before and after values and the reasons why so you have something to give to the insurance,after that they should play ball.two cents from someone whos done it

[tmac1granger33]

my camaro was rear ended last weekend... do i just call the insurance company and tell them i want a diminished value check? is there a process or will they make me an "offer" right away?

[DroptopZ]

Here's the deal: Most of the time, your own insurance company won't cover for dim value unless it's under Uninsured Motorist... at least in the states I handle claims for. You typically cannot receive diminution in value in situations where you are the negligent driver, either... so in other words, you crash your car and ask for it, no luck.

You typically have to pursue against a negligent third-party who caused the damage to you. As others have stated, depends from state to state whether there is case law (for example, there is none in Hawaii and most companies won't pay it). Check case law or statute in your state. Most have something in place where you can recover if another person causes the damage to your car and the repairs are significant enough to warrant a diminution in value.

One thing that can help is getting a quote for your car (no accident) and then asking a dealer for a buy-bid knowing what the damage was to the car. The difference is (roughly) your dim value. Again, this will vary state to state and it helps to get multiple 'buy-bids.'

[dutchnrican]

Originally Posted by tmac1granger33

my camaro was rear ended last weekend... do i just call the insurance company and tell them i want a diminished value check? is there a process or will they make me an "offer" right away?

you have to get it repaired first. the diminished value claim is separate from the claim from the accident. after the car is repaired then they will send someone out to look at the car if you want to pursue diminished value. and the person they send out will determine whether or not there is any diminished value. my advice... go around to a few different dealers and get the proof for yourself. tell them what's going on and the kind of information you are trying to get. have them tell you how much they would have given you for your car as a trade-in with the amount of miles it had on it right before the accident, and how much they would of given you right after the repairs were made (knowing that it had been involved in some type of accident, police report was made, possible accident report now lingering on carfax, repairs had to be done, etc). if it wasn't that big of a deal and just a few dents and scratches there will probably be no diminished value. but yeah, go get any proof you can yourself. don't trust the insurance companies "unbiased" person they send out.

i'm actually going through this myself right now. right after I picked up my new 2012 Camaro and drove it off the lot... the person behind me got rear ended and pushed into me. didn't even make it home for the first time. the damage wasn't that bad. small dents, paint chips, scratches. repair estimate was just over $700. got it fixed at the original dealer and it looks perfect. the damage was probably nothing anyone other than me and a trained eye would notice. but I definitely did. my brand new baby had less than 60 miles on it! i'm concerned that there is an accident report (carfax report) in my car's history now, but the body shop manager told me it wouldn't have one. he said the damage had to be over $799 for there to be one.

But yeah, the insurance company of the person who caused the accident said i can definitely file a diminished value claim, especially since the car was so new. Just the fact that it now has an accident report in it's history would diminish the value (i dont know if there is one for my car though, what happened to it was very minor. basically a door ding but on the bumper and ground effects. body shop manager said it didnt even qualify as a light collision) my car's been fixed so now tomorrow i'm going around to a bunch of different dealers to get quotes on trade-in value before and after the accident and repairs. if there is no diminished value then so be it. I just wanna make sure I cover everything and if i'm owed something then I want it.

[dutchnrican]

listen to DroptopZ, they are very helpful

[mrchen]

dminished value is legal here in Georgia (when you have been hit by others). You must understand, no matter how small the damage was to your car when you go to sell or trade and that carfax report comes out and says your cars been hit, you will get hit too, in the wallet...........

there are companies that specialize in doing DV appraisals, they are usually expensive $400-500 bucks but if you are hit hard, its worth it, you need a good estimate and dicumentation to get your money from the crooks, er, I mean insurance companys

I was hoping there had been a few claims, my hit was small, but yes, the car has suffered a loss in value (I have traded and sold cars with recorded accident before and took the loss, sure a non hit car is better!)

Firestone makes us all feel better, he got paid and he darn well should have.......2 weeks old geesh (mine is 3 months)

[Guyute]

Originally Posted by 1BADLS3

I've worked for a few different insurance company. Diminished Value claims and the surrounding laws and rules vary from state to state. In some states, you are unable to claim DV.

We used to deny DV claims if the car was not being sold, and IMO, rightfully so, especially in small accidents. When you buy a used car, the assumption is that it's 'used' - that it may or may not have been in minor collisions and the price gets adjusted accordingly if the seller discloses that information (as he/she should...)

But, we did pay out on a number of DV claims where the claimant went to sell their car which had been repaired after heavy damage and they subsequently received less money in return for the car. It wasn't a LOT of money, that's for sure, and the people who thought they needed a lawyer to navigate those waters were surely surprised when the lawyer took almost all that money in fees for him/herself.

DV claims only apply to claimants, i.e, if you are claiming under someone else's insurance, and they have valid liability insurance with sufficient limits.

This is not the same as 'gap' coverage which covers specified differences between the market value of the vehicle and the outstanding value of a loan/lien in the event of total loss.

The insurance company I work for still denies dim claims if the vehicle is not being sold and I also happen to agree with that. If you sell the car after the accident, yes you will take a dim value hit and can rightfully claim that amount, however like I said before if you don't sell the car and keep it for 6 more years and put 100k more miles on it then the dim value is almost nothing.

This is why we don't pay it out if the person is not selling it after repairs and a lawyer won't help. We will just send the denial to the atty. In FL at least an lawyer isn't going to file suit over this if the person did not sell the car. They might call us and say they will, but they won't. I've been a claims supervisor for about 6 years now and I have yet to see a lawyer actually file suit when we deny dim value on a car that was not sold.

[dutchnrican]

Originally Posted by mrchen

dminished value is legal here in Georgia (when you have been hit by others). You must understand, no matter how small the damage was to your car when you go to sell or trade and that carfax report comes out and says your cars been hit, you will get hit too, in the wallet...........

there are companies that specialize in doing DV appraisals, they are usually expensive $400-500 bucks but if you are hit hard, its worth it, you need a good estimate and dicumentation to get your money from the crooks, er, I mean insurance companys

I was hoping there had been a few claims, my hit was small, but yes, the car has suffered a loss in value (I have traded and sold cars with recorded accident before and took the loss, sure a non hit car is better!)

Firestone makes us all feel better, he got paid and he darn well should have.......2 weeks old geesh (mine is 3 months)

I was told that the damage has to be over $799 for there to be any kind of accident report or record in the car's history. anything below that and there is nothing/the car has a clean record. I was told anything below that amount it doesn't even qualify as a light collision. I was told this by a body shop. anybody know if this is true or know the rules for what constitutes an accident report being reported on the car (amount of damage)?