USAA issues with diminished value claim

[fradaj]

Originally Posted by JTruckenbrod

You will never be back to where you were before the accident, whether it be monetary, asset worth or aesthetics. Get as much as you logically can and move on, unfortunately accidents happen.

Best of luck.

This is your best advice.

[Realist]

Bring the car back to the body shop, seems they have some panel alignment to do.

[Tampa Tuning]

Originally Posted by Rctreece

I love USAA. I just got hit in rear by a USAA member and USAA paid for all of the repair. No depreciation

Ask them for it and they will cut you a check!

[Rctreece]

Originally Posted by Tampa Tuning

Ask them for it and they will cut you a check!

Ok now I understand. Never heard of that. I always thought you were just SOL

[wadeh]

I have some experience with a diminished value claim. This varies from state to state, but this is how it worked for me.

A few years ago, I was stopped in traffic in my Corvette. I was rear ended hard and pushed into the car in front of me. The damage was significantly more than in the case here in this thread.

After the accident, I would have been happy to have to other guy's insurance just pay to fix my car, but they decided to play hard ball. The estimate to my car was about a third the value, but they wanted to total it. I would have gone along with this, but they wanted to lowball everything, dealt in bad faith and dragged the issue out as long as they could. It got so bad at one point that they tried to steal the car by tricking me into signing a power of attorney (I am not making this up).

When I got tired of dealing with them, I went to my own insurance company.* They took a look at the car and immediately agreed to pay for repairs. (The subrogated the issue with the other insurance company, who actually disputed the claim. My insurance company took them to arbitration and essentially beat them senseless in the proceedings.)

So where does diminished value come in? Well, you find this out when you go to trade in or sell the car. At that time, when the prospective buyer checks the vehicle history, they find the details of the major repair. This has a very real effect on the value of the car, and it is a very real financial loss. IANAL, but the legal status of this varies from state to state. In my state, I can recover this loss from the at fault party.

I had the post-repair value of my car assessed by a professional. I did some investigation and used one of the same appraisers that the other guy's insurance uses in their cases. The appraiser determined that the diminished value of my vehicle was just under $10K (the car was pretty new and the damage was significant - about 70 days in the shop for a top notch repair).

My own insurance policy does not cover diminished value to my own vehicle, so they suggested that I submit the claim to the at fault party's insurance company. I did this, and they promptly denied the claim. I then found an attorney to take the case. To try and shorten this long story, it took an additional two years, but I finally did recover the diminished value in full. The other guy's insurance company knew that this was going to happen, but they took a strategy of dragging their feet as long as possible on all things (which is why they didn't just fix the car in the first place, which would have avoid them a whole lot of extra cost).

I am not an appraiser, but I suspect that the reason that the OP is only seeing $900 for the diminished value claim is that the damage is just not that bad. It won't likely have a huge affect on the ability to sell the car. In my case, the damage was much worse.

-Wade

*I just wanted to mention one thing about the topic of whether to involve your own insurance company when somebody else is obviously at fault. IANAL, but I believe that the there is no single right answer the this. The laws very from state to state and perhaps policy to policy. In my case, I have been rear ended a couple of times and I submit the claim to the other insurance company first. Generally it's no-muss-no-fuss and they take care of it. The Corvette case was the first time that I have seen truly despicable behavior by an insurance company over an open-and-shut rear end accident.

[wadeh]

Oh, and I did want to make one more comment for the OP.

I learned a lot about various insurance companies and how they behave, at least in my state. One of the few things that everyone agreed on is that USAA is one of the best companies to deal with.

I do not qualify for USAA because I have no military service, nor does anyone in my family. If I was able to use USAA, I would think long and hard about switching away from them.

[HerRide]

Ok so this exact thing happened with my new '13 Altima, and also had my Odyssey wrecked by some teen a few months earlier.

In GA, at least, there is a difference in what you can do depending on who is at fault. If I recall correctly, if it's the other person's fault, you have to accept what they offer. (not sure, definitely check the laws in your area!).

In the other instance, the wreck was my husband's fault (new Altima) and the insurance company offered us $600 DV for over $7K in damages. Ummm no. So he hired an independent appraiser for $150 and that person negotiated on our behalf with the insurance company. After only a week or so, they offered us $3,600.

So my advice to you is see if you can find an independent person who handles this stuff in your area and get their advice. Insurance companies are extremely shady and they won't even tell people about diminished value in this state. They are not required by law to offer it, but they are required by law to pay it if the customer requests it.

[HeavyIOM]

Originally Posted by LiquidDragon

The fact is that the accident wasn't my fault and now my car is worth less that it would have been had it not been in an accident and as tough as it is to sell a car today it will be even harder for me to sell this car now. i originally went out to buy a used camaro or challenger but was having a hard time finding one in my price range that didn't have an accident on it record so i opted to get the camaro that i have now but in the end i still ended up with something that i didn't want which was a car that has been in an accident. My wife knows how i am with things and i drive her crazy because i like things to be perfect so when i see something that is wrong it drives me crazy till i either get it perfect or i get rid of it. there are still things wrong with the car i.e. you can see the headlights shaking at night when i hit bumps, there is dirt in the clear coat, the painted stripes aren't perfect, the hood doesn't line up correctly oh and i had to pay extra on top to have the SS front end put on so that came out of my pocket. Most people that i have talked to didn't even know what diminished value was or that it even existed. BTW this was my first accident ever and it sucks so far.




http://www.autoloss.com/Services/Onl...l#.UrOcI_RDt8G

http://www.diminishedvaluevirginia.com/

http://www.scc.virginia.gov/boi/index.aspx

Originally Posted by LiquidDragon

So a week after i purchased my new 2013 1LT RS with only 416 miles on it someone pulled out in front of me and i wrecked my car and i am still dealing with issues with my car. So i just called USAA to find out what is going on with my diminished value claim and the lady that i spoke to said that they finished the claim today and they wanted to give me $900 for the diminished value of the vehicle. anyways i told her to stop payment on the claim and that i refuse that amount and that i will be getting legal assistance with the claim now. I am at the point where i just want them to buy the car back now. The dealership that did the repairs charged $5900 to do the repairs and there are still issues with the repairs as well.

the day i picked the car up


after the accident


and a few after it was fixed

Ok so let me get this straight. You wreck car, insurance pays to fix car, and then pays you 900 bucks for depreciation and your pissed about that?

If the repairs are not right that is the shops fault and not USAA's. All they did was send a check to the shop that fixed your car.

900 dollars for depreciation seems pretty fair for a brand new car with the amount of damage it received. They gave you more than I would,d expect them too I would think 5-600 bucks is all you would get.

So you upgraded to the SS bumper and are complaining because you had to pay out of pocket for it? All USAA is responsible for replacing the parts that were damaged with the same parts. If you want something else your going to have to pay for it, that's just how it works.

I have had State Farm, GICO, and progressive. None of them even come close to the kind of service that USAA can provide. I have never had 1 issue with at all. Iv mde claims and had the issue taken care of in just a few days with no problems from them. Their auto rates for me can't be beat! Not to mention the fantastic customer service, and the sense that they actually care about you, and genuanly want to help.

OP IMO you need to stop crying about the more than fair amount that they are giving you, and take your car back to the shop and unlesh hell on them until your car is perfect.

[Frank in MD]

Originally Posted by calebparkin3

If the repairs are not right that is the shops fault and not USAA's. All they did was send a check to the shop that fixed your car.

So you upgraded to the SS bumper and are complaining because you had to pay out of pocket for it? All USAA is responsible for replacing the parts that were damaged with the same parts. If you want something else your going to have to pay for it, that's just how it works.

take your car back to the shop until your car is perfect.

That pretty much sums up the way I feel about it as well. The shop that took the money and did the repair are the ones responsible for botched repairs. Go after the body shop. There is no reason for a body shop to not only get the car back to its original specs but to have it flawless. Personally, I don't understand why you accepted the car that way. I would have pointed out the issues that are clearly visible in these pictures. Based upon the reaction form the shop would be the determining factor on weather or not I allowed them to touch my car again. Sometimes employees can f up a job with the shops owner being none the wiser. If the shops management said after being notified of the poor work, "hey it's not going to be perfect", then it's time to go elsewhere and sue to recover your out of pocket.

You must give them the opportunity to make you whole, but you aren't required to allow them to work on your car again. I'd ask them to settle based upon two estimates. I would then take my car to a respected body shop, not the cheapest one. If they refuse to compensate you for $ you had to spend to properly fix your car, you can then file a small claims court case.

I can't speak for the diminished value claim. I've no personal experience with that so I couldn't say if it's fair or not. Having said that, it seems that most everyone agrees that what they offered you was very fair. No one said you were screwed by USAA.

I think you might have acted a bit too hasty in dropping your insurance company. If you had not already dropped them, they might even be able to assist in your effort to have the car repaired correctly. Believe me, your insurance company will not be happy with the repair shop if they took USAA's money and returned a car to their customer that wasn't repaired correctly.

I also agree with you being the one that should pay for upgrades. Accidents don't mean a bonanza for you, it means you are made whole.

[Blue-J]

I have had USAA for 37 years for home and auto. My folks have been on USAA from the early 50's for home and auto. We have always had great service.

[FB3]

Putting an SS front bumper and facia on a LT? Enough said.

[Mr_Draco]

Originally Posted by LiquidDragon

So a week after i purchased my new 2013 1LT RS with only 416 miles on it someone pulled out in front of me and i wrecked my car and i am still dealing with issues with my car. So i just called USAA to find out what is going on with my diminished value claim and the lady that i spoke to said that they finished the claim today and they wanted to give me $900 for the diminished value of the vehicle. anyways i told her to stop payment on the claim and that i refuse that amount and that i will be getting legal assistance with the claim now. I am at the point where i just want them to buy the car back now. The dealership that did the repairs charged $5900 to do the repairs and there are still issues with the repairs as well.

Imo, take it and be happy you got anything.

Most states now have laws stating that it is not the insurance companies responsibility to pay diminished value, it's the party at fault's and that if you want diminished value you have to sue that person. Also many courts all over the US have upheld the belief that you are only entitled to diminished value if and when you actually sale/trade the vehicle. After all the whole reason diminished value exists is to off set the amount you have gotten when you sell the car. So if you lawyer up and take them to court it may very well back fire and get the ruling that as long as you own the car they don't have to pay anything.

[AzItaliaSS]

Originally Posted by Rctreece

I love USAA. I just got hit in rear by a USAA member and USAA paid for all of the repair. No depreciation

What?
Meaning you were paid no depreciation? or meaning there is no depreciation?

Cause I would say ask that question again in five years when he goes to sell it or trade it in and the car fax shows "front end impact". then we will talk about depreciation, I been there done that on a vette and trust me it was a hell of alot more then 900 that I fought for and got!

On a side note, friend of mine had similar instance, just had it repaired,he recieved no extra compensation and 2 dealers saw car fax "front end impact" (from a neighbors tree lol) on his trade attempt and said we are 5k-8k less on trade value due to "front end impact" car fax because the extent of damage is not listed on report, even though it was just a tree clipping the front end. They didnt care.

So I get where your coming from on the depreciated value standpoint.

[christianchevell]

GO here get a free quote on the diminished value .........

http://diminishedvalue.com/