SpecialFX

Hi, all. I did a search and read a bunch of posts on the subject but have not gotten a clear view of it. Basically I was just looking for a quick answer to a question:

My car was hit last wek. Not huge, but probably $5000 (I should know today). A guy made a U-turn right into the left front corner of my TL. The other driver was 100% at fault, and I was told by the adjuster on his side that they will pick up 100% liability. I'm not going through my insurance. My question is do I also have to ask about payment for diminished value of the vehicle? How much would this be worth?I'm in New York if that matters.

Thanks for the help.

Oh, and I know everyone loves pictures. I have some I just have to get them ready to put up here. Nothing major - the front bumpber, fender headlight, wheel are all damaged.

fast-tl

I think you got the answer out of the other thread(s). For the most part, diminished value is not paid, because it's hard to calculate, or prove. Your best bet is to get teh car fixed and move along.

consultauto

If you go to trade the vehicle in or resale it, who ever sees that the car has had previous paint/body work will likely offer average or rough condition book value, also if the damages are substantial and costly they may show up on a carfax report.

SpecialFX

Yeah, I realize it's very nebulous and hard to calculate. But the fact that a car with an accident repair will have non-factory paintwork and - from what I read - will not qualify to be a certified pre-owned vehicle will cost you at trade-in. There should be some compensation for that. To be honest, I had never heard of it until I read it here.

I figure It would be nice to get something out of this other than a headache. New wheels might be nice.

Anyone have any first-hand experience with this?

What is the threshold for damages to show up on Carfax? It's really not bad but I'm sure it will approach $5k. I though almost any activity would show up on Carfax.

fast-tl

Here's some homework:
http://www.collisionclaims.com/testamonials.html
http://www.collisionconsulting.com/collectingdv.html
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/ins...20031201a1.asp
http://info.insure.com/auto/collisio...shedvalue2.htm
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...Insurance.aspx
http://www.gulfcoastnews.com/GCNAuto...ishedValue.htm

There are mixed results in there. I understand and agree with the concept, but I can see that it's hard to put a number to.

TLS-Fiend

My experience with "collision" and trade-in:

Two weeks ago I considered trading my currently leased 2004 Acura TL for another Acura product. When asked if my car had any body work in the past I told the saleman someone rolled into my rear bumper at a stop sign from about 6 inches (the guy just let off his brake and rolled into me). It cost me $360 worth of bumper work and paint work (guy had no insurance of course). There were a few scratches that needed repair on the bumper and of course the paintwork involved. I did not bother to claim it on my insurance due to the small cost of repairs. However, the sales discussion quickly turned sour in that my car was not worth much since it had been in a collision. Before this experience I pictured the word "collision" as mangled metal and having more numbers after the dollar sign than $360.... The salesman re-wrote the word "collision" in my dictionary!

KatyTL

You of course can get the diminished value with NO problem. How muc you get may be what you don't like but go to the dealership and ask them how much it would affect if you were to trade it in right now for something new. Also once the car is fixed the insurance company will come out and look at it and all decide what they think. You need to wait till the car is totally fixed then call the insurance about it - but you should not have ANY problems getting some money for the diminshed value. I'm going thru a claim right now to get dinimshed value and I'm having no problems with it.

fast-tl

So the links I posted are all ? Who's your insurer, and what steps did you take to get your compensation? How is it calculated?

Give us some detail. If the diminished value payment is $1800, and you trade the car an get more than $1800 deducted from the value, do you go back to the ins co adn say they sitffed you? Now, you've piqued my curiosity.

KatyTL

Okay well you asked for details so here we go (sorry so long)...

I was in a wreck on June 10th. It was her fault and her insurance company covered it all. Once I got my car back I was talking to the owner of the dealership and he told me if it was the other person's fault then their insurance company MUST pay the diminished value. When you call THEIR insurance company you MUST know what your talking about or they will tell you we don't do that (so I have been told). So the dealer gave me the line to say and there was no problem. I called her insurance company (State Farm) and asked for my claim representative and said "Hey Ron it's Brooke I want to open a diminish value claim". He said ok no problem someone with State Farm will call you and make a time to come out and review the repair of your car and go over it. About a week later that happened and we were on the road to the claim. Now how much you get is the tricky part. If there is a great deal of damage and you and/or your dealership thinks it will loose a great deal of value then you can go with have an appraiser come out and tell you for sure how much value has been lost - HOWEVER that will cost YOU a lot of money to have someone like that come out. So in order to not fool with that (and my wreck was minor) I went to the dealership and played it off that I was looking into trading my '05 in for an '06 maybe or maybe wait till '07. I told them I was "playing / thinking" (not that I was playing about trading it in that it was an idea I was throwing around in my head) around with the trade in idea but how much they thought the wreck would lower the value of my car. They told me. I called up my claim rep. and told him. Wam - we will get a check in the mail today.
DON'T LET THEM FOOL YOU. If it was not your fault then the other person's insurance company it LIABLE for paying you the diminished value of your car! If you don't know what your asking for and you ask questions about it they will do all in their power to tell you no - ASK FOR THEIR SUPURVISER. According to my Acura dealership AND State Farm legally they MUST.
****This is not a proven fact what I have included in here. Only the facts heard from an Acura Dealership and State Farm. This is all based off of my recent experience. I am in no way associated with an insurance company again this is based on what I have been told from them.

KatyTL

P.S. Fast-tl I'm not saying your post are "BS" I have never seen them as I stated above this is from my what I have learn from my recent wreck. I hope it can help.

fast-tl

It certainly *sounds* helpful! Thanks a bunch for sharing. I'll certainly keep that in mind. I wonder if it'll work for my own vehicle when I'm at fault. All wrecked vehicles have diminished value.

mrdeeno

This is not correct.

Some state laws allow for diminished value, others do not.

lito

correct. Here's the list of states that exclude diminished value claims

http://info.insure.com/auto/collisio...shedvalue.html

KatyTL

Okay I stand corrected As I had said in my post this is what I know from dealing with it just here - I do not work in that field - so I'm sorry if I couldn't help but if your in Texas that's how it should go. Sorry Move to Texas where everything is bigger and better

Love
Brooke

SpecialFX

Thanks to evedryone for the input. Seems to be a rather contentious issue. Bottom line is this: I heard from the other parties' insurance co. They are taking 100% liability. Total damage is about $4500 including the clearbra, which cost over $600. They also allowed for a new wheel and tire, which were damaged. Total body work was about $3400. Not too major. I asked about diminished value and was told, flat out, "NO". Not a big deal since I never expected it before. I don't think I'll persue it any furhte. I just want my car fixed.

Thanks for the debate/info.

scottieturnbull

I had a similar experience. My gf back my car into a pole, so my insurance paid 1600 for the damage to replace the rear bumper and taillight.

However, without even asking, i got a check in the mail for $700 for diminished value. This was through progressive. I called up and asked how it was calculated, and this is what my adjuster told me: NADA value of the car * Mileage factor * Collision rating= $$$ paid to me

I had a high mileage factor as my car is faily new, but a low collision rating because it was such a small ding.

This was all news to me, and i just took the $ as I didnt think it made much sense to argue when they were paying me ~ 50% of the damage as a loss in FV. Plus, my deductible was only $250, so i actually came out ahead in terms of cash in hand.

CobraGuy

Here's the problem. When you go to sell or trade that car, if the accident shows up anywhere (like carfax) you are going to have a difficult time selling it. Especially with a car as popular as this one. There's just too many others out there to choose from. I run a carfax on every car I look at. If it's got something negative on the report, I move on. I would not take the chance of dealing with residual problems...or having to sell it again at a later date with an accident in it's history.

You have a couple of choices. You can go to a couple of dealers and trade it in for another car. They can give you a price "as is" (wrecked) and you will turn over the insurance check. You can get another price if you trade it completely repaired, and a third price if it had never been damaged. Take these to the insurance company. If they turn you down, you can go to arbitration. Your other option is to document your loss with the above quotes and go after the other driver in civil court. This would require an attorney...however you can probably add his costs into the settlement. But you need to be careful of what you sign with the insurance company. There is probably something in there stating you agree not to sue.

There is no way I would stand still for the loss of value that will result from an accident...especially one that wasn't my fault.

KatyTL

I think you wreck must be over an amount for it to go on carfax. They said it would not go on mine for my wreck?? Is there a way to find out without paying?

compneg

Coming from a person who has worked in the insurance indistry for several years, you cannot present a claim for diminished value unless the repairs to your vehicle are substandard and leave you in a position worse than before the accident. If you fo through the other person's carrier and they refer you to a shop that does below par repairs, then you have a claim. However, you would need an expert (typically a service technician at the Acura dealer) to testify that the vehicle was repaired below factory specifications.

The best way to proove a diminished calue claim is the very rare cases where an accident occurs after a person agrees to sell or trade in their vehicle for a certain amount, is involved in the accident, and then has to take less for their vehicle.

It is a very dificult claim to proove, especially if your vehilce sustained only $5k in damage.

compneg

carfax only gets information on total losses. An insurance company must deem a car a total. Estimate amounts have nothing to do with CarFax. If that were the case, then vey expensive and high end cars would get logged by carfax every time they were keyed.

MR1

As you have seen, it varies by state, no in your state and mine. Suggestion to kick around; go through your insurance company. They are your paid advocate and have your interest more at heart than the other guys. Let his insurance pay yours and yours pay you. This way your repairs can be guranteed by someone that you have a longer term relationship with. Yes I have been through this a few years ago.

My wife was broadsided in her 02 MDX, almost $10,000 damage but she was not hurt. I took it through our insurance company they collected from the other guy, we were not charged with the accident. I let one of the preferred providers do the work and they did a good job over the course of a year. It was in 3-5 times to adjust nd repair various small items not caught initially. After nearly a year I was not happy with the steering action and took the car to the dealer for inspection. It took about 5 minutes for them to discover that the car had ben wreaked! Original factory parts have bar codes, replcement parts purchased from the dealer do not. Anyway, my insurance company sent me to a frame shop for further adjustment and replace a possibly bent tie rod I think (no charge to me).

We decided to keep the car as originally planned. I'll see what happens at disposition time but I'm not worried as the car looks very good, runs well and I can take it in for adjustments forever. Bottom line the longer you can keep it the better. Do look into going through your insurance company to get someone to blame down the road, best wishes.

BTW - I also insisted on and received a similar rental vechicle (SUV) for the month mine was in the shop. My paid coverage was ony like $15/day.

KatyTL

As for my diminished value claim it was NO where near as detailed as compnaeg is talking about. They told me to come up with the price I want and tell him. He said if it is reasonable for the value loss and some extra for my time he would fine with that. Very easy to work with and very willing to help with my claim. Guess I'm in a good state dealing with an easy insurance company - or I'm just a pain in the ass and he wants me to go away.

CobraGuy

The problem is when you go to trade it in you will have to tell them it's been wrecked. That alone will significantly diminish the value.

MR1

The problem is that facts are facts. I'll have to deal with that then rather than now. Nothing else to do. The vechicle will be in very good condition and have low miles. The accident can't be undone, the car can be inspected and I could not receive diminished value compensation; what would you do?

There are very few options after the car has been hit other than to get it repaired very well and bend over at some point.