Advice on Diminished Value Ins. Claim
 

I have been reading old threads, and a few people have mentioned asking for diminished value compensation after an accident.
To make a long story short, I was in an accident with an unlicensed driver - and now it turns out that his fraudulent insurance documents were not really - his compnay has agreed to cover this accident (there is a long story to this) In any case, the car has 500 miles on it, and it's been in the shop for 6 weeks, and I haven't seen the repairs yet - but there is some structural repair (something about a cross bar ?) and the front side panel, and the wheel and the front bumper I think, is being replaced, and the body shop manager is now telling me that it will "hardly" be noticeable that it was in an accident. When questioned he said, no matter how good it looks, it will always be apparent it was in an accident.
So, how do I go about claiming "diminished value" - how do I come up with an amount to ask for - and has anybody done this, and can give pointers, I would GREATLY appreciate it.
thanks

With 500 miles I would try and get the difference on a trade from the dealer on a new one. I am sure he would provide a price. You would have to go to court or at least sue. They might settle.

I too was recently in an accident (rear-ended by an SUV) and my car is in the shop. So far, when I have questioned the insurance company about payment for diminished value, they say there is no such thing. I am still pursuing it, but I don't have big hopes.

mm

Positron -
go here and read. It may raise your hopes a bit and give you some ammunition with the insurance co. Note they say that a case hase NEVER gone against the insured suing an insurance company for diminished value, and that most will just settle.
http://wreckcheckcarscan.gemspot.com...shedvalue.html

Sorry, consistent with what Affenage said, AllState just won a large class-action verdict in Illinois...

Allstate Wins Class-action Value Lawsuit
The Pantagraph Bloomington, IL - May 12, 2004


Motor Trend
After a three-week trial, a St. Clair County Circuit Court jury returned a complete defense verdict April 29 for Allstate Insurance Co. in a 30-state class-action involving diminished value claims in auto insurance.

According to the Insurance Journal, the plaintiffs in the case had charged Allstate should have paid for the "diminished value" of automobiles involved in accidents. They alleged that the insurer should be responsible for paying the amount a vehicle loses in value after full repairs have been made. The plaintiffs, who were represented by both local and national class-action law firms, sought nearly $400 million in damages.

"We are delighted that the jury agreed with our evidence that Allstate complied with all of its obligations under the policy," said Margo Weinstein, counsel for Allstate and a partner in the Chicago office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP. "We are not aware of any other multistate class-action jury trial in which a corporate defendant prevailed."

The Insurance Journal reported the law firm's announcement also noted that "the case was unusual in that it was one of the few multistate class- actions that has ever gone to trial. It covered some 387,000 Allstate policyholders from 29 states and the District of Columbia."

Affenage - thx for the link. very interesting. i will talk with my insurance company. my problem is that i was rear-ended by a car that says it was rear-ended by a car that NOW says IT was rear-ended, but that 4th car didn't stop. So the 3 insurance companies are arguing about who has to pay or whether they will all just declare no-fault hit and run. and i guess i have to wait for the repair to be done (so far the estimate is about $6k)

(sorry for hi-jacking this thread - back to diminished value!)

i am not sure how one would/could go about determining diminished value unless you try to trade the car in after its repaired. i will ask my insurance ajuster and let you know what he says....

mm

When I get it back - I am actually worried that I will want to trade it in and get a new one. I am just still in a state of shock that I waited so long (I was in love with the RX7s all my life) and worked so hard to finally have this and a witihn 10 days it turned into a nightmare. I hope I can feel the same about it and never look back. But I will be damned to spend the next five to ten years driving my "dream car" if all it does is upset me that it was in this accident. In that case, I will be willing to shell out the extra money to replace it with a real new one - and so I think I would deserve compensation for this loss on a trade in.

thanks about the Illinois link
A class action case (which is much bigger than what I want!!) has recently won in PA (my state).

I'll have to find the PA case, my understanding is a complete repair is a complete repair, and the insurance co is not on the line for potential damages just because some people may perceive a wrecked car as less valueable (I'm actually one of those people). If the PA case is different, that's good news because you really should be made whole if hit by someone.

Frankly, the RX-8 isn't a collector's car like a Ferrari and as such whether there actually is diminished value after an accident is likely in some dispute.

Yeah, you can make the argument "If I sold my car today, would it be worth less if it were in an accident?" but at the same time five years down the road it's not going to matter to any potential buyers as long as it was repaired properly...

I think this varies a lot from state to state. I did a Google search for diminished value and got a lot of hits, many of which were about how this is handled in a specific state.

Best place to start -- without a doubt -- it to read your policy...

I WORK FOR A MOJOT INS COMPANY IN AZ. MOST INSURANCE COMPANIES WILL NOT EVEN CONSIDER DIM VALUE ON A FIST PARTY LOSS. ( YOUR VEH AND YOUR INS COMPANY) MOST WILL CONSIDER THIRS PARTY DIM VALUE. THE PROBLEM COMES IN WHEN YOU CONSIDER THE PROCESS AND RESPONIBILITY OF INS IS TO INDEMNIFY ( PUT U BACK TO PRE LOSS CONDITION.) IF YOU HAVE BEEN HIT BY ANOTHER PERSON AND IT IS THERE FAULT THE INS WILL PAY TO REPAIR VEH. EVEN IF THE REPAIRS ARE PERFECT JUST THE FACT THAT AN INSURANCE ESTIMATE WAS WRITTEN AND DISCLOSURE LAWS A DEPRECIATION OF VALUE WILL BE A FACT. LETS SAY YOU HAD 2 VEH SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER, IDENTICAL IN EVERY WAY BUT YOU NEW ONE HAD BEEN INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT. WHICH ONE WOULD YOU BUY? THE ONE THAT HAD NOT BEEN IN A ACCIDENT. DO DOUBT DIM VALUE IS THER BUT HOW MUCH. THIS IS WHERE THE PROBLEM LIES. BACK TO INDEMNITY AND INCURRED LOSS IN SOME CASES YOU BUT INCURE A LOSS TO BE INDEMNIFIED. IF YOU SELL THE VEH 2 MONTHS AFTER ACCIDENT AND VEH IS ANLY 1 YEAR ONLD A SIGNIFICANT DIM VALUE WILL BE PRESENT. IF HOWEVER YOU WAIT 7 YEAR TO SELL VEH AND REPAIR ARE PERFECT THERE MAY BE NO DIM VALUE. MOST TIME YOU CAN NEG WITH INS COMPANY ON 3 PARTY BU MOST STATES DO NOT ALLOW 1ST PARTY DIM VALUE BECAUSE THE INSURANCE CONTRACT IN TO REPAIR VEH. FEEL FREE TO PM OR EMAIL ME ON ANY INS RELATED TOPIC. I AM A CLAIMS MANAGER FOR A MOJOR INS COMPANY. GOOD LUCK