Diminished Value on a '14 Taco

I have submitted a claim for diminished value on my 2014 TRD Sport. I was rear ended in June, truck had about 17k on it at that time. Did about $1,650 worth of damage to my truck.

All repairs have been made. Curious what I should expect to see out of this diminished value claim.

Let me know if you have had any experience with this.

 

Heard it is a pain in the ass. We are talking $1,650 is damage, why even bother?

 

Because if/when he goes to sell his truck, it won't be worth as much as a similar truck that didn't have an accident. $1,650 in damage could result in much more loss in resale.

OP, I'm not sure what you should expect. I would try and find the two newest, most comparable trucks for sale, one with an accident history, one without and go for the difference.

 

Similar situation with my 2009 in 2010, in GA rearended with only about $1200 damage. Two people with state farm hit me. One was first then another SF idiot hit them and they hit me again. Truck held up awesome and the other vehicles were towed off.

Anyways, state farm offered me $87 yes $87... I went to an appraiser and he said my DV should be between 1k and 1500. Himmed and hawed with state farm for about a month. Got em up to $250 if memory serves. It was all about principle now and I was pretty mad. Hired a lawyer, yea I know its nuts hiring a lawyer for 1k but SF wasn't going to get one over on this guy. We filed and was one week before court and they settled for $3k covered my lawyers fees, filing and all that. Lawyers take 40-50% when you go to court so I netted about $1500.

When I was handling SF myself I told them 1k and I would go away. All and all I felt good. It cost SF alot more than just 3k since they had to hire council and all on their side.

Short story is, don't give up. Get a formal DV estimate and present, you don't get good results lawyer up. Plenty of folks sign that first check, and if you read the fine print if you cash they are no longer liable for damages or DV.

It probably took 6mos to a year to go thru. But I was pretty upset and it was about principle at that point.

 

I just settled my DV claim last week from when I was rear-ended in my 2009. Had over $10K in damage (IIRC, I believe it was $12k), and we settled for $2k. It actually was extremely easy. I had done my research, so when the company MetLife contracts out to contacted me, I was ready. They actually asked me what I thought was appropriate, and after about 2 minutes of negotiation, we settled. I was amazed how easy the process was, and I'm very happy with my amount. Especially considering I have someone who wants to buy it for a great price even knowing about the wreck.

$1600 in damage, what all did that entail...a new bumper, and that's it? Honestly, I probably wouldn't even claim it, but of course you are allowed to. I would not expect much given the cost of your repair, however. Did the accident even get reported to CarFax?

 

In 2006 I bought a new Prerunner. Two months later some DB slowly rearends me putting a small dent in my bumper. $500 value and SF paid me fast...

unbeknownst to me, I then had a carfax on my truck...for a bumper ding...and when I went to sell my pickup this past July I was treated as a leper...

Carfax may be good in most cases but in mine, if f'ed me over. It did not distinguish between a $9000 accident and a $500 bumper. Carfax in this case sucks...

In the future, I would spend the time going for DV...even on a $500 bumper.

 

Right. If it got reported to CarFax, I'd probably go after it. If not, then I wouldn't. And insurance companies DO NOT report, only body shops, etc. CarFax is a joke. For instance, in my case, that significant wreck did not get reported to CarFax. If I weren't honest, I could act like the whole thing never happened.

 

Interesting...
I didn't take my 06 to a shop...just collected a $500 check from SF. I wonder who reported to CF...and Yes, Carfax can choke a bag of donkey scrotums...

 

That is weird, because SF is my insurance, and I had about 6 people verify for me that SF does not report to CarFax.

 

IMO Carfax is a joke. I would never reply on it alone.

My trucks totally FUBAR, been in multiple accidents, and my carfax is 100% clean.

Whenever you get into an accident take before/after pictures and save the receipts from the shop that fixes it. Any real buyer besides the dealer will take into consideration the extend of the damages and not treat you like a lepper.

 

A friend of mine found a used high end car for sale - just what he wanted and at a really great price. The Car looked and drove great. Title and papers looked OK. Car Fax was checked and clean.

After they passed papers and Money the registry tells him it's stolen and the Police take the car. Seller was long gone.

This car was stolen 3+ months before and it never made it to car Fax. Car Fax said nothing they could do (even when he paid for the car fax) and have a nice life. He was out over $5K. A hard lesson to learn ....

As we know, a too good of a deal is probably not a deal at all. It's a shame that they take the money, Imply that your A$$ is covered, and lead the consumer to believe that the information is top shelf. And on the other end of things, as mentioned above, a small accident that may not be your fault get added to Car Fax and the owner gets screwed for a damaged vehicle in an accident that is not his fault and gets part of the value lost due to a less than reliable company.

Go Figure. That's why my last few vehicles are bought new and run until it's cheaper to rebuy new than add more and more money to an old vehicle. At the point I trade them in the car value is low enough that the Car Fax is moot and you have the pressure of a new vehicle purchase to drive the trade in value up.

 

The DMV also reports it to carfax/autocheck (the cars record). The insurance company will sometimes report damage to the DMV who will then in return report it to Carfox or however that stuff is looked up if you don't.

By law (in california at least), Any damage totaling $500 or more has to be reported to the DMV by the insurance company or the owners of the vehicles or face penalties and possible license suspension if failure to do so. I had a mishap with my BMW and a Ford Exploder, Insurance never cut me a check because they ruled it 50/50 fault without even looking at the car or getting an estimate of any sort... Had a family friend do the body work 2 years later ($3000) but I told the DMV there was about $1200 in damage a few days after the accident because law... a year after repairing it, I tried to trade it in for an X-Runner and the trade in value went from $3500 to a very reluctant $1000 when they ran the carfox and it showed an accident in 2009.

I ended up selling it private party for $2000.

 

I just know that if the dealer was selling that vehicle on HIS lot the asking price would be $3500 +. If a buyer does not check the car fax I'm sure they will not offer it. If the customers does check - the dealer would say something like "It was only $1200 damage and it was xx years ago. I'll take off $500 if you buy it now . And just wait until it eventually sells ...

 

With that little damage you may get nothing.

 

Unfortunately if you go to trade it in, the dealer will deduct the repair as reported on carfax. So you end up paying for it out of pocket anyway you look at it. Unless you sell it privately. Happened to my wife. Hit a deer and did $3500 worth of damage. Got it fixed and when she went to trade it in the stealer wanted to deduct the $3500 from the trade in value.

 

Question? So you get in an accident and have, say, $3K in repairs. The vehicle is fixed/repaired and the money ($3K) is paid for the repair. I understand that knowing the car had an accident will add to DV. But the vehicle is now fixed. Providing it is properly repaired and the repairs are not a MAJOR reconstruction to the vehicle, I believe a reduction In value is OK - but why the Whole price of the total repair?? After all it's been fixed. ??? I could see a DV of $500 to $1K ??? but why $3K??

 

In it's truest form, DV is simply an estimate of the value you lost by incurring the wreck, regardless of severity. Obviously there are negotiations and formulas that insurance companies will try to use, but it really depends on how the market would react to purchasing your car with the accident in its history versus one with a completely clean history. You're right, it almost never works out to the amount of the wreck, and it shouldn't. If a vehicle is repaired properly and professionally, with quality parts, it's loss in value should be relatively moderate. But unfortunately, no one really KNOWS what the loss in value is until you go to sell the car. The best thing you can do is research to try and reach a reasonable amount. They also have companies that specialize in DV appraisals.

As stated before, I got DV of $2k for a roughly $12k accident. My truck was repaired with 100% new, factory Toyota parts (which I had to fight for) by a highly reputable shop, and looks 99% factory (my OCD eye can see small things, but honestly, very few if any buyers would notice if I didn't point them out). I actually have a standing offer to purchase my truck for clean market value if I want to take it, which would indicate that my DV payout from insurance was very fair and reasonable, as it doesn't appear I lost more than $2k in value.

 

I agree with all you said.

I just think the consumer is being used by the system (both buyer and seller) for either the insurance companies, buyer, or sellers loss/profit. I think it's good for the consumer to know if the vehicle was badly damaged - but it needs to be consistent and fair to all parties.

I'm surprised that the insurance Co and leading institution do not look up car fax BEFORE they insure/lend for a used vehicle and use that (i.e. $3K ) to limit the loss value of the vehicle. Maybe this is just the next step ??

 

It definitely is not weighted in the consumer's favor, I agree. There is a "dirty word" in DV claims that is called the "17(c) Formula". It's an absolute joke and many insurers use it as a means to limit or even eliminate your DV claim, despite the fact it has never been officially approved by a court system (outside of 1 case), and has in fact been shot down many times. Luckily, I didn't have to deal with that. It does need to be fair to all parties, but oftentimes, the person who had to deal with the wreck got screwed.

For example: Say you're comparing 2 trucks. Truck A is in excellent condition, with lots of service receipts, and has obviously been meticulously cared for. The owner is up front and says it was rear-ended, but replaced with factory parts, which he can provide receipts for. The frame is completely straight, and he has documentation to prove that. But it's been in a wreck. Truck B has a clean CarFax and no indication of a wreck, but no service receipts, in good but not great condition, and is your "typical" used car. Unfortunatley, most people would still pick Truck B, or try and really knock down the price on Truck A, despite the fact that it's in much better condition overall. That's the crappy part about dealing with a wreck and a DV claim. Obviously it strikes a nerve with me because my truck is Truck A, and I know it's entire history and how well it's been cared for, but could potentially have a tougher time selling it due to a circumstance totally out of my control and was fixed completely and properly.

My guess is that insurance companies don't do what you mention because they understand CarFax is a joke. Also, if they insure for a lower value, they are essentially admitting that DV has occured, which goes against everything they fight for. Most, if not all, insurance companies will try and tell you that if a vehicle is properly repaired, there is no DV, which we all know in reality is not true. But if they all of a sudden start insuring for amounts less than full retail, they are giving up their position that a wrecked, but repaired, car is worth the same as a clean one (if that makes sense).

Forgive my long-winded response. I've been dealing with this accident for a few months, and it still pisses me off, haha.