another ? on diminished value

Hello all . I have a 2022 SUV with 4000 miles on it. I was driving on a highway and there was a guy cutting his grass and shooting it out into the street . I have a dash cam and it proved with video and sound that a few rocks were thrown from the mower and hit my car doors. The paint is chipped in the dents and cannot be fixed via dentless removal . The guys home owners approved the repair bill to fix the car so all that is fine .
My question is am I due any diminished value compensation for this ? The shop said they will have to repaint both doors . My car is silver and am worried that when it is fixed there will be a color difference , along with now that it has been repaired it has lost value . The insurance adjuster said I would have to send him some kind of proof that the car has lost value and they would consider it .What do I need to send him or what kind of proof would suffice ?
We had a major tornato/ hail storm go through here a short while ago and the body shops are backed up for weeks so I cannot get the car fixed for another month or so to see how it turns out . The insurance sent me a check for the estimate already and said to let them know if there are any differences in the bill once it is fixed etc.
Any help and advice would be great .

 

Depends on your state laws.

 

I am in Arkansas . It is not a state that has a specific law for this but I can not find where it is prohibited either .

 

I looked into it in MA, it's not that its a law but there was a settled lawsuit that as I understand it set a precedent. Basically it said that if it was properly fixed then it's just as good as before, perception of value reduction doesn't matter.

 

That makes sense but I think the value will be less. I know I would not buy an almost new car that has had body work done to it unless the price reflected it. They would also have to show me proof of what the extent of the repairs were .

 

I agree with you, I think it's a BS ruling. But as I understand it I'm stuck with it in MA.
There have been other threads where someone described the diminished value process, you may have good luck with it but it will take effort.

 

I think the OP is making a big deal out of nothing. A couple of chips, little dents in the doors isn’t going to low ball or decrease the future sales price. The minor damage will be repaired and will look like new. I can’t see anyone saying years in the future when you go to sell the car that you had tiny dents and paint chips repaired and because of that I’m going to offer thousands less than asking price.

 

This isn't the OP's fault. It's the dealerships fault and the industry in general. The "fix" is going to show on the Carfax, because it's going through insurance (more than likely). Any damage or repairs showing on the Carfax and the dealership will knock off thousands of dollars on a trade in value. Now for this to be fair, if the damage was fixed properly the dealership should offer the same trade in value as a non-repaired car/truck/suv, but this is definitely not the case. So because of this, his ask for diminished value is fair.

Note: I used to own a lowered BMW. I drove over a semi truck tire re-tread and blew out a tire. I needed a flat bed tow due to the stance of the car, but insurance would not approve it as the car was 2wd. I had to tell them there was front end damage for them to approve the flat bed. Guess what, because of this tow, there's an accident report on Carfax from front end damage. I was offered $4k less on a trade in because of this.

OP:
Call http://www.collisionsafetyconsultants.com/ and see if they can offer any advice.

 

I wasn’t implying fault or blame for anything. I’m just saying a few years from now when the op goes to sell or trade in the vehicle a few repaired minor dents/chips isn’t going to make any difference in the price. Im talking about this specific case, not yours or someone else’s.
I traded in a Honda CRV last year that was 4 years old for a new Toyota Highlander. A year before someone backed into the front of the Honda. It required the bumper replaced. And I know it was on the carfax report. The dealership gave me top dollar for that crv. The bumper replacement had no effect on the trade in value.
As far as your specific case in reality lowering the car may have had more to do with the lower offer than anything else. A “lowered” bmw has a very small select group that want a lowered vehicle.The vast majority of people do not want a lowered vehicle. If they did you’d see a lot more lowered vehicles than the tiny number you do. But bottom line I just don’t see a few repaired minor chips/dents affecting trade in or resale value.

 

You also traded in that Honda during peak used car values where dealers were DYING to get cars.

As of today OP's issue probably won't affect resale, but in a year or two, who knows what the market will bring.

I had a 2013 Acura TL that I shopped around for used car trade in numbers before selling it privately. It had one front end collision on the Carfax, and the bumper/hood had been repainted white pearl paint, needed blended to hood to cover). Carmax offered me $1800 less for that car than they would have if the car was unpainted. Even though it looked better than factory and was absolutely mint up front. The local Ford dealer didn't adjust the trade in value because of the claim at all.

This again was all before Covid.

It's not going to cost OP anything to try to get a dminished value claim. Worst case is he pays a company $500 to try to get him DV, and he comes out with $1000 or so in his pocket.