Diminished Value Help

Something’s rotten in Denmark.

 

Yea, in hindsight, I wish I would have kept my 2013. Good luck on your diminished value claim. If you haven’t already, get some quotes and values from carvana, vroom, etc. then start comparing the quotes to ads at cars.com, autotrader, kbb and nada. It should give you an idea of the gap.

 

thank you I agree

 

yes I have seen a chart similar, where it takes the appraised value, times .1 then times a mileage multiplier. The number I got after that is around 3500, which is better than 1000 but I wouldnt be satisfied with it, especially if I wanted to sell in todays market

 

i agree!

 

Thank you. Yes I have already done that and sent those files in to them, which all back up what I am wanting.

 

I live in Georgia and had my new 2015 with only 300 miles on it targeted by a suicidal deer. His head hit my passenger finder and the body took out front and back doors. 5800 in damage. The guy at the body shop told me to make sure you ask your insurance company about diminished value. I did and they sent me a check for 1500. I assumed there were set amounts or percentage compared to cost of repair. I never thought to negotiate. I thought getting 25 percent of cost of repairs was fair. I wish you luck and hope you get at least 25 percent of your cost of repairs back.

 

I have some experience with DV. I'll explain to you the way that it works in most states.

1. You start with the value. I'm guessing you have around 20K on your 2019. Probably $40k was a fair pre accident value.
2. You multiply that by 10%. That is the MOST the insurance company will give you. All other factors will decease that number so we start with $4k.
3. Damage multiplier is based on severity. Your damage looks to be as bad as it gets so your get a 1 which means you are still at $4k.
4. Next is mileage. You are above 20K which puts you in a .8 multiplier. Your $4k drops to $3200.

You will get an offer of around $3200 for diminished value.

That is what you can expect to get back using the 17c formula. Is it fair? Not really, but if you are in one of those states that use that method, you are pretty much screwed. Outside of those states, insurance companies will still use that formula and you will be in a legal battle get them to budge off that number. What it will require is a civil suit against the driver. The driver will then turn that over to his insurance company. If the insurance company denies coverage, it is you against the other driver. If they don't have assets, no attorney will take the case on contingency unless the insurance company accepts liability. You option then is to pay an attorney for their services, hope to win the case and hope even more that you will ever recover anything from the other driver. All they have to do is file bankruptcy and that debt would be erased and you are back to nothing.

Kind of sucks, but your results will vary depending on your state, but not by much.

 

Excellent description of the reality of the situation. I would just add that if you do decide to go after the other driver on your own, it's likely that you will exceed any additional amount you might recover with the first retainer check to your attorney. It's very easy to scream sue them, but few ever logically follow that thought through. The vast majority of the time it's counterproductive.

 

You blew it big time when you took the truck back. That much damage I would never take it back and would have made my insurance fight to total it.
Try and get what you can for dimensioned value and then sell it. No chance all that went back together without issues that will arise in the next few year. Good luck.

 

I appreciate the kind words. I did everything I could to total it out at the beginning. Talked with insurance, talked with the shop. The shop said insurance did a terrible job and wouldn't listen to them on everything and said it could be supplemented if needed. Yes, I will be switching insurance after this. I am at 0 liability so my rate will not change. I would like to sell and get another if I can get enough DV. But if I only get 5k and the truck sells for 32, its not worth it in todays market.

 

Agreed. I wont take any leas than the max I can by this multiplier. Sucks but I believe it is what it is at this point.

 

I appreciate the response. Yes I live in indiana and I believe that will be my case from what I have read unfortunately.

 

I may have missed this, but why did you claim it on your insurance when he was at fault? Seems his insurance should be at play here.

 

Unless the other driver's insurance company admits fault up front, the best bet is to go through your insurance company for the repairs, then let them subrogate against the other driver's company to recover what they paid out and your deductible.

 

Yes they would not accept responsibility at first (even though it was very clear what happened, basically called me a liar right off the bat for saying their driver ran the stop sign), so i didnt want to deal with that.

 

Only an actuary or an underwriter would make such a ludicrous statement.

Listen, I've been in insurance for twenty four years, in property and casualty insurance for more than twenty years. I represent seventeen auto insurers in forty-three states. The "best bet" option you cite IS NOT to "go through your insurance company for the repairs and then let then subrogate against the other driver's company to recover what they paid out and your deductible". That is very irresponsible for you to offer such advice. Yes, it can be done that way, but only if you want to ignore your fiduciary responsibility to yourself and your family. Claiming on your policy is going to cost you more in the long run.

1. Insurance companies do not "admit fault". They pay their client's claims based on the evidence presented to them so as to obtain from you a release of liability for their client. The insurance company did not have a wreck, their client did. Therefore the insurance company has no "fault" to admit to.
2. The "best bet" is to CLAIM ON THE OTHER GUY'S policy, presenting the police report, video witness statements (and contact info) you gathered at the scene, along with your video and/or pictures of the scene as supporting evidence that the other guy is 100% at fault. They then get a recorded statement from you and one from him. Then you buckle up for a frustrating ride that's going to take a few months to play out before you are made completely whole again.
3. Claiming the accident on YOUR insurance will raise your cost of insurance for at least 39 months. Not only YOUR insurance rates on your car, but also the rates on every other person covered by the policy, and on their cars. How are you going to recover that? What if you have your kids reimbursing you for their portion of the policy? You think they should have to pay more and be penalized because you took the easy way out and claimed on your policy?
4. Claiming the accident on the other guy's insurance mostly likely WILL NOT impact your insurance rates.
5. If you have rental car coverage on your policy you don't carry enough coverage to pay the full day's rental, but if the other guy's insurance provides you a rental vehicle, then THEY are on the hook for the FULL DAILY RENTAL!
6. Your rental car coverage will REIMBURSE you only for the rental car days that are associated with the reasonable and customary time it will take to make the appropriate repairs, plus a day or two on the front before the repair begins and a day or two at the end of the repair. Doesn't matter if your undriveable car is at the body shop for 3-4 weeks. If the quoted repair hours can be crammed into four days, you are going to be REIMBURSED for 6-8 days total, not the 3-4 weeks you had to pay for the rental! You need a rental car AS SOON AS YOUR VEHICLE IS TOWED AWAY. Your reimbursement is not going to pay for the two+ weeks it takes the adjuster and the body shop to come to an agreement, and for the body shop to order the parts before the repairs begin, nor the week you leisurely took at the end because you liked drifting and hooning the tires off that Mustang GT they gave you. (I have friends in the body shop business who still have a car or two on their lot since June, still waiting on parts.)
7. HIS liability coverage owes you a vehicle from the scene of the accident until you accept your vehicle's repairs because the repairs have to be done to your satisfaction. And if they are not to your satisfaction, possibly because his insurance was quibbling with the repair shop, well...you got the rental car they are paying for and are running up THEIR BILL, not yours. You have LEVERAGE on them to pay your claim properly as long as you have their rental car! You have no such leverage on you insurance company if you claim it on your policy.
8. Number 7 ONLY WORKS if you stand your ground and make them arrange to get you a rental car. Do not let them convince you that you must make the rental car arrangements. Do not sign anything. They have contractual arrangements with the rental companies. You are only driving the car.
9. They have supervisors on them like white on rice asking why your claim hasn't been closed. Don't get impatient. Let them think you have all the time in the world. Once you have their rental car, you got them by the short hairs, and you DO have all the time in the world! Eventually they will capitulate. They get paid to close claims, not let them languish on their desk.

I welcome your rebuttal.

 

I don’t want to be rude but your reply is the most ridiculous and incorrect statement I have read to date, and you say it with such authority. I am not sure what role you have in the industry but it was not auto claims the way you answered. I managed and worked for 3 large carriers over 20 years and can say your statements are far from correct.

1. I have no idea what you are even going for or mean with this statement.

2. It is not always best to go thru the other party. Any party involved in an accident is expected to mitigate their damages. They cannot leave their car in storage accruing fees. They cannot rack up excessive towing. They cannot rent a car for weeks waiting for the other insurance company to accept liability. Plus you don’t want to give a recorded statement to the other parties insurance if there is a potential for disputed liability. Anything you say to them on a recording may be taken wrong.

3. claim on your policy does not raise rates if it is non fault and going to be subrogated. Insurance companies do not charge or penalize you for using the service you are paying for. If they raised you rates for just being in an accident regardless of fault they would do it any when they find the loss on a CLU report or run the driving record.

5. How do you know what rental car coverage pays for. Most rental endorsements cover several rental car classes with no costs to insureds. There is also a buy up for additional coverage.

6. This paragraph is long and confusing. Basically as in #1. You have a duty to mitigate damages. You can’t get a rental and drive it for weeks waiting for the other company to handle your claim.

7/8 the other company does not owe you anything until the investigation is done. Most states allow a period of time, usually 30 days for insurance companies to investigate a claim. As long as the company notifies the customer in writing about mitigating damages they don’t owe anything and the customer need to go thru their own ins,

9 is totally right. They want claims closed ASAP

 

No. Not going to do it. You know, I wrote a reply to your post. Then I reconsidered: your post does not deserve a point-by-point response.

Only this: Claims cause your insurance to go up. A universal truth. Argue with the universe pal.

 

I know nothing about all this, but I did want to add that I went through my insurance and that even though I went through my insurance my rate did not go up, and they confirm it would not due to the other party accepting liability. I also filed with my company because the other were going to make me pay for rental, towing, storage fees until they “got around” to looking at my vehicle. I called my company and asked what to do and they said to file through them, and once the other party accepted liability my policy would not change. And I can confirm it did not, it actually went down.