Insurance-Diminished Value after Accident

[PCBeach]

Anyone claim for Diminished Value after an accident? Basically if you are a 3rd party not at fault, you can claim for the difference in value before accident and after. My dealer will give me a written statement using trade-in numbers and I am going to claim. This topic is very controversial as some insurance companies and States no like.(considering after repair your car should be A OK) Ga has a formula. Fl allows these claims. Google has loads of info. Anybody with experience??

[PCBeach]

Anyone claim for Diminished Value after an accident? Basically if you are a 3rd party not at fault, you can claim for the difference in value before accident and after. My dealer will give me a written statement using trade-in numbers and I am going to claim. This topic is very controversial as some insurance companies and States no like.(considering after repair your car should be A OK) Ga has a formula. Fl allows these claims. Google has loads of info. Anybody with experience??

[bparker]

No experiecnce but it was suggested to me by my attorney one time to make such a claim on my Corvette but I didnt do it. So I know such claims can be made and in some cases I think are legit (IE Exotic Cars, Farraris etc and Collector Cars, 69 Camaros) but in my case I felt like it was the wrong thing to do and passed up on the claim.

[Steve - SanJose]

Porsche owners and dealers obsess over this situation all the time. When you trade-in a Porsche they have you sign a sheet stating that the vehicle has never been a serious accident.

[f5fstop]

My experiences with Vettes is it depends on the damage. Paint and/or panel replacement, hard to get, frame (including door frames) or undercarriage repair, a lot easier.

[evldave]

Not my direct experience, but here's what happened:

4 years ago, my mom was driving her brand new (15 miles on the ODO) 2002 Tahoe home from the dealer ($40k off the lot). She was 1 mile from the dealer and got rearended at a stop sign by some jerkoff in a chrysler lebaron convertible.

Well, the insurance refused to pay diminished value or whatever, and the dealer had a $15k 'loss' on the frame repair required because he hit her at an angle and tweaked it good (required a frame rebend, cut, and reweld).

Since then, she's put on 90k miles, long miles from Washington to California, once to Chicago and back, and probably 30-40k miles pulling a 24' travel trailer or my brother's 19' boat. It has driven PERFECTLY, with no problems (a serious concern we all had since it was bought as a tow rig)

Couple weeks ago, she traded in on a new Tahoe, and the dealer (same place she bought originally, and also gave her the $15k loss estimate for the insurance company that wouldn't listen) - gave her FULL PRICE for her tradein, even though they knew it had frame repair. I seriously doubt that most people would get this kind of service, but we've been a family full of buyers from the dealer, so they cut her a break.

Note: Her title does NOT have a note, and carfax does NOT indicate an accident. I'm guessing the dealer sold off her Tahoe to a reseller and never said a word...

[Steve - SanJose]

And you should see how leased vehicles are turned in at the end of lease. Pre-inspection a couple of months before the lease often turns up repaired bodywork and it's considered to be normal.