I was in an accident the other day, rear ended. I was not hurt and the damage to my car was minimal, But i was told that the accident would be reported to CARFAX, and would hurt my future trade in value, i trade every 2 to 3 years. Is this true, and what can i do?

well theseare the signs of the times we live in i’m almost sure you will have to do a private sale if you want the money you feel as though you deserve however when trading in at the dealer how much can they actually knock off the resale value check the blue book on the re sale value of your auto.

Is it possible or likely that the "diminished value" could actually be more than someone pays for the land itself.

It is possible to use a conservation easement to separate the development rights and then sell the development rights. If you include a lower tax rate, it may be possible that you will have a total economic gain by adding an conservation easement.

The other person’s insurance company is "claiming" that the diminished value damages must be "actual" and "provable" and may not be speculative. They claim that Arizona law does not recognize inherent damages. I would like to get this proof of diminished value without having to sell my car.

What does your agent say? It’s possible Arizona doesn’t do dimunition of value. Check on the law, by discussing it with your agent.

AND, go to a local auto consignment dealer. Ask them how much they could sell your car for, and then tell them about the accident, and how much they could sell it for after the accident. Have them put both figures in writing, on their letterhead. Voila! That’s actual and provable.

Worst case, you can always sue the other driver and owner in small claims court, using the above info to prove it, for your dimunition of value.

FWIW, there really isn’t any, in the real world, if your car is more than 7 years old. Also, it generally is about 10% of the incurred DAMAGES. That’s just an FYI. So if you have a $10,000 car, with $3,000 of damages, expect about $300 in dimunition of value.

Back in July of last year my 2006 BMW X3 was involved in a car accident, the total cost for repairs was about 7-8k. I was rear ended by an uninsured driver, therefore my insurance (Allstate) paid for all the repairs. Recently, I have been contacted by a 3rd party group offering to do all the paper work for 30% of whatever i get back and honestly i think that is way too much. I have been researching the steps to submit a claim myself to the insurance company, but it seems kind of hopeless because the information is not really straight forward. I understand i have to buy a diminished value report from a company that offers this service, but my real question is which company is the best to do this with and what are the steps that i need to do, in order to make my claim successful? Thanks

You do not have to buy any type of diminished value report from any company. Those are cr@p and a waste of money. The insurance company does not care about those and does not even consider those reports.

If you want to make a diminished value claim – call up the adjuster handling your claim and say "I’d like to make a claim for diminished value please".

Diminished value considers a lot of things: What part of the car was hit? What type of parts were used? What were the quality of the repairs? What was the overall condition of the vehicle prior to the loss? What is the age of the vehicle? What are the state laws regarding disclosure of damage? Those garbage diminished value reports don’t consider any of these things. They are just arbitrary junk that comes off the internet.

Allstate will probably send their appraiser out to reinspect the quality of the repairs and will come up with a determination.

Note: if the repair costs were 7-8k, you will not get 7-8k as diminished value. Your car does not diminish by the amount of the repairs.

Here’s why: example: you have a car that would sell for 20K. It sustains 5K in damage. If you were to sell the un-repaired car, you would sell it for 20K-5K = 15K.

If you repair the car and go to sell it….would you still knock 5K off the price? Probably not. But since it’s been hit and repaired, you may have to reduce the price a little bit….but not for the amount of the repairs.

Also….not every car loses value just because it was hit. At this point, you have a 3 year old car. You will probably get a little something….but don’t expect big bucks.

Could you please give me topics about what to write about? a few examples and some details. Thanks

Because burning books and censorship takes away our freedom of press. If the government controls the media we really only know what they want us to. We cannot push for what we, as a people, want. We would essentially be puppets of the state. How can we interact in domestic and foreign events, and intelligently vote, upon events which we don’t know about, or know only a partial part.

I got into a car accident in Florida and I am not at fault. I am trying to do a 3rd party claim for diminish value. Just wanted to know how can I determine that I am being compensated justly. My car KBB value is $10k and i have received collision damage repair from the claim of $4.5k . Any suggestion appreciated? Any insurance adjuster insider out there? lol
Blb,

Actually in Florida if you are not at fault and you are doing a 3rd party claim, you are entitled to do a diminish value claim

There are no consistent court decisions in regards to dim value. Even the same venue’s have different rulings as to when owed, If owed, And how much owed. There is no disputing that your car would have lost value for that much damage but courts have held insurance companies to different requirements in different cases.

Based on the value you gave on your vehicle, it will have to be several years old already and this is not in your favor. A new car in a wreck will obviously lose more then your car which has already depreciated over the years.

The burden of proof in this matter is usually on you to show diminished value.
You may have to go out and get bids on your vehicle and show how much you feel you would get if it was not wrecked compared to how much you are being offered. The more the better. The insurance company will also check your vehicle history and every other accident hurts your case.

To take a look for your best odds for a successful claim review your estimate. Is there frame or mechanical labor? If so you may have a better case since many repair professionals believe that once a frame is stretched back it does not have the same integrity.

Also is there more labor then parts or the other way around? If the insurance company paid for more parts then repairs then you will have less of a case as they just took off damaged parts and put on parts of like kind and quality back on.

Many settlements made on older year vehicles tend to be around 10% or less and this is more of a nuisance settlement. The insurance company will most likely know the venue that they are dealing with and have better knowledge recent court decisions in that area. They may not pay anything or they make that nuisance offer. Most demands I see are for several thousand dollars and are settled for several hundred.

I suggest making a demand(in writing) for the difference that you think there would be if you sold the vehicle after the accident compared to if the accident did not happen. The insurance company will most likely come back with something much smaller. I would try to negotiate from there but to be honest with you, would not expect too much more. Insurance companies usually have a range they want to settle something within so they may be able to give a little more(but not much more).

I hope this helps, dim value is rather new country wide and again there is no clear consensus on this

My boyfriend’s dad was in an accident where a lady T-boned the side of his truck while she was backing out. The police were contacted and a report was made, but the police did not issue the woman a ticket because the accident happened on private property.

His dad got everything appraised through the lady’s insurance (state farm) and sent them a copy of the police report, but in the end they denied his claim saying "both drivers were negligent"…. How could it be considered negligent on HIS part if he was T-Boned on his passenger side door? Play the scenario in your head…

Also, if anyone knows the details of how the diminished value law works, that would be appreciated as well.
Just so you know more details since one person assumed that the accident took place from someone backing out of a driveway, it in fact was in a parking lot which is more tricky. I am sure anyone who drives has run into at least one close encounter with someone who tried to gun it from the parking lot without looking out behind them… (and depending if a small car parks between two big SUVs or Trucks, you usually dont see them until the last second… so just how careful can you be?)

Yeah I ran into a problem similar to this. The adjuster said in an accident where someone is in reverse motion, the one that is reversing is normally at fault. BUT, if both parties are in motion it will be handled by each on their own. So basically if he was in motion he will be found at fault as well. If he would have stopped if would have been here fault completely.

Recently, my parked vehicle was involved in a hit-and-run. Luckily, a neighbor witnessed the hit-and-run and called the police. Within an hour, the driver was arrested for a DUI. My insurance company only wants to cover the cost of the repairs. I know that even after the vehicle is repaired, no one is going to want to buy it for the pre-accident value. Most people are reluctant to purchase a vehicle involved in an accident or they want a significant discount. I am curious if I can go after my insurance company or the other insurance company for funds for "diminished value".

It’s going to depend on the specific language in your policy as well as how hard you’re willing to fight to recover the loss. I have personally never heard of anyone being able to recover the diminished value, but I do see some testimonials on sites that claim to help you recover it. I’m dubious.

In some states, including California, an insurance policy may specifically state that they will not pay for diminished value. So you need to look at your policy closely to determine if that’s true for you. If the language is vague, then you may have a case. But the insurance company isn’t going to voluntarily cough up the diminished value. You’re going to have to fight for it and use an attorney. Note this blurb:

Except in four states (Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee) where some court decisions have held otherwise, insurers say claims for diminished value are not payable under comprehensive or collision coverages. Most insurance policies say that when the car is damaged, the insurer will pay the cost of repairing the car or its actual cash value (when the car is considered a total loss). There is no mention of coverage for diminished value, and the payment of diminished value was not contemplated when rates were established. If insurers are compelled to begin providing coverage for diminished-value claims, they will have to adjust their premiums to take this new obligation into account.

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:1V_ZGOr8qe0J:www.statefarm.com/about/media/backgrounder/dimvalue.asp+diminished+value+claims+california&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

There’s lots of good information at that link as well as this one which talks about the varying success of diminished value law suits:

Diminished value lawsuits have seen varied success around the country. Successful cases are generally made by third-party claimants in an accident, not the insured.

In November 2001 the Georgia Supreme Court ruled in favor of two State Farm customers who asserted that wrecked cars are worth less simply because they have been wrecked — no matter how expertly they’re repaired — and that insurers are liable to pay the difference. Because of that ruling, all auto insurers in Georgia must now pay diminished value claims. In January 2002, Allstate settled a similar class action case in Georgia, agreeing to pay Georgia policyholders a total of $59 million for the diminished value of their cars repaired after crashes since January 1997.

In November 2001, the Supreme Court of Delaware ruled that an insurer’s obligation to "repair or replace" a damaged vehicle did not mean the insurer was further obligated to pay diminished value (O’Brien vs. Progressive Northern Insurance Co.).

In Texas, a November 2000 decision by the 14th Circuit Court of Appeals in Houston, in the case of Dennis Carlton vs. Trinity Universal Insurance Co., concluded that an insurer is not liable for diminished value if repairs have been made that return the vehicle to its pre-loss condition. That position is backed up by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI): "An insurer is not obligated to pay a first-party claimant for diminished value when an automobile is completely repaired to its pre-damage condition," says Lee Jones of the TDI. "The language in a standard Texas auto policy does not provide payment for or refer to diminished value. That’s our position," Jones says. Texas auto insurance policies use a standard form from the TDI, so the state does not use ISO filings.

http://info.insure.com/auto/collision/diminishedvalue.html

Okay, so none of the cases mentioned were in California, but the problems remain the same. Now, you may want to contact a service like this to see if they can help, but I suspect your chances of recovering the diminished value will not be good, plus you may be out whatever fees they charge:

http://autoloss.com/diminished-value.htm

Good luck, sorry for the accident and what I think is bad news in the form of this answer, but if you’re willing to pursue it a little further, maybe, just maybe you can recover the value.

I was rear-ended and the damages were $13,000. Vehicle was repaired and I attempted to negotiate with Farmers Insurance for DV. They stonewalled me. Next I hired a speciality firm to give me a DV claim report, which they claimed would have the insurance company jumping on the phone to call me and settle out of court. They did not, they offered me nothing. Now I have sent a demand letter to the driver for the claim–which is also supposed to get his insurance company jumping on the phone to settle out of court. But what if they don’t? If I do go to court, what are my chances? A lawyer told me small claims is great with this stuff, however I find it very strange that googling seems to find no one out there talking about winning DV in court. It seems that you either deal with a good insurance company and they will settle with you immediately, or you struggle against them and get nothing. Farmers even cheated me out a week’s car rental, saying the "repair took too long"!
State is California, and this is a "third-party" claim; in other words, the insurance company I am dealing with is not my own, but the perpetrator’s.

I worked in claims for Farmers for nearly 10 years and was on the insurance side of this many times. I may be able to offer an inside perspective on this but doubt that it differs from other insurance companies. You should check with your state to be sure a claim like this is valid. Some allow it but cap how old a car you may claim this on (such as only those vehicles 6 model yrs and newer can make the claim). Assuming it is, you’re doing exactly what I would do in your situation. The problem is proving it. First, you have to realize the loss by selling or trading the vehicle. Until you do that, your loss is on paper, just like a stock or mutual fund may be. Your loss today would be greater than, say, two years from now. T prove your case is often difficult. A sworn/notarized letter (or simply on dealership letterhead) from one or two local, reputable used car sales mgrs stating the pre and post-accident value may suffice. In person testimony is better. You may luck out in SCC and win with what you have but the burden of proof is on you. You would have to sue the driver of the other car, NOT Farmers. Furthermore, Farmers may bump the matter to circuit court to more formally address the loss and that would force you to decide to rep. yourself or retain counsel. The reasoning for this is SCC is a crapshoot and decisions generally can’t be appealed. I’ve seen people win these and, more often, lose them. We’ve paid those that presented good support of their loss w/o going to court and resisted others that poorly supported their claim. It’s entirely a case by case thing in each state. It rests on the strength of your proof and they won’t be jumping on the phone to settle unless you have a well documented loss AND you’ve sold/traded the car. Check your state’s property damage statute of limitations to see how long you have, assemble your documentation, make an appt with the adjustor to meet in person and ask that his supv and/or mrg. be present as well, make a reasonable presentation of monetary demand (usually 10-20% of the vehicle value) in a professional and cordial manner. Ask questions of them as to what you’re missing, if anything, to prove this and be prepared to negotiate. A hot-headed demand in the clouds will likely get you the door. You may not get everything you came for and they may pay more than they’d like but that’s usually a sign of a good settlement (if they’re willing to pay at all). Your last resort is to sue in SCC. Good luck, my friend.

We had a n accident 60 days ago, and now are planning on hiring an attorney. Does any one know if there a time frame that I have to hire attorney within that time frame?

Thanks guys

Ask the attorney!