I have a 3 day old brand new 2011 that was in an accident. The other insurance company is accepting 100% fault. Vehicle has 300 miles, cost $35,000. The damage done to the vehicle is just under $8,000. Being that the car is SO new, and SO damaged, am I entitled to any diminished value?

yes you are, be sure and bring that up, you may have to fight for it, also I suggest getting your own estimates if possible, besides the insurance company agent. TRy to get three, and if you have not yet talked to your insurance company, please do they will be a lot more assistance than we can. Many people try to deal with other insurance company alone, this is not always the best, the accident is not your fault, you have to report it anyway it goes down as not at fault, and dont forget to notify the dmv, your state has specific laws, and if you forget, they will not, so let them know too. hope no one was injured.

I was in a car accident on Monday that was not my fault. The other driver’s insurance (Geico) is claiming 100% fault and paying for all repairs and my rental car. I drive a 2009 Toyota Corolla that has never been in an accident before. They are replacing the front bumper, side panel, along with other various things that are totaling just under $2,000. I live in Oregon. My question is, would it be worth my while to file a diminished value claim to Geico? (I have no interest in using a lawyer so would have to do it myself)

You can always try. But the diminished value would be minimal. They are making the car whole by paying for the repairs.

You’ll have to hire and pay for a disinterested third party to evaluate the car’s diminished value. Diminished value is easier to collect on more serious damages than can’t repaired back to factory tolerances (like a slightly bent frame).

Re-gift: Someone does not like their present so they give it to you as a gift.

Not if it is something that you want and can use. I don’t care if the gift was previously gifted to someone else. The very best gifts long ago were things handed down from generation to generation. Our re-gifting process is something like that.

What I can’t stand is people who judge a gift only on it’s monetary value. To me that is crass and ignorant. A gift should be chosen to fit a person’s personality and lifestyle, not the size of his pocketbook!

I was in a wreck yesterday that was not my fault at all (I had 2 witnesses, and the police issued the at-fault driver a citation). I already filed a claim with my insurance company, as well as the at-fault party’s insurance company. My vehicle was towed from the scene of the accident, because it was not drivable (flat tire on one side, and metal hanging off the car), and is being taken to a Auto-Body shop approved by my insurance company. My understanding is that the car will be repaired to it’s pre-accident condition, and I know that I should also confirm that none of this will bedone with after market parts. My main concern is that the collision will be attached to my VIN Number, and thus accessible via CarFax reports….so if I went to trade-in my car next year, the value would be substantially diminished because my vehicle was in a wreck. How do I go about collecting damages from the at-fault party or their insurance company, for the diminished value associated with the wreck? Will I need to hire an attorney, or is this something by insurance company can include in the settlement from the other insurance company? Thanks in advance for any guidance and recommendations you can give to me!!

Most insurance companies do not report to Car Fax.

Unless you are having your car repaired at a dealership, the accident probably won’t show up on Car Fax.

It is my understanding, In NC – as long as collision damage is less than 25% of the value of the car you don’t have to disclose it. (Double check this with your insurance adjuster or the DMV)

Your insurance policy gives your insurance company the right to use after market and used parts. If you want all OEM, you may have to pay the difference yourself.

More importantly, In NC – diminished value is not recoverable under first party coverage. Meaning – Diminished Value is not covered under Collision Coverage. Your insurance company will not pay it to you. Since they are not paying you for diminished value – your insurance company does not subrogate for that. You have to pursue the at fault drivers insurance company. You don’t need to hire an attorney to do it. Just call up the other company and speak to the adjuster handling the claim. They can tell you the process.

Additionally, just because your car was in a wreck does not mean it automatically losses value. In a diminished value claim they will look at the year/make/model of the car, the area damaged and the quality of the repairs.

we were rear ended . we got the car in march 19,000 got rear ended 6 months later , $8,000 in repairs . they want to give us $1,164 for diminished value. can we ask for more? so we can atleast payoff half of the car. ????

No this is more than fair. The only obligation insurance has is the either repair to car to its previous condition or compensate you for the current market value of the car. So it you wreck a car with an outstanding loan and the car is worth less than the balance owed, you’re out of luck. The loan on it is not their concern really. I’m very surprised they even offered you anything for diminished market value.

I’m not sure why you would expect them to give you money to payoff the car. After it’s fixed and they pay you the $1,164, you’d be exactly where you were before the accident. You’ll even have some cash in your hand.

Peggy-Sue makes awesome cookies. They almost violate the law of diminishing marginal utility – they are so good, you want more and more. So she became an entrepreneur and owns her own business selling cookies.

Three years ago, she borrowed $100,000 from a bank and spent it all during the first year on a cooky-making oven and supplies. She could now sell for the oven for $40,000 if she shut down the business. She has paid back the loan, and the oven is no longer depreciating in value.

She sells 520,000 cookies per year at 50c each.

Her annual explicit expenses are:

$30,000 labor – one employee.

$35,000 rental for the store.

$20,000 ingredients (don’t ask what they are – it’s a secret!)

$ 5,000 utilities (electricity, water, gas, phones, and Internet services)

Here’s the problem:

The Cookie Monster company has offered to hire Peggy-Sue at $125,000 per year, with a lifetime contract as long as she wants to work there.

If she accepted, she could invest the funds from selling the firm to get 10% interest.

Peggy-Sue is only interested in how much money she can earn. She is otherwise indifferent between being an employee or owning her business.

Her problem is that she can’t figure out whether to stick with her own firm, or sell it and work for the Cookie Monster. She has no clue about what “economic profit” is.

Alas! Peggy-Sue never took any economics course. But – she heard you are taking Foldvary’s econ 1 course at SCU, so knows you are econ-savvy, and she wants your economic advice. Should she stay in her own business, or sell it and work for Cookie-Monster?

a) 2 pts. Calculate her accounting profit.

For full credit, show how you calculate it.

b) 6 pts. Calculate her economic profit. Show how you calculate it.

c) 2 pts. Advise her what to do, keep her firm, or sell it and join Cookie Monster.
Don’t be a two-handed economist!
She doesn’t want to hear "on the one hand, on the other hand…"
She wants you to advise her either yes or no, not maybe, not "it depends."

a. 170k: she makes 260k per year from selling cookies, has 90k in expenses, so total of 170k in accounting profit per year.

b. -10k: 3 years of 170k accounting profit is 510k, plus the 40k for selling the oven is 550k. 10% interest on that is 55k, add the 125k offered by cookie monster and that’s 180k. so her economic profit is -10k (the 170k she’s making minus the 180k she could potentially make).

c. sell it

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.