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Establishing diminished value for insurance
- Thread starter jkeyser14
- Start date
I am not sure of the exact time, but it is not that long - 2-3 months at most. If it's been a few months, you should be good to pull the records.
It was a dead on square hit. It slid my car forward ~5 feet leaving skid marks on the way. Her car rebounded backwards a bit too based on the video. The speed limit was 40 mph and the woman who hit me never hit her brakes until about a car length or two away. You can tell when she finally saw me because the video shows the nose of her SUV started to dive just before she hit me.
Her SUV was totaled. Her bumper and radiator were pushed back into the engine. The hood was bent way up. The frame rails to the sides of the engine were exposed and bent. Both of her front quarter panels were bowed out.
Neither car's airbags went off.
Meanwhile, I am still dealing with issues trying to get my car repaired to it's original condition 3 months later... Not Tesla's fault, just a body shop that has poor QC standards.
Her SUV was totaled. Her bumper and radiator were pushed back into the engine. The hood was bent way up. The frame rails to the sides of the engine were exposed and bent. Both of her front quarter panels were bowed out.
Neither car's airbags went off.
Meanwhile, I am still dealing with issues trying to get my car repaired to it's original condition 3 months later... Not Tesla's fault, just a body shop that has poor QC standards.
I’m in almost the same exact situation. Was rear ended at about 5 mph while stopped which just left 2 small punctures from their license plate screws which were fixed and repainted for ~$1500.
I’ve checked a few free sites that allow vin lookups but even carfax has a free accident check feature. My accident was 4 months ago and I still don’t see it appear on any of them. I just reached out to a bunch of DV claim adjusters but not sure how this works if accident doesn’t show on report.
I’d rather it not show but I’m not sure if I file a dv claim it will then be added. Anyone else have the same situation where they filed for DV claim despite no incident appearing on carfax?
I sent you a PM - my car is currently at a Tesla certified body shop being torn down to see if it is totaled or not.
STLUCIE
Member
It may be too late to do you any good but I'll post this anyway for those who may benefit from it in the future. As a matter of fact, it was a Tesla owner who first suggested this novel approach. He asked us to prepare a diminished value report prior to authorizing repairs in an effort to convince the insurance company they would be spending a lot more if they repaired the car. It worked! For most of our clients, it's already too late as they have had their cars repaired. Note, if you car is badly damaged and you are seeking to have it totaled, present the DV report prior to repairs. When the insurer sees they may be on the hook for a $20K repair, a supplement of another $5K, Loss of Use for as much as $15K and Diminished Value of up to $40K, they are likely to agree that totaling the car and recovering the salvage value is in their best interests. If they still refuse to total the car, you've already got your DV report to present after you get the car back. Nobody wants a Tesla that had major structural repairs so keep this in mind.
Just wanted to provide an update. Damage to the car was $4k. It went back to be repainted 4 times. Still not happy with the results (even the insurance adjuster agreed it was a bad job), but I finally gave up after 6 months and 10 trips back to the body shop (an hour away) to show them issues or drop off/pick up the car. I only used a rental for 10 days of that 6 months.
I finally settled for $6k loss of use/dimished value. My calculations and 3rd party appraisals showed $10k loss of use/diminished value, the insurance company's computer system showed $3k. My state has a $5k limit for small claims court, and lawyers wanted 30% of any payout, so $6k was about the max I could get unless I wanted to go to court for the chance of getting $600 more after lawyer fees.
I finally settled for $6k loss of use/dimished value. My calculations and 3rd party appraisals showed $10k loss of use/diminished value, the insurance company's computer system showed $3k. My state has a $5k limit for small claims court, and lawyers wanted 30% of any payout, so $6k was about the max I could get unless I wanted to go to court for the chance of getting $600 more after lawyer fees.
