So I got rear ended in March. My car was about 3 weeks old and had around 300 miles on it. I hadn't even had a chance to wash it yet. I finally got it back from the autobody shop last week after about 1.5 months there. The total cost of the repair was about $10,500. I want to claim diminished value with the other driver's insurance company. I checked the value of my car online and have gotten back anywhere from $42-$45K for it. It barely has 500 miles on it now. I'm pretty certain a clean 2022 M3P with 300 miles should go for around $62K, basically the price of a new car. I'm trying to gather as much evidence as I can to present to the insurance company to show how much I lost in value in my car because of the their client's negligence. Wondering if anyone with a standard M3P with just autopilot and around the same low mileage could check and get a quote for their car with some of the online car dealers. Has anyone had luck asking for diminished value for their car?
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Need some help from anyone with a brand new Model 3 Performance and question on diminished value
- Thread starter Doggiedog
- Start date
STLUCIE
Member
FYI, an accurate, real-world diminished value, assuming no structural damage, will be about 10% - 15% of the trade-in value.
Isn't the "not at fault" driver's insurance supposed to handle this? And the "not at fault" driver's insurance company needs to collect diminished value from the at-fault driver's insurance (if they have it?)
It *should* work that way, but more often than not the vehicle owner needs to fight with their own insurance company to payout on diminished value (and in turn the insurance company collects from the other party as well). If the owner isn't diligent, its too easy to get no, or too little a diminished value settlement. Depending on the region and local laws you might find yourself in the best position hiring a mediator/arbitrator to do the diminished value appraisal rather than going after the insurance company yourself. If that is a valid option in your region, their decisions are nearly-binding and far more likely to get you an appropriate payout for the diminished value. Frankly in your case the $20k discrepancy seems inflated - maybe because those trade in quotes are sandbagged low and would never reflect the $62k perfectly new value either. I think anything in the $10k ballpark for diminished value probably represents the fairest compromise given the true value of that car with a (relatively minor) insurance claim on it on the private sale market.
Thanks for your responses. I got a diminished value of $5K for my car from their insurance company which is way too low considering I only got offers in the mid to high $40K range for my car. I hired an expert to do a valuation for the car and he came out to 19% diminished value. He got there due to the market conditions now, resale values on comparable 2020 Model 3s (there were no comps at all for 2021 or 2022 M3s let alone an M3P in my area), and the condition of the car which is essentially brand new. Now I've got to go fight the insurance company for it. I'm certain I won't get the 19% but I'm going to fight for as much as possible since the other party's negligence severely impacted the value of my car.
Just remember that the insurance adjuster is not your friend. Their sole reason for existence is to pay you as little as possible, and they are awarded bonuses based on the amount of money they can come under the expected payouts throughout the year. Don't settle if you're not happy.
but you also need to know your state laws on DV claims. They're not required to payout anything, but do somewhat anyways, in most states. If NJ is a non-compelled DV state, you'll be lucky to get anything legally.
SantaCruzOMB
Member
Thanks. The valuation expert explained it all to me. He was actually surprised at how much they offered me. He thought it would have been half that. Considering what they offered, he said they know I have a strong case. So I'm going to pursue it further. On a negative note, even though the accident was 100% not my fault, my own insurance rates went up about 60%. I asked my company why and they said it was an adjustment. This was really a lose/lose accident.
Please keep us updated. I am just starting the process for my 2021 Tesla 3 long range. Mine was hit by a part flying off an agricultural truck and trailer, so I’m dealing with nationwide ag division. I’m looking for an attorney or A company that handles DV in CA. According to Carvana, the DV after the accident is around 12.5k (from 49.7k to 37.2k)
I've got under 500 miles on mine. I tried to get you a quote from Vroom and Carvana but both said they need to do more digging and get back to me. I think the miles are so low their computers are being thrown off. I'll let you know when/if they email me.
No, they won’t be blue to get you a value until you’ve had the car for 2-3 months. They use a system that picks up car info from the state DMV. Until your car has been registered for ~30 days or more, you won’t even exist to them.
I’ve bought and sold 10 new cars in the past 2 years, and I’ve ended up flipping most of them with a local dealer, because Vroom and Carvana couldn’t do anything for me.
I've had really good experiences with both. I sold a few cars to Carvana and one to Vroom over the last couple of years. I've nearly broke even on them all.
Same! I managed to sell one of those to Vroom, and while they were slower than I expected with the paperwork, they were good.
Another interesting note - I sold my Supra to them back in late November, and they just called me on Thursday asking if I had received the title from DMV… I had, confusingly, just the week before. So they took quite a while to sell that, I guess!
I haven't been on TMC for a while so sorry about the late response here. I got an offer for $5K in DV from the other insurance company. It wasn't acceptable to me so I went to an appraisal firm to write up a report for me. They came out with $15K but comps are hard to come by. He did say it was a good sign that they offered me that much off the bat because it shows they know the DV should be high. I'm still waiting for their response to my counteroffer.
No response but I think I have up to 6 years to sue them for DV regardless of what the car costs when I do it. DV is calculated at the time of the accident.
Diminished value claims are totally area dependent, and real world situations with what you can reasonably expect to get for a vehicle that has been in an accident vs. one that has not.
I never take less than 10% of what the vehicle is worth pre accident, you are going to lose at least that much when you sell it.
I never take less than 10% of what the vehicle is worth pre accident, you are going to lose at least that much when you sell it.
White Shadow
Member
You have a bigger problem right there. No insurance company should raise your rates after an accident that was no fault of your own.
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