Low speed collision today - diminished value claim?

[Ferroplasm]

Some clown ran into the driver's side of my 2022 hybrid and beat up both doors pretty badly. Has anyone had any success with requesting a diminished value payout from the at-fault driver's insurance company?

Luckily I have it on dash cam so there should be no contest regarding who was at fault. For the life of me, I can't figure out how he didn't see me considering how bright the cyber orange is.

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[OleFordGuy]

Dang. Hate to see that but glad your OK. So on the value question, yes probably 20 years ago a young lady side swiped me. So i took my vehicle to get estimates at 3 different dealer body shops, while I was there I went and checked with the used car mangers and ask about the loss of value whenever I sold it, they each gave me their opinions in writing on dealers letterhead. I showed that to the young ladies insurance adjuster and they wrote me a check for the highest valued estimate in addition to fully repairing the vehicle with mfg parts, which I also insisted on. I know times have changed but that was my experience. Wish you luck!

 

[Bigred]

Absolutely on diminished value. The insurance company will likely lowball you.

 

[Grand Nat.]

Same thing happened to me to my Dodge Magnum. I'm guessing cell phone usage was the cause.

 

[Ferroplasm]

Dang. Hate to see that but glad your OK. So on the value question, yes probably 20 years ago a young lady side swiped me. So i took my vehicle to get estimates at 3 different dealer body shops, while I was there I went and checked with the used car mangers and ask about the loss of value whenever I sold it, they each gave me their opinions in writing on dealers letterhead. I showed that to the young ladies insurance adjuster and they wrote me a check for the highest valued estimate in addition to fully repairing the vehicle with mfg parts, which I also insisted on. I know times have changed but that was my experience. Wish you luck!

Good points. I didn't consider insisting on the shop using Ford parts. I don't believe my local Ford dealerships have in-house body repair. How would I go about doing this?

 

[MaverickEVwouldBeNice]

Good points. I didn't consider insisting on the shop using Ford parts. I don't believe my local Ford dealerships have in-house body repair. How would I go about doing this?

Don't go with the body shop their insurance insists on. If your dealer doesn't have one, ask them for their best recommendation.

Then demand OEM parts to be used. Get estimates and present them to the insurance company, It's your car, they cannot tell you what parts to use.

If the other driver had minimum required coverage, you may have to fight the driver if the damage goes beyond that coverage.

If you have a good insurance company yourself, talk to them about it. They may reach out to the other company and make them do that.

Hopefully your insurance isn't the same as the driver's, or all of that will not work.

 

[NJBob]

Not sure if all states consider diminished value. Don't think NJ does.

 

[NJBob]

Don't go with the body shop their insurance insists on. If your dealer doesn't have one, ask them for their best recommendation.

Then demand OEM parts to be used. Get estimates and present them to the insurance company, It's your car, they cannot tell you what parts to use.

If the other driver had minimum required coverage, you may have to fight the driver if the damage goes beyond that coverage.

If you have a good insurance company yourself, talk to them about it. They may reach out to the other company and make them do that.

Hopefully your insurance isn't the same as the driver's, or all of that will not work.

Yes I am fighting to recover my deductible after someone hit my wife's car. We have the same insurance company.

 

[OleFordGuy]

Good points. I didn't consider insisting on the shop using Ford parts. I don't believe my local Ford dealerships have in-house body repair. How would I go about doing this?

Any body shop could repair it if thats your situation, just advise the insurance company that you require replacement parts to be certified Ford OEM parts instead of lower quality foreign made parts. Your insurance company and the other persons insurance company normally has a list of preferred repair shops they use but if you know of or prefer a certain shop they should honor your preference. I "think" nowdays bodywork & repair is fairly standardized from a pricing standpoint. Check with friends/family, etc for recommendations and reviews of body shops in your area

 

[Maverick#2]

Not sure if all states consider diminished value. Don't think NJ does.

In my experience, you are correct about NJ. My husband was broadsided about 3 years ago resulting in a repair cost of over $30,000. We paid for a diminished value report knowing this was going to be an issue when we sold the vehicle and the reported loss value was over $10,000. We submitted the report to our insurance company but were told that it was not reimbursable.

 

[Bigbill27]

Good points. I didn't consider insisting on the shop using Ford parts. I don't believe my local Ford dealerships have in-house body repair. How would I go about doing this?

Ask your Ford dealership who they get to do their body work.

 

[Oscarcat]

Some clown ran into the driver's side of my 2022 hybrid and beat up both doors pretty badly. Has anyone had any success with requesting a diminished value payout from the at-fault driver's insurance company?

Luckily I have it on dash cam so there should be no contest regarding who was at fault. For the life of me, I can't figure out how he didn't see me considering how bright the cyber orange is.

Love cyber yellow!, sad to see the damage. Not all states allow for dimished value. First figure out if yours does = ask your insurance agent.

One other way to get an idea of the actual $$$ damage to value is to go to sites like Vroom, Carmax, Carvana, Carfax "sell your car" and enter data for your build and options not checking the box for accident or damage. Then do it using exactly the same data and build but enter one accident in the approriate field. Compare the two.

Print out and save all results. If your state insurance code does not allow for diminished value then you will need to sue the driver in the equivalant of small claims, justice court or whatever your state calls it. If it comes down to it, refer to the Carfax TV commerical where the Car Fox show two vehicles and one has prior accident history, diminished value.

 

[mdsalemi]

One reason, just one, why we lease all our cars. Something like this is irrelevant. In the past 18 months, we've "turned" three lease vehicles for three more, and in all three cases we "made money" on the transaction as the lease end value was much lower than the market value. On a hybrid Escape we turned in, this was a $10K windfall. On the Flex and Bronco Sport, just a few thousand each that was used to buy down the new lease payments. But I digress...

Some good info on your topic: https://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/diminished-value-claim.aspx

What may be as or more important than a diminished value claim, particularly if you are going to keep the truck, is have it repaired at a Ford dealer and have it done correctly with proper parts. When we lived in Michigan, our dealer(s) who repaired damaged vehicles (mostly deer collisions) had their own body shop. Here in the Charlotte NC area, our local dealer uses a 3rd party "on site" called Carolina Collision. They will ensure its done properly. My insurance company here, Erie Insurance, insists upon only NEW Ford parts, in fact, we had to get special permission on (yes a deer collision) the Flex to get a "junkyard" side view mirror since Ford didn't have any with no date for re-stock.

Good luck!

 

[OleFordGuy]

In North Carolina you are due diminish value my law
https://www.dvcheck.com/diminished-value-claim/north-carolina

 

[mcgarveyjb]

Some clown ran into the driver's side of my 2022 hybrid and beat up both doors pretty badly. Has anyone had any success with requesting a diminished value payout from the at-fault driver's insurance company?

Luckily I have it on dash cam so there should be no contest regarding who was at fault. For the life of me, I can't figure out how he didn't see me considering how bright the cyber orange is.

I know my velocity blue 2022 is invisible, may the orange is too

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