Car Accident/Diminished Value

aefield815

Hi Ladies!

This past weekend I was returning home on I-95 and was rear-ended. My car is still in the shop and we are waiting to hear what the final total will be to have the car fixed. This is second time I have been in a similiar accident and now I'm concerned that the total amount of damage done to the car will exceed the current value of the car and that I will be stuck with a car that is essentially worth nothing.

Has anyone out there been in an accident and been able to receive diminished value from the insurance company? Any advice or recommendations from anyone who has been in a similiar situation would be greatly appreciated!

TIA!

SecretServiceWife

I know someone here as gotten their mini cooper crunched a couple times... and I know Honda will buy out your totaled car... but i'm not sure about diminished value from your insurance... that doesn't sound too promising.

mzovoce

THis just happened to my parents, different companies are going to "sell back" the car to you. They give you a percentage of the total value of the car and then you have to fix it. If the car is salvagable and most of the damage is cosmetic it's a good idea.

Dizzumm

We're just pursuing diminished value for an accident now. My 9 day old car was slammed into in a parking lot and $13000 in repairs later, I'm pursing diminished value because clearly the value will never be the same.  My understanding is that, if the car can't be totaled, you have to wait until repairs are done to get the diminished value estimate, then submit that to the insurance company.  The insurance company will probably want to do their own estimate.  Let me know if you find out anything more - I hope I'm doing it right!

MonicaMorrison

Hired an appraiser from Fort Pierce, FL that used dealer quotes to formulate diminished value and it worked fine doing it that way, I previously hired a cheap-o appraiser whose formula wasn't worth diddly squat.