Diminished value claim help

[SolarFlare]

Im not the most experienced person when it comes to accidents, never really been involved in one myself. My mother was involved in a rear end collision. Her 2007 corolla with 43000 miles will need a new trunk, likely new rear bumper and some other small things, about $1800 worth of damage. How difficult is it to make a diminished value claim for her vehicle? Car is low mile, great shape, one owner but now has a decent rear collision on the record even though no airbags deployed. What should I expect to be told when I ask them for diminished value and how should I proceed? Thanks in advance.

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[enzo101]

Im not the most experienced person when it comes to accidents, never really been involved in one myself. My mother was involved in a rear end collision. Her 2007 corolla with 43000 miles will need a new trunk, likely new rear bumper and some other small things, about $1800 worth of damage. How difficult is it to make a diminished value claim for her vehicle? Car is low mile, great shape, one owner but now has a decent rear collision on the record even though no airbags deployed. What should I expect to be told when I ask them for diminished value and how should I proceed? Thanks in advance.

If I may ask, who are you insured with?

 

[melwff]

the online calculator I found online came up with $400 based on a pre-accident value of 8K and your 1.8k estimate which maybe low.

 

[SolarFlare]

If I may ask, who are you insured with?

Metlife. But my mother isnt on my insurance policy.

 

[jstump2490]

Sorry to say, but you will most likely not be able to claim DV on this. The car is not new enough/worth enough to make a case. With the age, the insurance company will claim any loss in value is just normal depreciation. I fought tooth and nail to get a DV claim on a 2 month old car with 1,500 miles on it several years. I won a few grand from the deal, but it was not easy and I had to go to court several times as I was forced to sue the insurance company because they straight up denied DV was even a thing. Had the car been over 3 or so years old/worth under $10,000 and it would have probably been impossible. One owner and low mileage doesn't really factor into the value of the car. After a certain point, it is a used car no matter how you slice it and DV becomes much harder to get.

My car was 2 months old when I was rear ended and it had 1,500 miles, was purchased new for $24,000, the car was in showroom condition prior to the accident and I STILL had to sue the insurance to get them to pay. I ended up getting $3,000 by convincing a judge I lost value with a binder of 60+ pages of repair bills, diminished value estimates, online pricing guide estimates(KBB,NADA,Edmunds) and anything else I could find that showed value lost so those are the numbers and things for my situation. I am guessing at most you would be able to get like $500-600 for your claim due to the age of the car and mileage, but you have to weigh your time in the equation. Is it worth fighting for $500? I say try to go through the insurance company, maybe you will luck out and they will pay you, but if they deny the claim, you are in for a long fight to get DV. Start to finish, my claim took over a year and required 3 court appearances. It is super easy for the insurance company to say "nah, we don't believe there is a loss in value" because it is then up to YOU to prove them otherwise.

My advice is to ask them for $1,000, they will deny it. Ask them for it several times and after like a dozen calls, tell them you will settle for like $500-600. They may just pay you to leave them alone, and $500 isn't THAT much to where they may have the authority to authorize it without needing approval from higher up. But asking for more is going to be tough in my opinion and there is a good chance they will shut you down on the $500 too. They HATE admitting DV exists.

But whatever you end up doing, good luck! The giants can be defeated, I can attest to that, but they definitely don't make it easy.

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