Diminshed Value settlement

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BenTheRighteous

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
62
Location
Raleigh, NC
My 2017 Leaf S with 2,900 miles on the odometer was hit a couple weeks ago... grr.

The other driver's insurance paid for the repair, so that's all squared away, but now I'm also trying to collect a diminished value settlement from them. In a nutshell, the diminished value is the difference in price that you could have sold the car for on the day before the accident, vs. what you could sell the car for now after the repair.

Typically you use a source like KBB or Edmunds to establish the value difference, but they don't help in this case because my Leaf is so brand new.

So what I did instead was I asked the dealer I bought the car from to prepare 2 trade-in quotes, one with the damage factored in and one without. I figure that's a fair guideline for a diminished value claim, but the insurance company disagrees... especially since the difference in quotes ($2,000) is greater than the value of the repair ($1,370). They're offering $1,000 instead.

Does the community have experience with such claims, and/or opinions on whether it's reasonable to expect a $2,000 payout in this situation?
 
Sorry to hear about the crash to your new car. Could you add any info on how you went about requesting this and how they responded when you requested it. I would not be surprised if the deminshed value was even more then $2k because it is a EV. My thoughts are that people already view EVs with a little more caution because people don't feel like they could fix things themselves if something comes up. Plus fewer places will work on one so they are less inclined to take a risk on a wrecked one.

I am also interested in the repair presses. Can you go to any standard body shop or do you need to take it to a Nissan dealer? Did you have any problems getting through insurance or getting it repaired? Would you please expand on this process a bit?

My new 2017 was just hit this morning and I am pretty worried about it. I had less then 700 miles when I was rear ended on the highway. I still have my temp plates in fact. Any advice would be appreciated as I have never had to deal with this before and I am worrying myself sick over this and that.
 
LeftieBiker said:
These cars depreciate so rapidly that this kind of claim is problematic. If you can get anything in the way of a settlement here, I'd take it.
I was thinking much the same. $1K isn't a terrible offer. In the end, you'd have to sue, and even in small claims, you'd end up spending money on appraisals and the like trying to document a bigger amount...not to mention your own time. I'd take it.
 
I am also interested in the repair presses. Can you go to any standard body shop or do you need to take it to a Nissan dealer? Did you have any problems getting through insurance or getting it repaired? Would you please expand on this process a bit?

I don't know what you mean by "repair presses" but if the battery area isn't damaged you can use any body shop. Just make sure that they DON'T bake the car in a drying oven! Any hot paint curing has to be done to parts off the car, or with the battery pack removed. In the latter case it should be a Nissan dealer.
 
LeftieBiker said:
I am also interested in the repair presses. Can you go to any standard body shop or do you need to take it to a Nissan dealer? Did you have any problems getting through insurance or getting it repaired? Would you please expand on this process a bit?

I don't know what you mean by "repair presses" but if the battery area isn't damaged you can use any body shop. Just make sure that they DON'T bake the car in a drying oven! Any hot paint curing has to be done to parts off the car, or with the battery pack removed. In the latter case it should be a Nissan dealer.


Sorry, I intended to write "repair process". I must have mistyped it and had it auto correct to presses. Thanks for the advice, I did not know that about the painting process but it makes sense. I am glad you said something.
 
4CloverLeaf said:
Could you add any info on how you went about requesting this and how they responded when you requested it.

...

I am also interested in the repair presses. Can you go to any standard body shop or do you need to take it to a Nissan dealer? Did you have any problems getting through insurance or getting it repaired? Would you please expand on this process a bit?

In my case, my dealer did not do body work, rather they would've referred me to a third-party shop. So what I did was just look at body shops in my area on Google Maps and picked out a few that had the highest ratings.

Then I looked at the list of body shops that were in the insurance company's network and looked for an overlap. I found one and took my car there. The process was surprisingly simple - I signed one document that authorized them to work on my car. Nothing else. Left my key, came back a week later, picked the car up. No further documents to sign, at no point did I hand over any kind of payment or deposit, nothing of that sort.

That said, you don't have to pick a shop in the insurance company's network - since you're not at fault, you have the right to have your car repaired at any facility of your choosing, and you should choose the dealership if they are capable of doing the work.

Wherever you do wind up taking it, make sure you request/demand that they use only OEM replacement parts. Again, you have the right to do this, because you're not at fault.

After the repair, I called up the insurance company for diminished value. You have to make the first move on this - if you don't, the insurance company will happily let you forget about it. They'll just want you to email them some documentation that supports what you think the diminished value is. Whether or not they agree with that number is another story - that's where I'm at in the process right now.
 
davewill said:
LeftieBiker said:
These cars depreciate so rapidly that this kind of claim is problematic. If you can get anything in the way of a settlement here, I'd take it.
I was thinking much the same. $1K isn't a terrible offer. In the end, you'd have to sue, and even in small claims, you'd end up spending money on appraisals and the like trying to document a bigger amount...not to mention your own time. I'd take it.
Yes, making a case in small claims is not free, but are you also not justified in asking for all those costs in the settlement amount?
- The original diminished value amount
- The appraisal fee
- Court costs
- Time taken off work
- Attorney's fees
If you go to court and win, wouldn't the insurance company be on the hook for all those things? (After all, they're costs that would not have been incurred if not for the original accident.) If yes, it seems like they'd be just as interested in avoiding a court case as well.
 
OP, your approach sounds valid and suing in small claims is easy and cheap.
I don't know why you would obtain an appraisal.
 
BenTheRighteous said:
... Yes, making a case in small claims is not free, but are you also not justified in asking for all those costs in the settlement amount?
...
If you go to court and win, wouldn't the insurance company be on the hook for all those things? (After all, they're costs that would not have been incurred if not for the original accident.) If yes, it seems like they'd be just as interested in avoiding a court case as well.
I was thinking more along the lines of paying for all that and losing. You could file just to see if that elicits a better offer before accepting.
 
BenTheRighteous said:
So what I did instead was I asked the dealer I bought the car from to prepare 2 trade-in quotes, one with the damage factored in and one without. I figure that's a fair guideline for a diminished value claim, but the insurance company disagrees... especially since the difference in quotes ($2,000) is greater than the value of the repair ($1,370). They're offering $1,000 instead.
LeftieBiker said:
These cars depreciate so rapidly that this kind of claim is problematic. If you can get anything in the way of a settlement here, I'd take it.
I'm with LeftieBiker (at least on this issue), but before you get all "see you in small claims court" You might ask them VERY nicely if they would split the difference between the dealer bid difference and their offer and be happy if you can get that.
 
I was in a similar situation in a 4 month old 2015 SV, with around 3k miles on it. Just under 6k in repair cost from being rear-ended. They eventually agreed to $2,400 in diminished value reimbursement, which I took. I think they started at 15% of the repair cost. I argued the newness of the vehicle makes diminished value more extreme, as there own policies dictate no diminished value past 5 (or maybe it was 7) year old vehicles.

I used some free online service that gives a DV quote, can't remember them off the top of my head.

You may find some local experts who specialize in testifying at small claims trials. In my research, I heard you typically do need to file before the insurance company will give you a reasonable figure, but I was ok with what I got, and didn't want the hassle.

Good luck!
 
In my case, I filed the DV claim with the other driver's insurance company, since they were at fault. I'm not sure if you could collect DV from your own insurance if it were your own fault.
 
BenTheRighteous said:
In my case, I filed the DV claim with the other driver's insurance company, since they were at fault. I'm not sure if you could collect DV from your own insurance if it were your own fault.

Agreed, otherwise you could crash your own car, and get paid out for diminished value. I would expect insurance companies wouldn't allow this to occur.
 
Sorry to resurrect this dead thread, but I just wanted to follow up with the outcome now that everything is squared away.

booper said:
You may find some local experts who specialize in testifying at small claims trials. In my research, I heard you typically do need to file before the insurance company will give you a reasonable figure, but I was ok with what I got, and didn't want the hassle.

This is what I did. I live in NC, and the law here is that if you and the insurance company don't agree, you can both hire independent appraisers who will negotiate and come to their own conclusion, which is then binding.

I hired my guy, who said DV was $3,000.
The insurance company hired some other guy, who said their $1,000 offer was spot-on.

After "negotiation," which I had no part of, they agreed on $1,250. I was shocked, but I realize now that it's a complete scam because the appraisers don't give a damn about your business. They know it's a one-time engagement, so they just want to get paid. On the other hand, the insurance company represents a neverending stream of repeat business, so they make sure the final outcome makes the insurance company happy.

But what can you do? The law is the law, and once the appraisers agree, it's binding. So that's the end of my story.

This is the company I used: https://www.ncdiminishedvalue.com/
They're probably all the same, but avoid this one in particular like the plague.
 
BenTheRighteous said:
...After "negotiation," which I had no part of, they agreed on $1,250. I was shocked, but I realize now that it's a complete scam because the appraisers don't give a damn about your business. They know it's a one-time engagement, so they just want to get paid. On the other hand, the insurance company represents a neverending stream of repeat business, so they make sure the final outcome makes the insurance company happy. ...
I hope the extra $250 at least covered the fee you paid the appraiser.
 
BenTheRighteous said:
Sorry to resurrect this dead thread, but I just wanted to follow up with the outcome now that everything is squared away.

booper said:
You may find some local experts who specialize in testifying at small claims trials. In my research, I heard you typically do need to file before the insurance company will give you a reasonable figure, but I was ok with what I got, and didn't want the hassle.

This is what I did. I live in NC, and the law here is that if you and the insurance company don't agree, you can both hire independent appraisers who will negotiate and come to their own conclusion, which is then binding.

I hired my guy, who said DV was $3,000.
The insurance company hired some other guy, who said their $1,000 offer was spot-on.

After "negotiation," which I had no part of, they agreed on $1,250. I was shocked, but I realize now that it's a complete scam because the appraisers don't give a damn about your business. They know it's a one-time engagement, so they just want to get paid. On the other hand, the insurance company represents a neverending stream of repeat business, so they make sure the final outcome makes the insurance company happy.

But what can you do? The law is the law, and once the appraisers agree, it's binding. So that's the end of my story.

This is the company I used: https://www.ncdiminishedvalue.com/
They're probably all the same, but avoid this one in particular like the plague.

Yes, I too learned how much the deck is stacked in favor of insurance companies. After my experience in 2015, I now know some things I will do differently if involved in another crash to improve my negotiating position. I hope you did not pay the "appraiser" and "arbitrator" that were supposed to be working for you too much.
 
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