There are some older topics on diminished value claims that are now locked due to inactivity so I wanted to get some recent experiences and advice from the fellow hackers.
My brand new 2022 X5 got rear ended on my way home from the dealership with only 30 miles on the clock at the time of accident. I dropped off the car today for repairs and the body shop suggested I should seek diminished value claim with the at-fault party’s insurer. I am specifically looking for advice or experiences with this type of claim (especially in Colorado and/or with American Family Insurance). What should I do (or not do) before filing the claim?
If there was no structural damage or air bag deployment, your car will lose approximately 15% of its pre-accident trade-in value. If the car is leased and you are not planning to buy it, there may be no need for you to make a diminished value claim. Check that the lease company won’t charge you for the diminished value of the car.
Not a lease, I bought the car for tax credit benefits (it is the PHEV model). MSRP was a touch under $68k so you are saying my value has dropped by about $10k because of a fender bender? I would imagine the at-fault party’s insurance would ask for some sort of proof that the car has indeed lost $10k in value. How would one prove that? Also assuming $10k is the depreciation hit, what portion of this amount can realistically be claimed from their insurance?
@Jrouleau426 got diminished value on his Alfa accident. I know you have a purchase, but he might be able to shed some light, I remember he got a good claim.
I received about 7k on a Lexus IS with moderate side impact. Got a Carnax value less what kbb said it should be, and they wrote a check. Maybe could do a carvana offer before the accident hits the carfax and after the accident is on the carfax. Would call the insurance and see if they offered anything but would definitely pursue, but pun intended, the car took a hit. It’s a real thing and they do owe you and will pay it.
You can either collect comparable car sales and demand what you want from the insurance company. I would try and do that first. If they balk or won’t talk to you, there’s plenty of attornies that do it on contingency. I would try and negotiate it myself first bc obv the attorney is going to take a percentage or a set fee from the settlement.
Get trade in quotes from a few companies disclosing damage, then without disclosing. Average them and that’s approx what they owe.
I’ve done it a few times and once the insurance company realizes you know they owe you a claim they’re pretty easy to deal with. I’d say 95%+ of people don’t pursue diminished value claims, so I think insurance companies want to pay out the ones that do as fast and quiet as possible.
You should consider hiring an appraiser. I’m sure there are several in each state (I’m in GA). I spoke to this guy a while back and he was very helpful (https://allensautomotiveappraisal.com/). I’m still waiting for my REVISED diminished value offer from the insurance company in my case, but I suspect it will be low. If so, I’ll be retaining Chris.
My situation is on a business box truck, so not apples to apples with the OP however.
My few months old car was recently rear ended by a driver insured by American Family insurance; I lodged a claim directly with them and in process asked for the diminished value claim. They simply asked to submit a diminished value assessment from an appraiser and suggested some dealers also do that. It didn’t sound painful, especially since the company was easy to deal with for repair and rental. Since mine is a lease, I passed on the info to Volvo to figure out what they want to do.
OP here, wanted to close the loop. My repair bill ended up being a little over $6k and I was able to negotiate a diminished value claim of $3k (their original offer was $1.8k). All in all, it wasn’t difficult to deal with American Family Insurance and I am content with the final amount we settled on.
