I’d take the $500 before they figure out you don’t actually own it. 
In PA leased cars are ineligible for DV. Likely once the insurance co. determines the car is leased they’ll deny the claim. Unfortunately it’s the law in PA.
speaking of DV, my wife’s Kia Soul got rear-ended last weekend and after a week dealing with med claims and damages, I almost forgot about DV, so thanks?
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A tree falling on the car I would likely put a claim through my insurance or the persons home owners policy. That’s completely different then someone damaging my vehicle in an accident they were at fault in, making it worth less when I go to sell it.
What I’m saying is, if a tree falls on your car right now and totals it. Do you still have the DV from the prior accident? No. They’re just going to pay you for the value of the vehicle. Your value wasn’t dimished and you were paid a fair market value for the total loss of your vehicle. A million things could happen to your vehicle before you go to sell it. Maybe you feel the DV is $3000 now because it’s new, but what if you keep the car for 20 years and 300k miles, how much is the one accident worth then? Basically zero.
DV is basically an imaginary number until you show a realized loss. The only way to do that is to sell the vehicle. You already said you had prior damage on the vehicle before this, I just don’t think you’ll get much more for it with DV, but you can try. PA might be different than some other states.
I work in insurance in NY.
Not sure where you pulled that text from but my wife and I had a good laugh. It’s definitely not PA DV law as the statute is 2 years - not 3. Also (and again) the car cannot be leased, nor be greater than 5 years old, nor have more than 100k miles, nor been involved in a prior accident that involved a DV claim. Maybe you got lucky having ‘several’ be approved as it’s standard for the carrier to check the lien holder status. Not sure why a PA insurance carrier would pay-out when they don’t have too. Consider yourself lucky.
My wife is a partner at Morgan Lewis and has handled several DV claims for friends over the years. She even remembers the three case citations that determined PA DV law: Horton v Rapid Transit, Bauer v Armour, and Holt v Pariser.
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That’s not how dv works in PA. It’s not an imaginary number. It’s the difference of the cars value before and after the accident.
The only variable here is it’s a leased car that I do not own. So it’s possibke only the bank has a dv claim and not me.
That is how DV works. There needs to be a realized loss. You didn’t lose $3000, you might potentially lose some money if you were to sell your car someday. I work in the insurance industry and do this on a daily basis. YMMV. I’ve been doing this for 15 years in NY, take it for what it’s worth.
What recon is saying is that this difference is not realized until the car is sold.
I understand what he’s saying. That’s not how it works in PA. I’ve done it several times, just not with a lease. You need an appraisal stating what the car was worth with and without the accident. The difference in that can be recovered. In 2008 I had an 05’ clk500 I owned and someone rear ended it, $19k to repair it and I got a check for $6800 for DV based on appraisals.
This is incorrect as the realized loss took place at the time of the accident. DV is when you claim an amount of money to compensate for the difference between your car’s value before the repairs and its CURRENT value now that it has been or will be repaired. Jrouleau explanation and experience noted above is exactly how DV works.
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I got DV from the at fault party insurance on a 6 months old car, which I did not sell for another 3.5 years after the accident.
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Did you use any of the websites like KBB? I am submitting a claim through Geico and they advised I can use them as proof, however, I don’t see which have an “accident” clause, only whether the car is in fair or good condition. Vroom and Carvana have it, but won’t let me print out an entire questionnaire.
I’m in Illinois, my lease was involved with a NAF accident. Just got off the phone with the Allstate rep, who stated that since I do not own the vehicle, I cannot file for diminished value. Hope it helps.
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No, I don’t think so. I requested DV from the other party’s insurance. Don’t think I even apprised my car. They came back with some offer and I tried to negotiate. They raised their offer and in the end it was “take it or leave” at around 5% of then current value.
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This is the only scenario I’ve personally seen work with a lease an DV: other party at fault, repairs, request and negotiate DV and they don’t check or miss that you lease.
My car was financed.
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Then you have standing for DV. Otherwise the captive is the party with standing for a DV claim, which is why it’s uncommon to get paid on it when you lease. But it happens. Like all things YMMV.
It was a nice surprise when I got it on my financed Accord when I was side-swiped, it almost (!!) made me whole on the actual DV when I traded it on my first lease.
Just an update. I got $1700 for diminished value on my stelvio that got $7000 of damage from an amazon driver.
So it is possible to get it in Pennsylvania on a leased vehicle. I prob could have gotten more had I gotten an attorney but then they would take 30-50% and it would take longer. Lease is up in July…
This brought my effective payment on a $52k stelvio down to $292/mo+ tax on a 24/12 lease.