Does an agreed value policy take into account the diminished value in an accident? does it depend on the State you live in? or is the policy like a regular policy which requires repairs if they don't exceed 75% of the value of the vehicle.
It seems you could be hurting yourself with an agreed value policy which does not recognize diminished value.

 

I don't know the answer but interested. One data point i can add - a cars & coffee acquaintance with a Z28 is an insurance adjuster for a major insurance company. He told me it is common for an adjuster to allow up to 50% of the damage repair cost for diminished value. But i can't say if that applies where the owner of the car caused the accident...

 

Your agreed value policy does not include payments for diminished value. You may collect diminished value via a claim against the insurer of the at-fault party if the was one.

 

Well let's say that someone runs into your car, that is insured at $100k. They cause $60k in damage and the company does not total it. You would have them repair the car, and then you could go after the person's insurance company that ran into you and you would collect diminished value, let's say for an additional $10k. This would be money in your pocket.

Let's say that you ran into someone else, caused the same amount of damage, you won't be getting diminished value.

Let's say the same scenario as the first one happened, but there was $80k in damage, then you would just get a $100k check to you, but diminished value would not come into play since you would no longer have the car.

 

Agreed value only comes into play in the case of a total loss. In which case as stated above diminished value would not apply.

 

Correct. I had an agreed value policy with Grundy on a Viper that I wrecked and they sent me a check for the value ($65k), guard rail replacement and some other incidentals; the car was deemed to be totaled. I was also able to buy the car back from them for not very much and I sold it to a member of the VCA who rebuilt it as a race car so other than a little scar over my eye and an "I told you to be careful on cold tires" from my wife I made out quite well, and I had a replacement within a month.

 

Diminished value is not easy to collect. Insurance CO’s hope that those that are hit by one of their insured know nothing about DV. Surprisingly many don’t. A few years ago my wife was run into. The insurance co was happy to agree to the repairs, a rental car and medical payments. Being a retired auto dealer I was and am very aware of just how critical an accident is to the value of one’s car that has had thousands of dollars of repairs. Initially they tried to tell me that they don’t pay DV. I refused to accept that and informed that that I would need 20% of our cars value to settle my DV claim. Finally they sent us $1550 for DV. I spoke with a few attorneys and realized it would cost too much for legal help. Our car was worth $25-30000 so I was looking at $5-6000 to settle. They refused but agreed that the money they had sent was ours to keep and any further money would be in addition to that. I filed a claim for $3500 in small claims court. Finally the week before the court date they caved in and settled. So we ended up receiving a total of $5050 with no legal fees. But you have to fight like hell to get anything. For my 911S the dollar amount would require an attorney due to the dramatic increase in value. I can only hope that never happens.

 

Great to hear about Grundy as well. I have been considering switching to them since my insurance company does not offer agreed value and they also seem to be reasonably priced compared to many of the other agreed value policies out there.