LVDell

Long story short is that my mother's car was rear ended pretty badly and the car is only $1K from being totaled and they will NOT total it at that point. So since she has to get the car fixed what is the best way to procure the diminished value figures? She plans on selling it after it is fixed and wants to make sure she is able to price the car for sale accordingly. If it makes any difference (insurance legality wise), she is in Texas.

TIA!!!

smankow

dell, sorry to hear about the accident and I hope that Mom is OK.

what is the difference in amount that she'd get if it was actually totalled? That's a pretty good starting place.


Steve

Tippy

Maybe this will help? :

http://www.diminishedvalueoftexas.com/index.html

LVDell

Very informative Cory, thanks!

Steve, good point. I have no idea. I am going to have her talk to the Mercedes dealer and have them give her a quote on what they would have given her before AND after.

Tippy

I just heard a few weeks ago (on public radio) about how only something like less than 1% of Texas drivers claim diminished value after an accident.

LVDell

I believe it. I had an accident when I was in high school down in SAT and thinking back on it all I remember is that it was repaired. Didn't have a clue what diminished value was.

I just remember somebody talking about it here some time back and it seems to creep up every so often when somebody's car is wrecked. A thread will always have a post "make sure you get diminished value". As other Rennlisters look out for each other, I need to do the same for my mom so I appreciate y'alls responses!!!

Tippy

Had the same happen to me, had a Hyundai take out my '69 Camaro convertible. Wished I'd knew.

fast1

About five years ago one of the Engineers on my team was rear ended while she was driving her three month old BMW 540. The damages came to approximately $24K, and the Insurance company had no intention of totalling her car. So she got a lawyer and sued the other driver, and she was awarded the retail value of a new BMW 540 with 2K miles which came to around $50K.

When the other guy is at fault, you have tremendous leverage, so don't accept anything that's not reasonable from your perspective.

Good luck.

LVDell

I guess we need to get FIRM with our own insurance company then I guess since they are paying and then going after the other company. They suggested this so we could get this handled as quickly as possible.

TTJunkie

Dell:
This worked well for me:

Dear Jennifer:

Itemization of post-repair problems.

• Sandpaper scratches in hood. Correction would require re-sanding and re-top-coating the hood.
• Ripples in passenger door. Correction would require stripping and repainting the door.
• Gouges in engine cover (from 3 attempts to apply “Carrera 4S” emblems). Correction would require stripping and repainting engine cover followed by yet another attempt to apply emblems.
• Squeaks and Rattles in passenger compartment. Correction would require hours of labor to isolate and silence all the noises that were added by the collision.
• Sunroof electronics become “confused”. I suspect correction would require the replacement of an intermittent electronic component.

None of these problems have altered my decision to keep the car, but they combine to reduce the total value, to me and to others. I can continue to bring the car in for repair until it is as new as it was before the collision, but I suspect a 20% diminution of value settlement would be to everyone’s preference.

Thank you,