2K7TTMIA

I hear ya. IIRC, I paid $250 or $350 for a professional appraiser on my 00 Cab ($14.5K damage). His estimate was $7000 DV, the at-faults fully covered Geico rep offered $3500 .
I still say you should try to recover something.

Mark Dreyer

I have a certified letter into the other insurance company making demands for a diminished value claim settlement, referencing Florida statutes to bolster my claim. Haven't heard back and that letter went out a couple weeks ago.

TexasRider

I dont know all the ins and outs of this but did you explore the Uninsured and Underinsured part of your own insurance in conjuction with the claim?

We have been fortunate as for as wrecks, but here it is 50-50 or more that you will need your insured portion of your policy . When my wifes BMW got hit from behind it stepped in and did everything right . We even had rental reimbursement in it and the shop went all the way.

When I bought a new Pontiac for my son and it got rear ended at college a few years ago I got the shaft . I had financed the car in his name so he would have credit but of coure I paid the note. When it had big big damage I could not get the other company to total the car and worse they lowballed the hell out of me as it was by now a non production car. Our lawyer said we cuold "maybe get $5,000 more " but it was going to cost me that much. I started to string out the personal injury and I did withhold that option, but I needed the boy in school rather than deposition. In the end I had to eat about $5,000 to sell the car away and just get him a new Chevy.

So in my book you have a chance on a big claim, but not so much on a small one.

I did buy the payoff insurance on the Chevy .

Mark Dreyer

I did find that Florida law does not allow for claiming diminished value against your own insurance company but it is possible against the other guy's company. The question is given that there are other claimants (building sign was ruined and major utility reconstruction costs), how do I stake a claim to the balance of the limited funds in that $10k policy which otherwise may be allotted to those other claimants?

Macster

Spend money and time to file a claim, probably get a judgement in your favor, then stand in line behind others who did the same to get pennies on the dollar, if you get anything at all.

adam_

Bingo.

The crux is that the other driver caused you a DV loss. You can go after him, and if he has adequate insurance THEY will pay any DV that courts decide upon. (or that you and he and his insurer agree to). In this case of course, the loss far exceeds the coverage so it is moot.

The issue is that the CONTRACT you have with YOUR insurance doesn't reimburse you for "your loss"- the contract language likely specifics that they will pay to replace or repair your damaged property. (Technically it isnt 'florida law' but rather Florida insurance law allows insurnace companies to exclude DV for Collision and comp....Insurers could pay it if they wanted, and not be breaking the law. )



In a pure liability claim, you could just get the car fixed, as perfect as you like, then present the at-fault party with the bill at the end...and fight over that. But Insurers want to be right at the front lines to control costs, so they tend to get in there right away- but you dont need to allow this. Also, the notion that YOUR insurance will do right by you, and that 'the other guys' company are the bad guys usually isnt fully true- the insurers tend to band together to control costs, irrespective of how it is paid. Most people dont have the $$$ to pay out of pocket and like having it all paid up front, which gives insurers the leverage...

Glad it worked out in the end, more or less.

For $2000 I am not sure it is worth it. Maybe file a small claim against him, but I wouldnt spend any more than that. Keep in mind that your buddies at SF will be in line for the 10k as well. They paid 17k in damages, they can get 10k back from his policy.... There will be nothing there for your DV. IMO

Mark Dreyer

Turns out the building sign wasn't property of the owner, rather was city property. It housed utility lines and thirty years ago the building owner attached signage to the structure without permission. The city was waiting for an opportunity to create a new structure to house the utility lines and the building owner will now need to put a separate sign. Bottom line is I am the only claimant so perhaps I can tap the entire $10k. I just received a letter yesterday from the other insurance asking me to provide documentation of my DV.

2K7TTMIA

good to hear. As far as a DV estimate, you shouldn't have to pay more than $400. check around or I can PM you the person who did mine; IIRC, he works for a larger company ( may have connections in your area).

Frankie Colletta

Try St Lucie Appraisal, they use only dealer quotes on Diminished Value to formulate their reports. Much more acceptable to insurance companies than the formula route that most appraisers use or the auction results that others use.

Sam Zamir

I'm hearing 2 conversations here that I wanted to chime in in. First the DV claim issue. I am a factory certified collision center for several European brands, so this topic comes up a lot. I have yet to hear first hand of a successful DV settlement in CA. If you have this experience, PLEASE PM me.

Secondly, on the subject of repairs and procedures, things are changing in my industry at a fast pace. If the shop you are working with has "always done good work" don't assume they can handle the newer cars. For an example of this repair see this post I wrote that involves a repair without frame pulling, and without welding (flow drill screws and bonding only).

https://rennlist.com/forums/991/7603...l#post11206709

Carlo_Carrera

Nice job on that 991 Sam.

Melb-Mike

I had first hand experience with this in FLORIDA. My 2005 almost new Corvette was rear ended by an old lady in a Mercedes. My car had $8,100 of damage which wasn't bad considering she hit me while she was traveling at 55 mph and I was stopped. Her Mercedes had $28K of damage.

Her insurance was Allstate with $25,000 of liability limits. After I had the car repaired, I had some written statements from two dealers and one damage appraiser stating that I had sustained a diminution of value of around $5,000. However, Florida doesn't have provisions for these kind of claims. Allstate told to go pound salt. So I sued the old lady in Summary Claims Court for the $5,000. Actually, since the limits are $5,000 in this court, I sued for $4,750 plus court costs which came out to be $5,000. She paid me in full.

Some states like Georgia have DV provisions so you can make a claim just like a medical or other property damage claim and have it processed like that. However, going after the driver is usually the best way and let them wrestle with their insurance companies afterwards. However, if you're dealing with an absolute deadbeat, the judgement paper you get from the court will only be as good as your ability to claim their "free of lien" property for seizure. Cars which are financed are off limits, as is other property that have other legal attachments. It can be nearly impossible if you've got a dedicated career deadbeat.

The concept of suing your own insurance company under the under-insured or uninsured coverage is usually limited to personal injury situations but I'm not sure that is an absolute fact either. I would imagine it depends on how your policy is written and what is excluded. It may be a good try.

Melb-Mike

You can try this outfit. They came to talk to our Corvette club members at the last meeting to explain their services.

Matthew Cannizzaro, Certified Agent
Auto Appraisal Group, Inc
Central Florida Region
www.autoappraisal.com
[c] 407-247-7870 [HO 1-800-848-2886

I think their minimum charge starts at $400 but I don't want to quote pricing on their behalf. They are currently doing the DV analysis for the National Corvette Museum on the cars that were sucked in the sink hole last month. Good luck.

NewYorkBuck

Insurance companies have never been quick to pay, but I think this is even more so with the bill from Hurricane Sandy. The bills from that storm were absolutely enormous, and they are trying to cut costs/gain revenue everywhere they can.

Case in point - last year I bought a house, and the insurance company put a value on it for ELEVEN TIMES what I paid for it. Yes, its a Victorian and they used replacement value, but ELEVEN TIMES? Face it, they are just looking for more revenue....

Mark Dreyer

Bump to announce I am going to list this car for sale in anticipation of buying a new GT4. I just can't resist the potential of a 400 HP NA flat six at 7800 redline in a mid engine platform!

I've recently done a Fabspeed exhaust and PSS10 suspension. My local Porsche salesman says the car should be worth $35k retail factoring the performance mods against the accident history and 75k miles on the odometer. Does that sound reasonable?