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Thread: Been hit? Diminished Value saga continues...

  1. #1
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    Been hit? Diminished Value saga continues...

    THIS ONLY APPLIES IF SOMEONE HIT YOU NOT IF YOU HIT SOMEONE...

    Okay folks, I want to update you all on my “Diminished Value” claim with Progressive Insurance. This is a long story and I know some of you are already aware (and maybe bored) with the story but if I can put some money in a member’s pocket, I want to do it.
    In summary, a young lady who carried insurance with Progressive hit my car. Progressive paid for the repair on the car and she looks great however my contention is that the car has a lower inherent value than an identical car that has not been wrecked. The Texas Supreme Court (other states too) has ruled that an insurance company does not have to pay “diminished value” on an insured vehicle. HOWEVER, there remains a provision for a third party claimant to recover these losses. This means if someone hits you and they have insurance- their insurance company must pay you any damages (or losses) in an effort to restore you to the pre-accident state.
    My Marauder had 9,362 miles on her at the time of the accident. The damages totaled $3217.95. I sent faxes professing the future collector value of the car and Progressive countered with there was no accurate way to calculate my loss. The vehicle had been repaired to its pre-accident state and that was their liability. They said in order to quantify a claim; I would need to provide them with data that shows that a 2003 Mercury Marauder with similar mileage and similar damage sold for less than a 2003 Mercury Marauder with no damage. This of course, is a task of Herculean proportions. I would have to find from a population of 7094 black 2003 Mercury Marauders a set of 9300 mile vehicles that had sold and the impossibly small group of $3200 damaged vehicles that had sold within that set. Time to give up? Not this cowboy.
    There are a few (very few) companies that specialize in third party appraisals that have an established history of providing documentation for third party diminished value claims. No one tells you about it- you must research. I have an appointment with a company called Stated Value for an appraisal on 28APR04. I am confident that their 7-15 page report and a demand letter will yield a satisfactory solution.
    I plan to post the results of the appraisal and claim resolution. My advice after fighting with these folks is don’t give up and don’t sign a release. Prepare for a fight.
    I'm very thankful to Bob, Marty and especially Ross for their wisdom and experience. If I’m jousting with windmills, they never discouraged me and that’s pretty cool.
    If I win this, you can too! More to follow.

  2. #2
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    Progressive Insurance Claim

    Stick to your guns. I had to go to CEO of Progressive to get a rental car paid for that was equal to the car that was damaged in an accident caused by their policyholder. Company is very hard to deal with. They did pay "diminished value" which I compared with CARMAX(the value they used).
    Last edited by Black Terror; 04-26-2004 at 12:50 PM.
    Bill
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  3. #3
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    I am sceptical of the entire diminished value concept based on the statistic that the majority of vehicles over 4 years old have been damaged!

    I am not aware of dealers reporting "damaged" vehicles as selling for less. I have never heard of a modern vehicle getting a higher price as being "undamaged".

    This all assumes the repairs were properly done and restored the car to the mfg standards.

    Having said that good luck with your efforts and let us know the end result.
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  4. #4
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    I went through a similar experience about 4 years ago. I was rear-ended at an intersection by an F-250 going 45+ mph. I was waiting for a stop light in my new F-150 (less than 6k miles). There was over $10,000 damage to the vehicle, and my insurance company refused to total it.

    So I started the "diminished value" argument, and made my insurance agent run that up the corporate flagpole. I will say that he made a good case for me, maybe too good:

    The end result was that I traded the truck in as soon as it was fixed. A couple months later, in my insurance statement, was a new amendment to the company's auto insurance policies, clearly stating that the policy could not, did not, and would not cover diminished value claims (insert your own legal-eze here...).

    I have a feeling my situation had something to do with that new amendment...can't be sure, but it seemed to be more than coincidental...

    Good luck, will be interesting to hear how this turns out!
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  5. #5
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    Dan, I don't know if this helps or not, but my car had $3504 worth of damage when I traded it in on the '04. Eagle sold it the next day as-is. You might want to check and see what they sold it for. That plus the $3504 would be an approximate value for that car. Can't match you on the mileage though. My car had almost 23k on it at the time. Good luck........
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  6. #6
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    I for one believe in dimished value.
    I mean, come on. If I look at a car and notice different color paint in certain areas that indicate a repair was done, I'm not going to even come close to offering blue book value.
    After all, it is damaged goods no matter how you look at it.

    Good luck on your mission.
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  7. #7
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    Well --first off--stick to your guns --and heres why-

    Most of the older members here know of or have heard of my situation last year--in short-- got rear-ended by a large trash truck which pushed me into the rear of a large landscaping truck with a power seeder gun/turrit....car had 2886 miles and just 103 days old...

    Their insurance paid for my repairs and medical and then came the deminished value claim..like you--know one told me nor has a way to go about this...so I in-listed a board member here ( Thanks Mac) who had just sold his MM w/about 7- 9K I believe, anyway, --I asked him to certify a letter to me of its value at sale ( not damaged) and then I used that against mine which was much younger and put together a statement that showed my current value less an MM with more than 7-9K more miles, against the sticker, caused it was the only "value" to compare since there was no history (value) for the car as yet. and requested the maximun loss depreciation value allowed by state law---in NC it is 35% of the damage--mine was $19,217-....thus they really had no choice but to present me with what any sane owner would do now since it wasn't worth anything to anyone --but take their money and mod her up,up ,up.....thus ...my fine #7 Dennis Reinhart Votec V-2 SuperCharger on top of my previous modes till then...


    So ..yeah --go for it--make them pay...put together a good compariable case and it should go in your favor... ........Tom
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  8. #8
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    Exclamation Accident or bad paint??

    Dan: In December I went to trade my '03 300A in on an '04 DTR.

    The dealer only allowed me 17,000. for my car??

    Another dealer did not evern what the car!!!!!!!(bad paint)

    Other '03 Marauder's were selling wholesale for around 21,000 at the time.

    Although my car was not hit, it did have very bad paint.

    Needless to say I keep the car and now it going in to the paint shop on May 24 for a full warranty re-apint

    Accident or not see this through......

    Best of luck and please keep us posted
    Last edited by Bigdogjim; 04-26-2004 at 05:44 PM. Reason: Why do you think?
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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by sailsmen
    I am sceptical of the entire diminished value concept based on the statistic that the majority of vehicles over 4 years old have been damaged!

    I am not aware of dealers reporting "damaged" vehicles as selling for less. I have never heard of a modern vehicle getting a higher price as being "undamaged".

    This all assumes the repairs were properly done and restored the car to the mfg standards.

    Having said that good luck with your efforts and let us know the end result.
    Very valid points!- I love this board. I can't disagree with anything you've said but do assume that I'll be offered less for the car (thanks to CARFAX and other such services) from a buyer or dealer. Their insured caused that loss. I was fat, dumb and happy with an undamaged vehicle when she ran the red light. It may be "restored" but is not "original". I'm not selling this car- she means to much to me. I will post the results.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by 2003 MIB
    Very valid points!- I love this board. I can't disagree with anything you've said but do assume that I'll be offered less for the car (thanks to CARFAX and other such services) from a buyer or dealer. Their insured caused that loss. I was fat, dumb and happy with an undamaged vehicle when she ran the red light. It may be "restored" but is not "original". I'm not selling this car- she means to much to me. I will post the results.
    Dan, you know my situation. I was hit from behind by an F-150. Fortuantely, the F-150 stands high enough that it ran over the bumper and into my trunk. I needed a new trunk lid, a new left rear quarter, new CD magazine player - these were the major parts and the highest labor cost.

    My car was in the shop for five weeks. During that time, I checked on progress at least every other day. The car is now back in my hands and it is gorgeous. Unless you knew that it had been hit, you could not tell. My paint was close to perfect before and it has been repaired to that condition.

    I spoke to the adjuster (Geico) about diminished value and he became a little defensive. I mentioned 'collector car', that I had visited the used car sales manager at a major local Ford dealer, and so on.

    I asked him to investigate the process. He did and when he called me back, he explained that Geico has a table that the company has developed for diminished value. I got a check last week for $1050. While I probably could have pushed for more, I decided to let it go as I was unsure what my chances were of a higher yield versus the time and potential expense.

    I'll be very interested to see how others are treated in this regard. It is an area that has no consistent policy in place for many companies and across all states.

    My only suggestion is that when you are placing a claim in which you are not at fault, you should bring up diminished value as an issue early in the process. I discussed it as soon as I had a copy of the estimate in my hand.

    I hope that my experience will help others.

    My company is Progressive, but, based on the way they are treating MIB, I may change. How would I be treated as a policy holder?

    Bob
    Last edited by 67435animal; 04-27-2004 at 05:04 AM.


    383 4-speed w air grabber

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by 67435animal
    My company is Progressive, but, based on the way they are treating MIB, I may change. How would I be treated as a policy holder?
    Wow Bob!-Thanks but I wouldn't advise anybody to leave Progressive based on this stuff. They were VERY responsive in every other aspect of the claims process. I like that Progressive is equipped with the mobile claims office (Ford Escape) with wireless hookup to the main office. I think most insurance companies are all taking a "don't ask don't tell" approach with diminished value claims and your advise to bring it up as early as possible is very sound. Most people don't know that they have this right to recover the loss. It's a business and they obviously want to write the smallest check possible and charge the largest premium that the market will allow.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by 2003 MIB
    Wow Bob!-Thanks but I wouldn't advise anybody to leave Progressive based on this stuff. They were VERY responsive in every other aspect of the claims process. I like that Progressive is equipped with the mobile claims office (Ford Escape) with wireless hookup to the main office. I think most insurance companies are all taking a "don't ask don't tell" approach with diminished value claims and your advise to bring it up as early as possible is very sound. Most people don't know that they have this right to recover the loss. It's a business and they obviously want to write the smallest check possible and charge the largest premium that the market will allow.
    Dan, maybe I was a little hasty in my statement. It is good to hear that Progressive treated you right other than with respect to diminished value.

    It is likely that Geico is further along in the process of recognizing Diminished Value as a valid component of a claim. The other difference between you and me is location. The State of Georgia recognizes diminished value as a valid claim. Texas does not. What would be interesting to learn is what Progressive would pay out for diminished value in Georgia.

    It is interesting to note that another MM board member who lives in GA and was in an accident did NOT receive a Diminished Value payment. Maybe you have to request it when you are not at fault.

    Bob


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  13. #13
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    Update

    I took the Marauder in for appraisal yesterday. It was an amazingly detailed process. The guy wanted a list of every modification made and went over the car with a fine tooth comb. I wish I'd taken him with me when I picked up the car from the body shop. He showed me paint runs, misalignment, sanding marks, loose bumper cover and two missing fasteners (no worries- the repairs have warranty). The report takes about 5-7 days for completion. The plan then is to send a demand letter to Progressive for the dimininished value amount (I won't know that number until I see the report) and the appraisal costs ($386.25). I'm quietly optamistic.

    The company is also in the same airport as Lone Star Classics. They build replica Cobras, GT40s,and other stuff. They let me wander around and it was cool.
    Last edited by 2003 MIB; 04-29-2004 at 06:30 AM.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by 67435animal
    Dan, you know my situation. I was hit from behind by an F-150. Fortuantely, the F-150 stands high enough that it ran over the bumper and into my trunk. I needed a new trunk lid, a new left rear quarter, new CD magazine player - these were the major parts and the highest labor cost.

    My car was in the shop for five weeks. During that time, I checked on progress at least every other day. The car is now back in my hands and it is gorgeous. Unless you knew that it had been hit, you could not tell. My paint was close to perfect before and it has been repaired to that condition.

    I spoke to the adjuster (Geico) about diminished value and he became a little defensive. I mentioned 'collector car', that I had visited the used car sales manager at a major local Ford dealer, and so on.

    I asked him to investigate the process. He did and when he called me back, he explained that Geico has a table that the company has developed for diminished value. I got a check last week for $1050. While I probably could have pushed for more, I decided to let it go as I was unsure what my chances were of a higher yield versus the time and potential expense.

    I'll be very interested to see how others are treated in this regard. It is an area that has no consistent policy in place for many companies and across all states.

    My only suggestion is that when you are placing a claim in which you are not at fault, you should bring up diminished value as an issue early in the process. I discussed it as soon as I had a copy of the estimate in my hand.

    I hope that my experience will help others.

    My company is Progressive, but, based on the way they are treating MIB, I may change. How would I be treated as a policy holder?

    Bob
    Bob,

    Nice to see another big-block Corvette owner also attracted to the MM. I love both my cars. Luckily neither has been hit (while I owned them...). It is nice to be able to have two cars. The Vette never goes downtown and is only driven on a cruise or occasionally to the office on a nice day. Of course, your Vette is worth more than mine!

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by djcwardog
    Bob,

    Nice to see another big-block Corvette owner also attracted to the MM. I love both my cars. Luckily neither has been hit (while I owned them...). It is nice to be able to have two cars. The Vette never goes downtown and is only driven on a cruise or occasionally to the office on a nice day. Of course, your Vette is worth more than mine!
    Thank you! It's not the value that delivers the pleasure! It's the 'throw you in the back seat' torque. I drive mine only to shows and cruises. It has a 4:11 gear so it is not a great long haul driver.

    Bob


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