QUESTION
Diminshed On April 1, 2012 I was driving my 2005 Nissan Altima in Richmond, VA and was rear-ended by a young lady driving a Honda Accord.
Asked on Aug 06th, 2012 on Automobile Accidents - Virginia
More details to this question:
I went to the emergency room as instructed by the insurance adjuster. I was sore for a few days but I felt pretty good and still do today. Her company is State Farm. Prior to the accident my car was worth between $5,500 to $6,000 and I told the adjuster this. When the State Farm adjuster valued the car they said it was worth $9500.00 My car was in good condition and now it is in the Fair to Poor range. They said they would not total the car because it had to be 100% damaged before they could total it but I could file a Diminsh Value Claim later. The estimate repair was $5100 and the actual was $6200. . The car was repaired, howevver I am having some problems with the car. I asked to file a diminshed value claim and they refused my claim base on the age and conditon of the car before the accident. Can they do that?
1 ANSWER
Insurance & Worker's Compensation Attorney serving Towson, MD
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Saltzberg & Schloss
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The insurance company does not automatically have to accept your diminished value claim. My experience has been that the newer the vehicle the more likely the insurance company will consider a diminished value claim. To bolster your diminished value claim, you could pay a company like Reed Appraisers (301) 946-6116 www.Reedappraisers.com in Silver Spring, MD to write a DV report for a fee. A DV expert does not necessarily have to look at the vehicle but will do so for an extra charge. Usually a DV expert, among other things looks, at the itemized repair bill in order to prepare a DV report.
If you are still having problems with the vehicle after the repair, I suggest you direct those issues to the body shop that repaired your vehicle.
Answered on Aug 07th, 2012 at 2:03 PM