I was recently in a car accident which wasnt my fault. Basically a trucked backed into the front of my car. The impact was minor, but it did do $2700 worth of damage. I needed one new headlight, grill, front bumper, and new hood.

I am pretty sure if you run the car on carfax this accident will appear. The other insurance company paid to have my car fixed and it looks good, just like new.

A friend of mine had his car hit in a parking lot by some lady. Her insurance paid to have his car fixed and he says they are going to give him money for the depreciated value of the car since the accident will cause him to get less upon trade in.

I have never heard of this. Am I entitled to get this same deal?

12/18/2007 7:41:47 AM

It's an insurance company, you're not 'entitled' to anything. You gotta fight for it. But yes, you should be able to get something for it.

12/18/2007 7:59:07 AM

not if you already settled

12/18/2007 8:01:50 AM

this guy's a fucking idiot anyway and anything he says holds no credibility.

12/18/2007 9:05:54 AM

Depreciation checks only apply to new cars in most cases. For a minor accident like yours, there is a large chance that it will not be on its records.

This is going by my dealings with insurance (state farm)

12/18/2007 11:17:38 AM

what kind of car? if its a cheapo econobox, there is no "depreciation" value.

i mean, im sure there is, but thats just my thoughts.

but if its a hot rod civic, then yeah, sue for $10000

12/18/2007 11:31:24 AM

ngr

12/18/2007 11:32:41 AM

Quote :

"hot rod civic"

does
not
compute


unless my car is the one in question. all 75 furious wheel horsepowers knawing at the pavement.

12/18/2007 11:45:52 AM

^ i am talking about all civics in general.

12/18/2007 11:53:24 AM

Yes you can get money for loss of value.
It has nothing to do with any injury settlement you might be claiming.
And it doesn't matter that your car has already been fixed.

In my case, I had a $9500 Saab that received a similar amount of damage (around $3k I think.) I ended up getting around $900 for loss of value.

The first step is to call the other person's insurance and say you want money for loss of value. In my case they pretty much said "ok" and they sent out an appraiser from an independent appraisal company to estimate the value before and the value after the accident. Be extra nice to this guy. You want him to be be your best friend.

Shortly thereafter he sends a report to the insurance company and they should cut you a check for the difference.

I found the whole experience pretty simple. I didn't have to "fight" for anything. Hopefully your experience will be similar. In any case, the first step is to call the other driver's insurance company and get the ball rolling.

12/18/2007 1:45:19 PM

I just called my insurance company to get some advice on my plan of attack. Basically in NC if the damage does less than 25% of the car's value then you dont have to say anything when you sell the car, BUT Carfax will say what happened.

In an accident with less than $2000 worth of damage, no report is filed, only an exchange of driver info is given. In my case a report was written (damage was $2700) and I know it was cause I can pull up some DMV stuff at my job.

I drive an 05 G35. Not new, but not way way old. If I was to trade this car in on say an 08 G37, my car no longer meets the requirement to be a certified used vehicle and will probably sold at some dealer auction eventhough it looks brand new.

My adjuster said, when people call him asking for this, he usually denies the claim, cause he is trained to do so. But if the person files a claim and shows proof he will offer $500-$700 just to settle.

12/18/2007 2:05:42 PM