Auto Wreck - Diminished Truck Value

[Bigfootwolff]

I was recently rear-ended by an Allstate insured driver. Allstate accepted responsibility and truck is waiting to be repaired. For those of you that have gone through this before, or those of you that have knowledge of the auto insurance industry/claims adjustment process, how do I successfully argue the diminished value aspect of the property damage settlement portion of my claim. For example, are there any key words or phrases I need to use to increase my chances of recovering the amount my truck value has diminished, since a wreck will now show up on CARFAX type vehicle history reports.

[bigbad243]

Yes, "talk to my lawyer".

[Traildust]

Yes, "talk to my lawyer".

and " my neck hurts "

[Bill M]

Ask your insurance agent. We had to get an appraiser out of Houston to help us out. He got about $4000 more than the insurance company wanted to pay. The difference is, the person we were hit by had an uncooperative insurance company. Ours paid the claim including diminished value and went after his.

[Txhuntr2]

The other insurance company may pay diminished value but they’ll likely make a lowball offer. Go online and hire your own appraiser and use that appraisal in negotiations with the insurance company.

[Pstraw]

Contact Robert Mcdorman. He's an independent adjuster. Free consultation, and he can help you.
409-790-4378

[HoneyBee]

I have questions about this... I've never heard of diminished value before. So if someone hit a truck I was driving and the insurance company is paying to get it fixed, they could still owe for diminished value of the truck I was driving?
I got hit a couple months back the truck was only a year old.

[brrdnk]

Yes the at fault insurance company owes you the diminished value. They will not brig it up you have to. So you one year old truck let’s say is worth 40k. Now that’s it’s been it a wreck through no fault of on you, now the truck may only worth 35k after it has been repaired. That’s the diminished value. Get it appraised to what it’s worth before and after the wreck.
The insurance company will try and low ball you. Just don’t except there offer and don’t sign off on anything until your satisfied. I will take some argument but a little give and take but at the end of the day your truck is worth less than it was before even if it’s fixed to your satisfaction.

[Uncle_Milty]

Wish I would have known about this 7-8 months ago when my wife got hit. It was our first time to be involved in an accident so we were clueless

[tdwinklr]

Yes the at fault insurance company owes you the diminished value. They will not brig it up you have to. So you one year old truck let’s say is worth 40k. Now that’s it’s been it a wreck through no fault of on you, now the truck may only worth 35k after it has been repaired. That’s the diminished value. Get it appraised to what it’s worth before and after the wreck.
The insurance company will try and low ball you. Just don’t except there offer and don’t sign off on anything until your satisfied. I will take some argument but a little give and take but at the end of the day your truck is worth less than it was before even if it’s fixed to your satisfaction.

so what do you do when the at-fault insurance company sends you a check in the mail with a payoff amount that only pays for a repair that does not use OEM factory parts, which they are supposed to? Tear up the check?

[bigbad243]

so what do you do when the at-fault insurance company sends you a check in the mail with a payoff amount that only pays for a repair that does not use OEM factory parts, which they are supposed to? Tear up the check?

Get a lawyer, seriously.

[wes122984]

It’s much less now in this used vehicle market . They will argue that a repaired vehicle is not worth any less. Hired an appraiser that provided comps and opinion , they declined and refused to negotiate - filed claim with Texas dept insurance - they settled 2 days later for 3k


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[bowhuntertex]

so what do you do when the at-fault insurance company sends you a check in the mail with a payoff amount that only pays for a repair that does not use OEM factory parts, which they are supposed to? Tear up the check?

this is when you get a lawyer involved

[Masmak]

Diminished value payment is not required in Texas, where it is a law in other states. As it was explained to me. Some insurance companies will honor the precedent set in other states, and pay the value of the difference between what your value of your car prior to the accident and after. It took quite a bit of effort and phone calls to resolve it for me when someone rear ended my explorer about 4 years ago.

[eradicator]

I went and got bids from different dealerships on what they would pay me for my truck. Filed the claim with the person at faults insurance company. Went back and forth several times with offers, settlements, etc. Last phone call ended up with me stating they would be dealing with my lawyer for here on out. They cut me a check for an agreed upon amount that I deemed fair. Full disclosure, I was hit by a drunk driver(he was arrested on site) so they didn't have much of a leg to stand on. These was many years ago and if I recall correctly the insurance company has up to two years to settle the claim. Mine was said and done in about two weeks. Not sure if the process has changed recently. I did have the guidance of an outside party that was an auto claims adjuster.