I was involved in a fender bender yesterday and it damaged the front passenger side fender, headlight, bumper cover, front lip, and wheel. Now of course this was very painful for me to see my baby get wrecked because I love the car so much and never wanted it to ever be in a collision. My estimates have averaged about $3000 and I want to pursue getting compensated for the depreciation of the car because it has been wrecked. I know for a fact that people are not willing to pay full market value for a car that has been in even a small wreck. These cars, as we all know, have VIN's on all the fenders, hood and bumpers. So now I'm gonna have it repaired with all Mitsu OEM parts but will no longer have that VIN on the passenger side front fender. The insurance adjuster is coming this afternoon to assess the damage. I'm pretty sure this is a legitamit claim I can make. My car's KBB value was $21,800 before I was in the accident. Is there any standard as to getting compensated for loss of value after a wreck? Or should I have the car appraised after the repairs are done?

 

Really...

 

Unless it is put as salvage or rebuilt there will be little to no depreciation in it's value.

 

^ Thats not true. Damage disclosure tanks your value- and depending on what the carfax is going to say about the accident - moderate/major damage - definitely does impact your ability to sell a vehicle and DOES effect the resale value.

 

all of which are true but you cant go after somebody that has there insurance fix your car to new standards again hints the whole point of having insurance. just because i hit you does not mean you can get both. Now you can sue him for the difference but who is to say you would have even gotten 21800 for you car had you sold it right that second you may only beable to get 18000 for it so your assumeing a random number out your head for depreciation loss and sueing for that. newsflash whether your in a accident or not it will loose value the fact he is fixing your car via his insurance is enough and you will loss that case everytime if you decided to sue for loose of deprication give me a break.

 

Let me go off what was the original post. In his situation with what sounds like minimal damage will have little impact on his resale value. Now I would still follow up with the agent and see if you can get some money for it. Better to have extra then none from it.

 

all depends on the carfax they like to label minors as majors. make sure to keep pics of the wreck.

 

^ yep. Carfax has done a wonderful job building their business. They originally gave auto dealers a few free checks a month to advertise their logo on their cars. Now everyone is so scared over them that it ruins things for people who had MINOR accidents. Regardless of how minor the accident is, it can definitely impact how things go. I've seen someone walk over a accident on carfax that was listed (on carfax) as a parking lot incident with a parked vehicle- i.e. a scuff that got buffed out.

Your state laws also dictate how things are reported. Here its anything over 75$ in damage...

 

Assuming the car has no structural damage( hope that it doesnt) i dont think you have any recourse. You will have difficulty proving any tangible loss in value, and the insurance company is fulfilling their obligation to repair the vehicle. The best you can do now is make sure you get top notch paintwork done and insist on oem parts.

Accidents happen unfortunately.

 

Yes you can and you have a legitimate case. You do not need to have a salvaged title to be compensated for the damages in terms of resale value. How much you are given will be determined by your insurance company though so ask them.

 

It can't hurt to try I personally try to stay away from cars that have been in a front end accident. I would take lots of pictures showing the damage to show a future buyer exactly what they are getting. For all they know your frame was bent and you took a sledge hammer to it in your garage.

 

Yeah I took a lot of pictures and will be taking pictures while it is being taken apart to be fixed. I'm not trying to get thousands of dollars but I've had to deal with this kind of thing in the past where I tried to sell my car and because it had a minor front end collision, and was fixed TO NEW SPECS, they didn't want to buy the car. So I do have m reasons for wanting to be compensated. I value my car very much and take care of it. I've been screwed over by insurance companies before and it won't happen again. So if I can get a little extra money then I'm gonna try to. I don't have to sue his insurance company to be compensated for depreciation from the wreck.

 

Sorry it happened to you, Lord knows I hate Columbia traffic at times (assuming that's where you were). Some lady with no license driving someone else's SUV decided to make a left turn into me in the middle of an intersection in my EP Civic and nailed my front driver's quarter pretty heavy on Valentine's Day a few years back. Talk about a clusterf*** to get straightened out..

Anyway, I understand the logic behind this, but I'd guess the hardest part of this holding up in court is trying to put an actual dollar amount to loss of a potential sale; I really like your idea of getting it appraised, that's probably the best bet to coming up with a before & after value to take to a judge. No matter how that works out, I hope everything goes alright with getting the Evo back in great shape!

 

ive seen alot of evos with salved titles sell for alot ... as long as it repaired correctly it shoulded matter

 

It is called diminished value, and it is not required that insurance companies pay it, some do. It is becoming harder and harder to prove every year... You must PROVE to the insurance company that your vehicle will be harder to sell and will sell for less.

There are a few companies that will draft a professional report for about 60$ or so. Also call a dealer and have then quote your vehicle then have them re-quote after you advise them of the damage.

I know someone whose evo was rear ended, he brought up diminished value and they gave him 2k. It all depends, to me... a gamble worth taking. Ill pay 60 bucks to possibly get 1500-2000.

my evo was just rear ended and I am trying to figure out how to prove it. Wish me luck