I had a car that was hit when the other driver ran a red light. It did $17K worth of damage and the car was out for over three months. It should have been totaled but the other drivers insurance would not total it. I was furious but couldn't do anything about it. So, when the car was returned to me I had a professional appraisal done ($400) and then used the depreciated value of the car to go after the other drivers insurance. It took a while but I didn't give up and got $8K in settlement. Later I traded the car in when I bought my Z and only took a $2k hit on the trade in value. It is aggravating work but you can win. Good luck my friend!

heh heh.

I once served on a jury [not a vehicular accident] where the plaintiff added his wife as a plaintiff for loss of consortium. Let me tell you, the women in the jury room took an entirely different view of that claim than the male jurors! The net effect was that it probably decreased the overall amount that was awarded.

Thank you for the info, I will get a professional appraisal on it to make sure I get properly compensated for my diminished value.