Diminished value $50!!!???
 

my car was rear-ended and the fault insurance adjuster refused to replace the bumper (which costs $1870), instead cuts me a check of $1099.
Also i filed for diminished value, they came up with the diminished value of $50!!!!!!:bs:

I refused to take that $50, now I do not know what to do.

Get it quoted at the dealer's collision center and they have to pay for it since it's their insures fault.

yah, take it to a bodyshop of your choice and send the quote to your insurance agent.

tell your agent that his/her adjuster underquoted and cheaped out. and you are not happy.
have the adjuster make up the difference.

Did you take their offer on the bumper? You don't have to. Tell them to try again. I'd be more pissed over the bumper cost than the diminished value.

As long as i do not cash the check in im not taking their offer right? They already sent it without informing me

Correct. Don't cash it and give them a call to inform them you're not taking it. Go get a couple estimates from good body shops and send them over.

Don't cash the check!! They purposely quote you less than the cost to replace because a lot of people don't care about fixing their cars and just keep the check. If you plan on having your car professionally repaired, NEVER except their offer. Take it to a body shop of your choice and have the body shop bill the insurance company.

The reason insurance companies do this is to keep costs down when people don't care about fixing their cars. People who drive '89 Hondas probably don't care about a dented bumper and wouldn't mind a few extra bucks in their pocket. It's a win/win. But you don't drive an old POS, so get your car fixed properly. Insurance shouldn't give you a hassle. If they do, have a lawyer send them a kind worded letter.

Correct. When I had my 350 backed into, it was a similar situation. The insurance guy gave me a check that was blatently too low. I simply took it to a repair shop, explained the situation, and they took care of it. The guy also gave me a similar speech about how they won't need to replace anything. They'll just pop the dent and repaint it, blah blah blah. It was my side door that was hit. There was a crack in the metal and everything. The shop guys laughed and were like yeah, your door needs replaced. lol

When this happened to me on a GM vehicle I took it to a GM dealer for the estimate and repair. Most dealers have a relationship with the insurance company and the adjuster. They authorized the repair at GM which was 30% higher.

:iagree:

Like everyone else says, take it to the body shop of your choice and let them bill the insurance company. They will still owe you for diminished value, so let them know that $50 isn't cutting it. For example, on my old 2004 Malibu, I took a $1500 hit in diminished value, the insurance company whined and cried over it, until I kicked it up to a supervisor and threatened to file a complaint with the state insurance commissioner. Keep kicking it up the chain of command until you get a fair offer.

Insurance companies seem to think everyone is too poor to wait to get paid. It is a tactic that must serve them well but when I found out the $4,000 offer on my car was all they wanted to pay, I went out and bought my 370Z and told them I now have a car and you hold nothing over me.

The law in CA at least is they have one year to settle. I was not taking any of their offers and over three months, the offer had risen to $8K, then 12K. I had them call in a referee or umpire, I forget which. Finally we settled upon over $16K.

Hang in there and they will come around.

what was the story with this? 16k for diminished value?


OP get the car fixed out of pocket and then fight it out with them. Don't sign or accept anything.

reviving this thread, After having diminished value done by the collision center, which quoted for ~ $1100, insurance company came back with $850. I accepted the offer. It took me 3 months to get the check after accepting the offer.

Oh and Richey Collision tried to FUHK me by saying the diminished value report costs $250, but they were doing it for free because they fuked my bumper once. Which is bullsh1t because the first time i visited them, they said it was free.


edit: Also, the time it took them to process my diminished value report was nearly 4 months. So 4+3 = 7 months total for the check. I harassed them every week and they eventually gave in. They don't pick up the call or they say "they don't know when." I was lucky because I had the adjuster's direct phone number.

is your car fixed?

yes it's fixed, and I got into another mystery accident in january and that is fixed as well.

I've had my vehicle insurance with State Farm for 40+ years* and homeowner's for about 25 and have been very happy with their service. No problems getting paid quickly even when repairs have exceeded the estimate. They have always worked with the contractor/body shop so that I didn't have to worry about the details. Rates are reasonable and well worth any extra I may be paying. YMMV


* except for about 12 months when my ex convinced me to go with a cheaper company. Switched back to State Farm and divorced the ex. ;)

Get it appraised by someplace like Carmax; get the carfax, which will show the diminished value -- call the insurance company, demand satisfaction, haggle, repeat -- eventually, reasonable diminished value payout.

Correct. Your insurance would pay the difference and they would subrogate, and collecting the difference from the othe guy's policy becomes their problem. Your other option would be to go to small claims court with your estimate (get three) suing the driver directly. The liability for epairing your car good as new after a rear end collision is, at the root his problem, not his insurance company's.

huh, that's not a bad idea! :tup:

you're on a roll with good info and insight, jordo. :icon17:

It was a 1995 300ZX TT in 2010. So I got 1/3 of what it sold for in 1995.