[floridaorange]

So my car is almost don't being painted at a certified bmw shop with a great reputation since my fender and door was hit a couple weeks ago. My question is - can I get a diminished value claim from a dealership to submit to Progressive or does it have to be done by a specialist that I pay for?

[Billfitz]

Do you have diminished value coverage? If so ask your insurance company how to file a claim. If not you're SOL.

[DgjoX6M2016]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

Do you have diminished value coverage? If so ask your insurance company how to file a claim. If not you're SOL.

There is no such thing as diminished value cover. Fundamentally it is not physical damage, which is what you have coverage for.

Feel free to track down the party that hit you for that type of claim/tort, but I haven't heard of any real success with that as the cost to pursue exceeds any potential recovery.

What you CAN do is buy better insurance and proactively protect yourself with certain coverage enhancements like agreed value, lower total loss thresholds, and no daily limit temporary vehicle cover. Look to these carriers for that: AIG PCG, PURE, Chubb, Vault, BERKELEY One, and Cincinnati.

I have AIG...cracked up one of our GLs, damage hit half the value of the car, and they sent me a check for the entire agreed value of the truck and was in a Range Rover for a month at no cost while I found a new one. That wouldn't have happened with mainstream coverages: car would have been repaired, I would have had a Kia for a month while fixed, and I would have a diminished value truck after a bunch of non-OEM part replacements.

Not knocking traditional insurance, but if you want top flight coverage and hassle free protection elements you need to pay for it.

[floridaorange]

Ok. Well "progressive," the at fault persons ins. co, said to submit to them a diminished value estimate so I'll figure it out.

[DgjoX6M2016]

Originally Posted by floridaorange

Ok. Well "progressive," the at fault persons ins. co, said to submit to them a diminished value estimate so I'll figure it out.

Originally Posted by floridaorange

Ok. Well "progressive," the at fault persons ins. co, said to submit to them a diminished value estimate so I'll figure it out.

There you go. If they accept it, that's great. That's completely different than you submitting you your carrier.

[Chihuahua]

Originally Posted by floridaorange

So my car is almost don't being painted at a certified bmw shop with a great reputation since my fender and door was hit a couple weeks ago. My question is - can I get a diminished value claim from a dealership to submit to Progressive or does it have to be done by a specialist that I pay for?

You're in Florida (I am too), so thankfully Florida DOES recognize third party DIV claims. Florida does not recognize first party DIV claims, so in this case you will pursue this with the adverse insurer (Progressive in this case). Contact them, let them know you are pursuing a DIV claim. I'll encourage you to do your homework; go online and find cars similar to yours that are for sale both with and without 'bad' CARFAX reports, and take your car to a couple of dealers to get documentation of value both pre and post repairs. Progressive will give you something, but don't be surprised if it is significantly less than what you had in mind as DIV claim values are very arbitrary and theoretical.

Good luck!

[floridaorange]

Thanks Chihuahua - our Chihuahua is 12 yrs old, he's a rascal !

I spoke with a specialist who wanted $350 for the dim val claim, but he said the same thing you did, he said since my car only has 40k miles, the dim trade in-value post accident is likely $1.5k-2k less but the ins co. typically will offer $500 or you can them to court, and they do not like to attend court so you can get your full dim val that way, but I'll take the $500 I reckon. I didn't want to have to pay a "specialist" -- so to that point a couple dealers that sounds good.

Fortunately my Mom just bought a new car and my sister bought her X3 not long ago, so there's my 2 dealerships.

[msk340i]

I tried getting paid for diminished value when an idiot hit my front fender. No luck.

[DgjoX6M2016]

Originally Posted by msk340i

I tried getting paid for diminished value when an idiot hit my front fender. No luck.

Don't want to be a wet blanket, but you are swimming upstream with diminished value unless you are in an exotic, rare or antique car. And as they other carrier isn't YOUR carrier, they don't really 'care' about making it happy. You aren't their client. It's just a reality.

If you have one of those kinds of cars, you schedule them like jewelry/art/collectible and that WILL include diminution in value cover if something happens to it.

I have had diminution in value claims first party losses but you are talking '62 Ferrari GTOs, 50-60s 300SL, M1s and the like.

It's too subjective a theoretical loss in value for a regular ride.

[StannisBaratheon]

I just went through this a few months ago and successfully got a diminished value claim with geico but it was a pain. My wifes VW was rear ended and crushed the trunk, bumper, and a bunch of other parts. I think in total it was $8-9k of repairs to fix. Geico was constantly putting me on hold, not calling back, not returning emails. It took me nagging them every 1-2 days for 3 months for them to finally get the ball rolling. Diminished value is really subjective and they stated that they did not pay out diminished value claims for "cosmetic accidents", but since my wife's car had serious structural damage they paid out.

Throughout the entire process they were asking me how much I wanted. Just like negotiating a salary NEVER GIVE THE FIRST NUMBER. Their first offer was something like $1200 which I thought was way too low. I said I needed 30% of the cars fair value at the time of the accident. They said no way but bumped the offer up to $2700 to get this over with. I accepted because this had been going on for 4 months and I was satisfied with the money.

There are appraisers who will asses the damage and provide a report which will give you more leverage during negotiations, especially if you are not happy with their offer and decide to pursue it through the legal system. I encourage you to reject what ever first offer they give you and demand double or triple so that they meet you somewhere in the middle. My biggest piece of advice is to just keep calling/emailing them until you get what you want. Also take notes during calls and have a paper trail of dates and people you talked to.

[floridaorange]

Finally got car back - shop did a perfect job - will be submitting diminished value estimate next week.

[JustMtnB44]

I recently submitted a Diminished Value Claim with Geico for my Golf R that had some minor damage repaired earlier this year as a result of another guy hitting it while I was stopped in traffic. I am currently trying to sell the car and the 'damage reported' line on the CarFax has resulted in many people ruling it out, or lowballing me because of it. I put together a bunch of documentation on what the market value should be vs what it will likely be now. The process has been fairly easy so far and I'm expecting to get an offer in the next couple days. Hopefully the offer is close to what I want so I can get it over with.

[floridaorange]

This morning I got the call from the Ins co. Turns out my car had technically been in an accident of some kind and had a new rear bumper put on... this was not on my carfax when I purchased it.

Anyway, I agreed to a diminished value claim of $750, which covers my OEM fender, my upgraded rental car that I chose, with some $ left over to use on Xdelete, so I'm good with it all. I expected them to offer less frankly.

[deviantspeed]

From what I have learned in my state, 10-25% of the repair cost is typical. My ins will initially submit to their ins, and I'm on my own there.

I plan to stop by the dealer and see what the trade in value is, perfect verses the accident. Even verbal, I can use that to negotiate.

[Gen13 F36]

Originally Posted by floridaorange

This morning I got the call from the Ins co. Turns out my car had technically been in an accident of some kind and had a new rear bumper put on... this was not on my carfax when I purchased it.

Anyway, I agreed to a diminished value claim of $750, which covers my OEM fender, my upgraded rental car that I chose, with some $ left over to use on Xdelete, so I'm good with it all. I expected them to offer less frankly.

After all this ....by any chance your agent hinted an increase on your insurance premiums?

[floridaorange]

No not at all.

[deviantspeed]

Originally Posted by Gen13 F36

After all this ....by any chance your agent hinted an increase on your insurance premiums?

Someone backed into me last weekend. Their insurance called me and actually admitted that they will pay the claim. I may be out the $500 deductible at first though my ins. My ins said that my rates won't be raised for this claim if they pay out.

My ins, progressive, will file the initial diminished value claim, but I'm on my own after that. They did read a spec off a sheet that said it's usually 10-25% of the repair amount.

I plan on visiting my dealership and asking what the trade-in value differences are.

[floridaorange]

Get your own documentation from a dealership - that's what I did. My total payout before diminished value claim was $2,800. I never involved my ins co at all.