Rear-ended, not sure what to make of the damage

[Muddy Duck]

Get a lawyer. You need someone who actually knows the negligence law in your state. Your insurance company can provide an attorney, but you can choose your own attorney. Just remember, it's your claim to settle, not theirs. If you're not happy with whatever is being offered, be a pain in their ass. Threaten suit.

 

[EasyAndy]

Has anyone filed a diminished value claim? This is the first I've heard of it. I just had $14k in repairs to my 2010 SRS Premium with 128k miles. The other driver was completely at fault and her insurance accepted full liability. I've already replaced it with a 2014 Limited and I've been freaking out a little bit over the thought of trying to sell the old one. I didn't do a trade because I needed a vehicle and couldn't wait for the repairs to be completed to get something.

Any tips on the diminished value claim? I'm so glad I've been frequenting this forum or I might not have ever found out such a claim was an option.

[MENTION=82781]jimmiem[/MENTION]

With the extent of damage to the OP I would certainly agree with Muddy Duck and it sounds like your 4Runner probably suffered the same if not more damage. The issue you run into is that the vehicle had 128K miles on it so waters become a little muddy. The older the vehicle gets/more miles the harder it is to substantiate a large $$ diminished value claim. I warn everyone on this form to not use ICAN as this was the route I went down and the owner J.D. Howard did a terrible job pre/post assessing the value of my 4runner. His valuation did not even come close to a post repair cash offer i received from Carfax and I basically had to throw away his report. His appraisal was $30,860.00 and Carfax was $36,000.00. If I would have continued to try to use his report the insurance company would just laugh in my face, and they did when they first saw it. ICAN was trying to say that my diminished value was $3400-$3900. I proceeded to make a "diminished value" claim of my own with excellent to good prices on Edmonds, blue book and NADA. The other persons insurance eventually settled with the average of the three, $1,495.33. If I could do it again I would have certainly hired a lawyer as they might have gotten close to the $4000.00 DV mark. The lawyer I talked to did not want to take the case as I had already turned in the ICAN report. He did not think he could use it and that it would only hurt his case in trying to settle with the insurance company. One thing to note is that the lawyer route will cost you much more as they take, from what I remember, about 40% of the $ the get in the settlement. In the Denver area, all the personal injury/property lawyers do diminished value claims so I would start there. They more than likely have the most experience with it as it is not a common thing many people try to pursue. Best of luck to the OP and everyone else trying to go down this road. Insurance companies are the worst.

Here is a picture of the damage I received to my 4runner, it had about 3500 miles on it at the time. Repair cost was $4027.00 :jaw:

 

[JEMP1003]

Thanks for the input guys really appreciate it. The insurance appraiser made a quick estimate without removing body panels and the current repair cost is about 6K. He should finish the inspection today so we shall see.

Do you think the diminished value claim is something that can be taken to small court (tx limit is 10K)? So far all the lawyers I've spoken to say they will not take the case because she is uninsured.

 

[EasyAndy]

Thanks for the input guys really appreciate it. The insurance appraiser made a quick estimate without removing body panels and the current repair cost is about 6K. He should finish the inspection today so we shall see.

Do you think the diminished value claim is something that can be taken to small court (tx limit is 10K)? So far all the lawyers I've spoken to say they will not take the case because she is uninsured.

Yes definitely, although collecting from her might be another story. If you are going to go down that route you will need someone like ICAN. J.D. Howard is a very nice guy, I just don't trust his numbers. Make sure you are comfortable with them before you use them in any sort of legal sense. J.D. will work with you and will be an expert witness in court for another $200.00. A lawyer might also let you use his DV guy to create the assessment for a fee. Careful trying to find DV people online, this space is very predatory and full of scams. ICAN was the only one I could find that seemed trustworthy. If I could do it again I would have used a lawyer or someone local. Local DV people in my area were more expensive than ICAN which is why I went with ICAN. When I initially decided to go after a DV claim I was skeptical so I didn't want to spend a bunch of money upfront.

 

[EasyAndy]

One more thing I remember from my experience with DV is that frame damage dramatically increases the DV amount, mine was only cosmetic. I wouldn't be surprised to see your DV claim anywhere from $6000-$10000. That is a lot of money to mod you truck in the future. Best of luck and keep us posted on the process, i'm sure a lot of people can benefit from your experience in the future.

 

[ben550]

I'd put money on her using her phone when she slammed into your 4runner...

Ask the NSA to check her phone records at the exact time of the accident...

 

[Jeremy556]

Do you think the diminished value claim is something that can be taken to small court (tx limit is 10K)? So far all the lawyers I've spoken to say they will not take the case because she is uninsured.

If she doesn't have insurance, she doesn't have any assets. Suing the other driver will only get you an uncollectable judgement.

 

[Stifler]

do you have uninsured coverage? if so use it and move along with life... people Fing suck

 

[Americas High Five]

another reason to never put people in a third row (especially kids). yikes!

 

[leftyguns21]

to my 2010 SRS Premium with 128k miles.

is that correct, you have a 4 year old car with 128,000 miles on it?

to the OP, how fast was she going, that's a lot of damage

 

[jimmiem]

is that correct, you have a 4 year old car with 128,000 miles on it?

Yup. I put upwards of 30k miles a year on my vehicles.

 

[leftyguns21]

sheesh. that's a lot of driving. and I thought 16k/year was a lot

 

[southman_70]

I feel your pain. I had the same thing happen to me when I got my 10 SHO and got rear ended about 3 months later. Carfax is your worse enemy and if you are going to trade it in the dealer's best friend. They will use it against you no matter what it says.

 

[HiLife]

Dang that's some hit op. Glad you came out ok. We have some of the craziest drivers here in Houston. They are always in a rush to make it to the next stoplight before the other drivers. I think it was like 1 in 4 drivers in Houston is uninsured. Looks fishy that she didn't get cited by HPD for that expired insurance card.
Where's the justice in this state for people who follow the law!!