car accident and diminished value

[hapaschold]

wife s car was side swiped, it s a 1999 benz, estimate came in at 3500 bucks to repair.

question is

how does one present the diminished value of a painted or restored car to the insurance company. it s value has been reduced as when u go to trade or sell, the big ? always is , any accidents ? paint work ? and if your at a dealer, it s a deduct....

and on another note, their going to paint the fender, 2 doors, and blend quarter panel and hood.......how do i get them to paint the whole car since they re painting about 45 % anyway..... i m worried what it will look like in 2 years or so.

thanks all ! !

[eagleeye]

Call your insurance company and explain the situation to them and let them fight the battle for you. Insurance companies will listen to another like company before they will listen to us little people.

[action4478]

Originally Posted by hapaschold

wife s car was side swiped, it s a 1999 benz, estimate came in at 3500 bucks to repair.

question is

how does one present the diminished value of a painted or restored car to the insurance company. it s value has been reduced as when u go to trade or sell, the big ? always is , any accidents ? paint work ? and if your at a dealer, it s a deduct....

and on another note, their going to paint the fender, 2 doors, and blend quarter panel and hood.......how do i get them to paint the whole car since they re painting about 45 % anyway..... i m worried what it will look like in 2 years or so.

thanks all ! !

How long do you plan on keeping it ?

I have always been a advocate of factory paint is best ..I try to leave as much as possible as it was from the factory ...

Is the dealer doing the repair?...

If it is done correctly ,, no one should be able to tell it was repaired

Diminished value may hinge on the severity of the damage

More ...here ...

[Going_Going_Gone]

Originally Posted by hapaschold

wife s car was side swiped, it s a 1999 benz, estimate came in at 3500 bucks to repair.

question is

how does one present the diminished value of a painted or restored car to the insurance company. it s value has been reduced as when u go to trade or sell, the big ? always is , any accidents ? paint work ? and if your at a dealer, it s a deduct....

and on another note, their going to paint the fender, 2 doors, and blend quarter panel and hood.......how do i get them to paint the whole car since they re painting about 45 % anyway..... i m worried what it will look like in 2 years or so.

thanks all ! !

Not wanting to rain on your parade, my guess (and it is just a guess) is that your insurance company will only do enough to make you "whole" again--not "new" but making the car, by all appearance, similar to its pre-accident condition. This means that they will specify used or non-OEM parts and given that this car will be 10 model years old next month, I doubt you could negotiate any reduced valuation. Now if it were a nearly new car or a highly sought-after collector's model maybe. My wife's car former was crunched from behind when it was three months old and we received nothing for diminished value. Nothing like having a brand new car and facing several years of payments and knowing it was smacked pretty good and not worth as much in a trade as an undamaged unit.

[hapaschold]

our ins co, geico wrote up the repair estimate using all om parts, 1 fender, 2 door skins, (yes geico) using om parts ! amazing...
it s at a former mb dealer, now they only do mechanical repairs, body work and collector restorations.
we bought as 2nd owners. car only had 28k when we got it...in perfect condition body wise.
with the reliable I6 diesel, i was hoping to bury the car with 400 to 500 k...using it as commuter car once wifey is tired of it in another 5 year s or so.
with only 80k on odo....thats average of 10k/year.
other party s ins co is coming next tuesday to inspect car before repairs start.
i ll wait and see about the dimished value and paint issues...i just might settled with geico, and let them get my $500 deductable. and persue the rest....
off topic a bit, the car has a particulate trap, and in the owners manual, it says to drive it agressively occassional to help keep the trap clean....

[THEBUNDO]

Since you're going to keep it that long, "no worries" about diminished value, IMO

[hapaschold]

Originally Posted by THEBUNDO

Since you're going to keep it that long, "no worries" about diminished value, IMO

hey bundo..........long time ! !

you have a point......but the paint issue is still a issue..

while the cars there, i m going to have it painted, just sucks i probally have to pay for it.....i was figuring on painting the whole car anyway at year 15.

or i can look at it another way, they re paying to pay for 1/2 of paint job now......just earlier than i was planning......

[Shotgunscott]

Most body/paint shops today will stand behind there work and offer a free lifetime warrntee as long as you own this car for paint related defects. ask your repairer if he offers and stands behind there work, if not well I'd look elseware for a repairer. as far as the diminshed value, good luck! Insurance co will put the car back to preaccident condition and to paint the rest of the car would be considered a betterment and will be at cost to you

[NEG297F]

When my truck was hit back in April it $6000 i damage. I got $1100 in diminished value payment. The insurance compaies use a program to compute the value. It takes into account the value of the car, the cost of the damages and a few other factors that I don't remember. My repairs were covered by my insurance compay under uninsured motorist coverage. the truck was the one in my signature

[hapaschold]

Originally Posted by NEG297F

When my truck was hit back in April it $6000 i damage. I got $1100 in diminished value payment. The insurance compaies use a program to compute the value. It takes into account the value of the car, the cost of the damages and a few other factors that I don't remember. My repairs were covered by my insurance compay under uninsured motorist coverage. the truck was the one in my signature

did you have to chase them for the dimished value settlement ? how did u start the process ? many thanks ! !

[NEG297F]

When I contacted the adjuster that was handeling the claim I asked about it andthats when she told me the process and what was involved and submitted it to the proper people at the company. I have USAA insurance