Recently, my car was hit by a drunk girl while it was parked on the side of the road. I found the girl, called the cops, her insurance paid for all repairs and a rental car and were very helpful. I asked them what they do about the depreciation value of my car because its now been wrecked and repaired, they offered me 500 on the spot but i declined telling them that i needed some time to research the value depreciation being that the car is a limited production car. So how much do you guys think it was depreciated and if anyone has any links to a page that offers info on stuff like this it would help.
I was thininkg about asking for 1500 and if they decline then offer to turn it over to my lawyer, but I would rather keep it out of the courts and not have to deal with any lawyers, your thoughts?

 

this info would be helpful to me as well.

 

What do you mean by 'depreciation value'? If the car had $X worth of damage and the insurance company gave you $X then they have fulfilled their obligation. I have never heard of a depreciation factor being included.

 

Know your rights. I was rear ended two years ago. The result was that my bumper needed to be repainted along with the trunk. After the girl paid for my damages on the car and hospital bills, she had to pay an extra 2500 for the devaluation of my car. I explained to the insurance company that these cars are very rare, and that anyone who was to buy the car from me in the future would give me less money due to the fact that it had been repainted. The insurance understood the special circumstance and gave me the cash.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by norice &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What do you mean by 'depreciation value'? If the car had $X worth of damage and the insurance company gave you $X then they have fulfilled their obligation. I have never heard of a depreciation factor being included.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well because the car has been wrecked at no fault of my own, I cannot sell the car for as much as I would have been able to before it was hit, therefor her insurance company will pay a fair amount to cover my loss

 

Ooops - just did a Google search and it seems that I am full of it.

Depreciation can be a factor - though it is not necessarily all that easy to get the money.

http://www.stromlaw.com/FSL5CS...2.asp

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jmm0056 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Well because the car has been wrecked at no fault of my own, I cannot sell the car for as much as I would have been able to before it was hit, therefor her insurance company will pay a fair amount to cover my loss</TD></TR></TABLE>

Right but since it is her insurance company and they may or may not have a policy on this they have no obligation to you. The girl might but the insurance company likely has no obligation beyond the full repair of the car. This is a grey area you will likely not get much out of. TO be honest knowing a few people who have pressed this issue I am more thgan surprised they offered you $500. YOu are likely to end up in court for this arguement.

 

Actually, here in MA anyways, there is a depreciation value that "can" be requested from the offenders insurance. My gf has done this with her brand new G35. Just because the insurance has paid to repair the damage, the car's value has still been lowered due to being in an accident. Kind of like if you were looking at a used car, and it's been in an accident, you wouldn't want to pay full value for it.

As for how to figure out the depreciation value, I'm not sure my gf found a company that actually figured this out and typed out letters to the insurance company for her. It cost a little money but you get back more...depending on the amount of damage to your car.

 

I never knew about this. Pretty cool. It makes sense. You legally have to tell the buyer its been wrecked, and noones going to pay full price for a car thats been wrecked. I would say 10% of the cars value so $1800.

 

This is what you have to do:

1) Go to a used car dealership and have the car estimated at blue book with no accidents, then get it estimated with the accident. Tell the dealership to give you in writing how much less they will give you due to the accident.

2)Show the papers to the other party and her insurance

3) Collect money. I say 2000 should be fair.

It might be hard to find a nice used car dealership that will do this for you, but slip the guy some cash for the write up and nobody's the wiser. Used car salesman will do anything to make some cash. Offer him 50 bucks.

Good luck, make her pay.

 

Wow, I never knew this existed. I wish I knew about this when I first got my car and got hit by a Chevy.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jdmspoonitr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It might be hard to find a nice used car dealership that will do this for you...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Do you have CarMax's in your area? They give written quotes all day long.