I was recently involved in an accident with my Fit. Someone lost control of their Mercedes, ran off the shoulder, hit an embankment and went airborne in front of me while I was doing 60 mph on a major interstate. It was dark when this happened. Other than a small dent on the driver's side windshield pillar, the only damage to my Fit was scratches on the headlight lenses, chips on the windshield and the rear quarter glass, deep scratches on the hood, and lots of paint chips from debris on the front and passenger side. The estimate came up to a whopping $4300.

The insurance company offered me $291 in diminished value. I think that's kind of low. Granted there was no major sheet metal damage, but I think the amount of paint work involved diminishes the value of my car signifigantly. If I were on a used car lot choosing between my Fit with the paint work and a Fit with the factory paint job, I would pay much more for the car with the factory paint job. Also, I'm sure this is going to show up on carfax. It may even show major damage because of the amount of the repairs.

I'm just looking for some opinions. Do you think $291 is fair?

 

BTW, it's a 2008 Sport A/T. I bought it about 6 months ago and it has approx. 15k miles.

 

What is diminished value? A reduction in the value of the Fit from the NADA/KBB/ blkbook 'real' wholesale and retail values? Are they offering you $291 in addition to the $4300? In that case, presuming competent repairs were performed that would be fair but yes, $500 would be more realistic for the reduction in your car's value.
And it can be a ruse to get you to sign off on any further claims, say for unknown damages that show up on repairs or personal injury. Do not sign any releases until your Fit is repaired to competent condition prior to the accident.

If your car suffers a loss that will cost $4300 to bring it back to the condition prior to the wreck thats what they should pay. If its the 'other' parties insurance looking to reduce payment for repairs then you are being scammed. In that case take it to your insurance company to have it repaired and to collect any deductible you pay your insurance company. Some insurance companies won't even charge you the deductible if they know they can collect the full amount of repairs from the 'other' company.
You may have to bird-dog them to see it gets done.
PS yes $4300 for the damages you stated seems a trifle high but then I haven' inspected the damage. May be entiretly accurate.

 

imho, there is nothing 'fair' about being involved in an accident. the time and
headache you go through is never reimbursed. $291 in diminished value is very low.
i would change your insurance agent or the company in entirety.


if you have the option, i would trade-in the car as soon as it comes out of the
bodyshop and get a new car. unless of course, you plan to keep your car as a dd
for a very long time and the appearance of the aftermarket finish does not bother
you too much. it seems carfax takes a few weeks go get updated so if you can
trade in the car and close the deal usually dealers will not come back to haunt you
since you have a very popular car they will not have problems selling it or auctioning
it off.

when my wife's old new POS corolla was involved in an accident with over $5.5K in
repairs (some middle aged woman hit her in a parking lot) the day the corolla came
out of the shop i drove it down the block to trade in for another car. things went
very smooth.

 

dude WTF!! that insurance is a ripoff... thats how much prograssive wrote me a check for .. for my front lip when it was stolen... and thats the actual price for the lip painted.. for major paint blemish like that they are supposed to give you a lot more..

 

Actually I am dealing with Progressive.

 

could you please explain this diminished value?

 

If your car gets damaged in an accident, the car is worth less money even after being repaired. For example, if you were looking at used cars and found 2 almost exactly the same and one had paint work and the other had the factory paint job, you would most likely pay more for the one with the factory paint job.

The insurance company has to reimburse you for the "diminished" value of your car.


I believe the law is less than 10 years old. Maybe 5 or 6. Also, I'm not positive it is a law in every state.

 

That's actually a part of the appraisal process. When an appraiser, or owner looking to value his car for trade or sale, reviews the vehicle for mileage and condition, a vehicle that has been wrecked (as opposed to repairing a scratch) the value always is dropped a 'classification'. For example from excellent to good in NADA or KBB.It appears to be a place where the appraised value is low and the insurance company seeks to 'reassure' the victim of their good efforts on his behalf. That works only for repaired cars, not totalled ones, which are appraised 'before the incident'.
And in contrast, most owners will not declassify their wrecked car so that there is a disagreement between the insurance company and settlement naturally. By tacking the 'diminished value' in the settlement they expect to avoid the disagreement. Not a bad idea actually, but as I said it applies only to repaired cars.