VikingBlue

wife works with someone whose car (2007 Volvo SUV) was parked at her home on her driveway. Car was damaged when drunk driver plowed into it late at night about a year ago.

Driver's insurance paid for SUV to be repaired and it's been driven daily since then.

Now owner wants to trade it in...in round numbers, dealers have said it'd be worth 20K in trade but for the accident listing on the CARFAX, so they will only pay 10K for the trade in.

Can owner sue drunk driver (or his insurance company) for the loss of value due to the accident & CARFAX incident listing ? Or was the case settled and final once insurance paid for the repairs ?

Is this reasonable ? Or is this too late to pursue ?

bccan

That's a hot topic in some circles. Search "Diminished Value"

442much

PM sent

ent72olds

Although I'd love to see the guy sued, I would say, it's too late, and also, if everyone sued everytime there were an accident, it would be mayhem....let alone the fact that A) If he were to go after the driver's ins co for the difference, and won, it would set a precident for everyone to do it, and who would the ins co's charge for the difference in losses?(take a wild guess) and B) If he were to do it through small claims, the court systems would by clogged for years......accidents happen to everyone...be happy nobody was hurt....just an opinion based on no real knowledge!

MDchanic

Anybody can sue anybody at any time for any reason.

The question is whether the plaintiff is likely to win.

I'm sure attorneys on this board with experience in insurance matters like this would be able to better assess the likelihood of a win under specific circumstances in a particular location.

- Eric

Rickman48

Offer it on E-Bay for the 20k - the dealer's gonna make money, and probably jack it to 25k!
See what they're going for on C/L or E-Bay!
In this economy, everyone's looking for a deal and/or a steal!
As the cars been driven since, and the repairs completed, I don't see how they can deduct value on a trade-in!
I've been to many wholesale auctions - carfax's are not disclosed!

joe_padavano

Sounds to me like it's time to find a new dealer who isn't trying to screw the customer. The whole point of the insurance payment is to either make up for the diminished value or to restore the car to the same condition that it was in prior to the accident.

sx455raidercelticfan

i paint 4 a living and i see alot of insurance jobs, a damaged car is a damaged car even after its repaired, if you were looking for a car would you pick the car that had never been in a accident over the 1 that was plowed into? i think its a loss now they should of fought for extra money or fought for the insurance company 2 salvage it and pay it off when it happend, its 2 late now because they allready took the money

i was hit while sitting in my car in front of a friends house by a teenage girl who said she was changing the radio, they tried 2 give me 4000 2 repair the car, i refused and fought untill they salvaged the car and paid it off, than they sold me the car back for 800 i repaired it and made 5 times my money on it after i drove it for a while

Aceshigh

So let me see if I can cliff note this question to make it more visible for you.

1. Volvo is rear ended
2. Volvo is fixed by insurance company and you're a happy customer.
3. Volvo is later attempted to be traded in and a Stealership tries to pull a fast one on you.
4. So you think suing the insurance company who did their job is to blame for the stealerships low ball offer??
survey_saysWRONG.jpg

Exactly.
The STEALERSHIP is trying to screw you over. Go find another dealer.

Dealerships do this crap all the time.
My Harley came FULLY loaded with ~$5,000 in chrome accessories, SS brake lines, upgrades, etc.
My buddy is the finance manager for Chicago Cycle. They said they got the bike
for next to nothing on trade because they don't give you ANYTHING for the accessories.


Yet, it was listed for $20,000......and it was 1 year old. On trade they gave $14,500 for it.
Needless to say I got it for $15,100 because he's my brother from another mother.
That's just how the game is played. Most people are suckered by dealers.

Redog

Yeah I agree this is the dealership issue, not with the insurance.

Does the Volvo have a clear title? If yes, I don't see why.

But then again, with the world of computers, I can see this car sitting on the dealer's lot for a long time.

I'd sell private party

Railguy

In Pa. ,if you sue the driver you are suing the Ins.co.
A few days a go I was talking to someone who dose a little body work.We where talking about hail damage(hail is uncommon here ) he told me that someone had alot of hail damage,the Ins.co. totaled the car paid him off.He was going to fix the car himself and keep running it.But it had a salvage title even thow the damage was cosmetic.

Bluevista

The only state where a diminished value premium is required to be paid out is Georgia.
There was a class action lawsuit there and they won.
Otherwise no other states require it, there have been other lawsuits but the insurance companies claim that there should be no diminished value if the vehicle is repaired using OEM parts and the damage is is brought to good as new, and they've been winning.
Carfax can knock a lot of value off, it can be real or perceived but it doesn't matter. The report doesn't say how well it was repaired, just that it was in an accident and that turns buyers off.
She can try to sue the insurance company but doubt she'll win, she accepted the settlement.
I know nothing about insurance, my wife has worked for a major auto insurance company for over thirty years, I asked her.

The dealer's always lowball trade-ins, that ain't nothing new, if it weren't the Carfax it would be something else that makes it worth less, you're always better off selling the car yourself.

70Post

She most likely signed a RELEASE when the car was finished with the original repair. An insurance company isn't going to cut a check or cut the car loose, most likely, without it being signed by the person that sustained the damage.

I envision language, or a document signed when they took delivery of the car stating "claimant hereby accepts the car, the repairs, etc and fully releases XYZ Insurance Company and its Insured (the drunk idiot) from any further liability, claim, etc in this matter. Acceptance of the vehicle constitutes full satisfaction of any and all claims, present or future, Claimant may have, yada, yada, yada....."

You get the idea.

They better find out if they signed one or one was included in some other document they signed in the process.

End of story if they signed a release.

Rickman48

Read the fine print - if you sign over or cash the insurance check, you're done!!
You just settled your claim!

I do residential hail damage claims throughout Chicagoland, and you'd be shocked at the B.S. the Ins. Co.'s and Mortgage Co.'s are getting away with!!!

coltsneckbob

All this just makes for a good reason to lease a new new car.

Aceshigh

We need to talk......
Because I'm the president of my HOA and we're getting the run around from CAU who is our insurance carrier, and they hired LJ Shaw as their adjuster.

compedgemarine

the whole CARFAX deal is mostly crap. if you total your car without involving someone else and there is no claim to the insurance company then you can drag it home and piece it together. when you trade or sell it it will never show up on the carfax. on the other hand a minor repair that was reported to the insurance will show up but as stated you have no idea how good or bad the repair is. it does seem that more and more cars are considered totaled if they are borderline so that the insurance company doesnt have future claims if the repairs are not done right.