tff

Was involved in my first ever 2 car accident recently in my '14 IS350 (after 37 years of driving). A person cut in front of me making a turn and ripped my bumper & grill to shreds + minor fender damage (was a hit & run). 6" sooner, would have been no damage. 6" later, would have been significantly more damage. The total repair ended up being about $4500. Allstate has let me know that I can file a diminished value claim. I've read up some about this online. Any advice on how to proceed? Should i get my own appraisal... if so, any recommended companies (seem to be several national ones)? Any estimates on what the diminished value may actually be on a ~$30,000 car like this? Thanks.

ssmoked

its around 10-15% of the total fixing cost. You might want to have Lexus appraise it before and after accident value. Take it to Carmax for appraisal also

tff

Resurrecting this thread... So the final repair cost was about $5500. Allstate offered $750 for diminished value. I took it to my Lexus dealer and they estimated that the diminished value should be about 1/2 of the repair cost. The dealer would not put anything in writing (I think there is some legal reasons for that???) (Note that no structural damage was evident and no body panels were replaced... only paintless dent repair. Basically the whole front end plastic parts and one side's lighting had to be replaced). Talked to Allstate and he would not budge from the $750 number since the damage was all superficial. He said that it is in the dealer's interest to low-ball the present value of the car (just in case i'd be interested in trading it in) and that it's the retail value that counts and not the trade-in value.
So... is it worth getting an independent appraisal for the before and after value of the car? If anyone has done that... any recommendations for national appraisal companies? (There seem to be a few online). Thanks.

Dave Mac

I would recommend that you stay on this claim for diminished value. You will be dealing with a separate claim and a "diminished value adjuster" and you might be well advised to get an attorney to represent you in the matter. I think even the Lexus dealer's estimate may be low and of course I understand why they don't want to get involved.

My son had a Mercedes E350 a couple of years ago that was involved in a minor parking lot accident when the car was just a few months old. Basically it just had a scuffed rear bumper skin which was replaced by the MB body shop. I would attach a picture but on the black car the damage really can't even be seen in a photo. When he asked about diminished value the adjuster said "don't be crazy - that's not going to affect your value...etc." A year later when he decided (wisely) to trade it for a GS 350 two Lexus dealers refused to even consider the trade of a car with a "Car Fax accident" and he later made a deal over the phone for a Yukon Denali getting a lowball offer of maybe $8K below what it should have been. So diminished value is real. Good luck.

Dave Mac.