My daughter and son in law's '24 Prius just got rear-ended by a large pickup in a construction zone.
My son in law does collision repair at a high end dealership, so he understands the repair implications.
I know there are some insurance pros and knowledgeable people here. Any advice I should pass on to them? The car (ownership) is not even a month old.
Look up if diminished value is a thing you can collect from an at fault party in your state. Such a new car. ooof. I'd be hoping for a total just so I don't feel bad about driving it for the rest of its life. :\
Diminished Value does apply in Oklahoma. A quick search 'Oklahoma diminished value law' was full of lawyer web pages. Should they wait for insurance to get things fully processed and see how that goes or contact a 'diminished value specialist'?
Sounds like the son-in-law probably knows a lot of the implications already since he's in that line of work.
Personally, I'd wait and see what they say.
AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) said:Diminished Value does apply in Oklahoma. A quick search 'Oklahoma diminished value law' was full of lawyer web pages. Should they wait for insurance to get things fully processed and see how that goes or contact a 'diminished value specialist'?
You have to wait, Diminished value will be calculated from the $ amount of repairs. That is what the specialist uses to come up with a number
Not a professional....
My guess is since you are not at fault and the other company will have to provide a rental through completion.
Determing value is easy (near MSRP)
My guess is the easiest way to make you go away and not be a lingering problem (like lifetime warranty work) is to total it.
The ins co will recoup significantly with the salvage price an in demand car will bring.
If it were me, I'd want "total" at a near MSRP and just start over.
I had a lady pull out in front of me awhile back in my previous car (Fiesta ST). Car was a few years old at the time and the damage was over $8k. This is when I lived in NC which is very good for DV claims. Hired a diminished value specialist (meaning he used to work for an insurance company). I think he charged me $300 or $500 and he got me something like $2700 in diminished value (this is a car that was $24k new). The original DV offer from the lady’s insurance was like $500. This guy put together a full report with comps, and then told me exactly how to respond to the insurance company at every step of the way.
I was so happy I had him do it again for my wife who had a motorcycle hit her several months previously (you have up to a year to make the claim I think)….we got roughly the same amount on that one.
I have no doubt this guy was more than worth his fee.
Steve_Jones said:AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) said:Diminished Value does apply in Oklahoma. A quick search 'Oklahoma diminished value law' was full of lawyer web pages. Should they wait for insurance to get things fully processed and see how that goes or contact a 'diminished value specialist'?
You have to wait, Diminished value will be calculated from the $ amount of repairs. That is what the specialist uses to come up with a number
Yup. However, I would say to skip the "specialist". They charge a lot for something anyone can do themselves. Hell, I can help you. I'm seriously toying with the idea of starting a DV company myself. I've got more expertise than most of the ones I've come across and would charge half of what they do.
I will say that I wouldn't be surprised if they total it. Hope everyone is ok!
Nicole's Clarity got hit a few years ago. ~30k car brand new that was five or six years old at the time. Something like $6k in damage. A few emails to the offending driver's insurance company saying "hey diminished value!" got us a check for something like $2400 with zero argument or negotiation. This was in Florida.
SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) said:Steve_Jones said:AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) said:Diminished Value does apply in Oklahoma. A quick search 'Oklahoma diminished value law' was full of lawyer web pages. Should they wait for insurance to get things fully processed and see how that goes or contact a 'diminished value specialist'?
You have to wait, Diminished value will be calculated from the $ amount of repairs. That is what the specialist uses to come up with a number
Yup. However, I would say to skip the "specialist". They charge a lot for something anyone can do themselves. Hell, I can help you. I'm seriously toying with the idea of starting a DV company myself. I've got more expertise than most of the ones I've come across and would charge half of what they do.
I will say that I wouldn't be surprised if they total it. Hope everyone is ok!
Is there a timeframe to claim DV, post accident?
dyintorace said:SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) said:Is there a timeframe to claim DV, post accident?
Depends on state. Google "Statute of limitations vehicle damage" along with your state. 5 years in mine.
dyintorace said:SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) said:Steve_Jones said:AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) said:Diminished Value does apply in Oklahoma. A quick search 'Oklahoma diminished value law' was full of lawyer web pages. Should they wait for insurance to get things fully processed and see how that goes or contact a 'diminished value specialist'?
You have to wait, Diminished value will be calculated from the $ amount of repairs. That is what the specialist uses to come up with a number
Yup. However, I would say to skip the "specialist". They charge a lot for something anyone can do themselves. Hell, I can help you. I'm seriously toying with the idea of starting a DV company myself. I've got more expertise than most of the ones I've come across and would charge half of what they do.
I will say that I wouldn't be surprised if they total it. Hope everyone is ok!
Is there a timeframe to claim DV, post accident?
I looked it up earlier, since I also live in Oklahoma. What I found said two years, but also said the vehicle must be owned, not leased or financed.
So I don't know how true that is.
In reply to z31maniac :
That is accurate. If it is financed you can still make the claim. However, if it's a lease you cannot.
SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) said:In reply to z31maniac :
That is accurate. If it is financed you can still make the claim. However, if it's a lease you cannot.
Gotcha, the not being able to claim DV on financed didn't make sense, hence my skepticism on all of it. But being leased and not being able to claim DV does.
John Welsh said:......If it were me, I'd want "total" at a near MSRP and just start over.......
plus tax and license fees that were already paid......
In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :
My thoughts on the specialist was the insurance company would accept it easier if the number was from an "independent" party vs a number from me. It's well worth the $400 I was charged (and I've used the same guy a few times). It's the easy button.
In reply to Steve_Jones :
Here's what it really comes down to. If you're making a claim against the other person's insurance company and don't reach an agreement, your recourse is to file suit against the policy holder. In that case it's going to be small claims court. If the carrier hires defense counsel, it may cost more than just paying the claim. Even if you do hire counsel, both the attorney and the judge very likely know diddly squat about physical damage claims and diminished value. Very high likelihood the judge will side with the plaintiff (regardless if they actually right or not). The DV people know this and use it to their advantage. For the carrier, it's usually a no win situation and is easier/more cost effective to just pay it.
The other reality is that most adjusters don't know a damn thing about cars and DV, so they are badly outgunned by someone who does (such as a specialist).
Thanks for the discussion. I'll update when things start happening. AAZCD son-in-law was very sore a little while after, so he did go to get checked out. Nothing serious, but it was a half day off work. I will suggest that they contact SKJSS if they want assistance and direction on the DV.
The initial estimate is in at over $15,000. We expect a total and they have already contacted a local attorney to represent them with the insurance company.
What's the attorney for? Most of them are just pretadors who will just delay you actually getting paid and take 30-40%. This is a clear liability situation and the injures are apparently not severe. The attorney will just get in the way.
In reply to Sonic :
That's my thought too. I recommended working with someone to get the DV appropriately settled and they said they have already contacted an attorney to handle that stuff. They are adults, so I'll butt out now unless they want my opinion.
I love hearing "I have an attorney". Usually means I can't speak to them anymore, the attorney usually doesn't return phone calls, and I can kick the whole claim to someone else for it to drag on endlessly.
ddavidv said:I love hearing "I have an attorney". Usually means I can't speak to them anymore, the attorney usually doesn't return phone calls, and I can kick the whole claim to someone else for it to drag on endlessly.
My buddy worked technical service (but it became "customer service" in a lot of cases) for a big gun manufacturer. He said it was his favorite thing to hear when an angry customer made any passing mention of lawyers or lawsuits because those magic words meant he couldn't say another word by corporate decree. The angry customer now gets to deal with "legal".
ddavidv said:I love hearing "I have an attorney". Usually means I can't speak to them anymore, the attorney usually doesn't return phone calls, and I can kick the whole claim to someone else for it to drag on endlessly.
I also loved that when I worked for State Farm.
"I'm sorry, we can no longer speak about this claim. Here is the number to the legal department, have your lawyer contact them. Have a nice day!"
That and getting to refer obviously fraudulent claims to SIU was fun as well.
AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) said:The initial estimate is in at over $15,000. We expect a total and they have already contacted a local attorney to represent them with the insurance company.
Just for reference on our recent total loss for hail, the adjuster from State Farm told me to consider it a total loss the damages had to equal at least 75% of the value of the vehicle.
In our case, they valued the car around $16k with nearly $14k in damages. So that was a slam dunk.
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