Any lawyers on L-power?

So I've got this pesky problem that won't go away. About 18 months ago a woman wiped out my M5.

 

She was on her cell phone and ran a stop sign, spun out the car into a telephone pole. Cops came, cited her. Police report is clear- all contributing factors to the accident are hers.

 

The original MSRP on the car was $101,500

The wholesale value on the car @ time of accident was $70,000

 

The original SafeCo estimate to repair it was $12,125 upon which they approved repairs.

The final repair bill came out to be $47,900.

 

I sold the car for ~$33,000 soon after it was repaired because of the massive damage it had sustained and the fact that it had the Scarlet Letter on the Carfax.

 

I have TWO independent diminished value statements. One of them is $17,900 and one of them is $24,XXX. "Actual" damages are wholesale value, minus what I sold it for right? (In this case wholesale value $70,000 minus $33,000 what I sold it for?=$37,000)

 

SafeCo is not offering a penny in diminished value. Not one red cent.

 

What's the best way to proceed? Should I just say screw it and let the insurance company win? That really goes against every instinct in me... But a lawsuit would cost me multiples of $20K in the time I'd have to dedicate to this loss. What would you do?

 

It seems a very straight forward claim, but for whatever reason the insurance company just wants to fight. I think their beef is that the original estimate was so far off the actual damages, and the ACTUAL damages should have totaled it. I want to be reasonable with them, but the fact that their estimator was so wrong isn't really within my control. I feel that I'm at the end of the rope and I should just bail on it- take my losses and go home.

 

sorry, i can't help hopefully someone chimes in soon who can.

When i was scrolling down i saw the top of the picture and cringed literally.

I hope it works out and you get your claim good luck

A.) Safeco thought that repair would be 12K ... That is almost laughable - did they actually look at the car... I digress, but that is horrible. I assume they covered the full repair bill without much issue when they found the were off by 30K.

 

B.) There is really no way to cover diminished value - or at least not with Safeco. You will fight it and loose. Most insurance policies will cover either replacement value if totaled, or depreciated value (your policy was probably depreciated value, which most peoples are.)

 

C.) You can for a cost get with Chubb, Fireman's fund, Haggerty (those are the only ones I know) that will cover replacement cost if totalled. Yours was not, so this would not even cover that specific situation.

 

D.) For certain cars you can get an a policy (I will call it an extra "rider" to the policy for ease of discussion). I had done this in the distant past for some of the 60's ferrari's I restored. Due to the limited number of parts to do fix these cars correctly, time, limited number of restorers, etc. I would carry a rider to cover more true cost of fixing or replacing - not just standard coverage.

 

E.) It was considerably more - kind of like if you have art work or jewerly that you do a rider on your home owners policy. I paid I think nearly double my insurace amount to have the extra coverage. I never had to use it, so don't know how well it would work or not.

 

F.) I would be very suprised if you could get this on newer cars - I think I tired on a few new Ferrari's ago to help protect against being wrecked or a fire and it not being totalled. Which we all know what happens to the value of any car (like yours) once it is wrecked but repaired. If I remember correctly chubb didn't have any coverage for that.

 

G.) However moving to a higherend company like Chubb or Firemansfund would give you a lot more customer service, and they will try and total something if it is on the edge of fix or replace. You do pay a little more, but a lot less hassel and they understand highend cars, houses, etc much better than the average insurance company.

 

Either way good luck, but I don't think you have a leg to stand on - since they didn't force you to sell for a loss... And per the policy they fixed your car.

RomanDad....

Safeco= her insurance company.

Usaa= my insurance co.

 

Usaa of course won't pay dim value.

 

 

They will say no one forced you to sell the car for 30k+ below wholesale after it was completely fixed. Seems to me you just wanted to dump it. An accident of that scale as well as a carfax will hurt the value but not 50%. You need to fight with your own insurance co. and it is their job to go after the other insurance co. but I think its too late. It probably would have been the time when you got the real estimate and demanded the car be totaled.

I negotiated and settled my own dim value claim(albeit for only a couple grand) in 2002 I believe. I dealt with their insurance comapany, I paid a appraiser to make a detailed report, I had before after pictures etc. I still owned the car during the process. After a month or so of back and forth they called and said a check was in the mail. It was Allstate I believe.

They will say no one forced you to sell the car for 30k+ below wholesale after it was completely fixed. Seems to me you just wanted to dump it. An accident of that scale as well as a carfax will hurt the value but not 50%. You need to fight with your own insurance co. and it is their job to go after the other insurance co. but I think its too late. It probably would have been the time when you got the real estimate and demanded the car be totaled.

 

I had multiple offers from different buyers - I sold it to the highest bidder. Was under no pressure to sell.

 

Nobody forced me to sell it, but that's what I sold it for. My insurance company, though helpful, is not able to pull any strings. They are not liable for diminished value. The party who wrecked my car on the other hand, is.

 

Bottom line is that the car lost SOME value because of the wreck and subsequent repairs. Maybe it isn't $37,000. But it's something.

 

I had multiple offers from different buyers - I sold it to the highest bidder. Was under no pressure to sell.

 

Nobody forced me to sell it, but that's what I sold it for.

 

No one forced you to sell it at all. By doing so you lost a lot of your negotiating power.

They will say no one forced you to sell the car for 30k+ below wholesale after it was completely fixed. Seems to me you just wanted to dump it. An accident of that scale as well as a carfax will hurt the value but not 50%. You need to fight with your own insurance co. and it is their job to go after the other insurance co. but I think its too late. It probably would have been the time when you got the real estimate and demanded the car be totaled.

 

I had multiple offers from different buyers - I sold it to the highest bidder. Was under no pressure to sell.

 

Nobody forced me to sell it, but that's what I sold it for. My insurance company, though helpful, is not able to pull any strings. They are not liable for diminished value. The party who wrecked my car on the other hand, is.

 

Bottom line is that the car lost SOME value because of the wreck and subsequent repairs. Maybe it isn't $37,000. But it's something.

 

America is soooo complicated, it seems..

 

Good luck, this sucks!

No diminished value claims allowed in the State of Texas.

 

Probably never will be. Insurance lobby here is way to strong.

 

Last time a diminished value case went through the Texas courts, the genius judge (with his re-election fund provided by an insurance company) ruled that there was no financial difference between an unblemished/undamaged used car, and one that had been in an accident but repaired to an as new/as built standard.

 

If that isn't a case of monkeys running the circus, I dont know what is.

 

I had your identical situation happen to me a couple of years ago, so I feel your pain

That would not have happened in the state of Georgia I can tell you that. Have a lawyer here that has not lost a DV claim, ever. sorry to say that I am sure there is nothing he can do out of state though, but if you need a contact I can get his number for you. Best of luck.

Accident happened in California.

The one time I had a DV claim I negotiated before the repairs, I think by accepting the repair and payment you have absolved the insurance company of any further claims.

 

 

Russell

that sucks, I hate insurance companies ....

 

 

 

hope everything can be sorted out, best of luck

Have not accepted payment for repairs- My insurance company paid for it. Not hers, there is no release of liability yet.

You have a couple years in Georgia. I would have to imagine that Cali has some pretty strong, consumer based, legal language in regards to this. If USAA paid the claim, I cannot understand why they would not fight for you to get your/their money back. You seem to have a pretty strong case, just google a DV lawyer in Cali, I am sure there are quite a few.