If I was selling a car that had $2000 worth of hail damage, that wouldn’t scare you from buying the car as much as if I was selling one that had $2000 worth of frame damage. Or say I have two identical cars, both Volvos, same year, same model, but one was in a wreck at one time. Which would you buy? Obviously the one that had never been in a wreck. Only a fool would pay full price for a car that’s ever been in a wreck when there’s another car available that’s never been damaged.
When you sell your car nowadays, the car dealers make you sign a disclosure statement. By law, you have to disclose any previous damages. They’re going to offer you less money if your car’s been in an accident, and that’s called diminished value. You’re entitled to collect that loss under a torte claim. On a torte claim, you can be compensated for every loss you’ve suffered. The insurance company has to pay to fix your car, pay your medical bills, pay for a rental car, and pay for your loss in value of your car.
Under a policy claim, you’re going through your own insurance company and whatever is written in the policy is what you’re owed. Insurance companies under their own policies only claim responsibility for restoring your car to its pre-accident condition for form and function. It has to look the same. It has to act the same. As a claimant, the other person owes you form, function, and value. It’s absolute. They owe it to you. You’ve lost value.
Auto Damage Consultants LLC —
the Experts in Diminished Value in Albuquerque |
Diminished value was the best-kept secret around until about ten years ago. Auto Damage Consultants LLC has a formula for determining the diminished value of your car based on how hard the car was hit, the extent of structural damage, and on the cost of the repairs. They go out in the marketplace and call a few dealers, and then they give you a form stating the diminished value of your car. You can take that form to the insurance company and say, “You paid for my car at the body shop, you paid for my doctor bills and my rental car. Well, we now must settle the diminished value claim.”
Tommy’s is one of the only Albuquerque auto body shops right now that promotes Auto Damage Consultants LLC. We had a customer whose attorney told her she couldn’t collect on diminished value from the insurance company. We told her to show her lawyer our pamphlet on diminished value and told her, “Diminished value is owed to you.” Her lawyer collected DV for her. Her lawyer had been told for years that Diminished Value is not collectable. “It was the insurance industry that taught her that.”
The consumer pays for Auto Damage Consultants LLC. Some of the time they’ll get reimbursed from the insurance company. One thing about Diminished Value is that some states don’t recognize first party Diminished Value. When you sell your car five years from now, you lose $3000. Tough luck? No, the nice thing about Diminished Value is that you can deduct it from your income tax (depending on your tax bracket).
The phone number Auto Damage Consultants LLC is 505-681-8540. They can be reached by e-mail at autodamageconsult@att.net. For more detailed information on diminished value, visit I-CAN 2000, the Insurance Consumer Advocate Network. It was originally developed by a retired adjuster in Arizona, but the website is now geared to help consumers nationwide. http://www.ican2000.com/index.shtml
Tommy has opened a second business, Wreck Check. Wreck Check specializes in three things, Pre-purchase inspections, Post purchase inspections and Post repair inspections.
Pre-purchase inspections:
Bring a vehicle you are purchasing by Wreck Check on your test drive. Tommy will inspect the vehicle for previous collision repairs. He will advise you on the quality of previous repairs, concerning safety, and possible quality issues.
Post purchase inspections:
If you have already purchased a vehicle and are having problems and suspect that your vehicle was in an accident before you purchased it, bring it by and Tommy will inspect the vehicle for you. If you were sold a vehicle that had previous damage that was not disclosed to you, you can attain help through either the Attorney Generals office or through local attorneys. Tommy can advise you on whom to contact.
Post repair inspections:
If you have recently been involved in an accident and suspect poor quality repairs have been done to your vehicle, Tommy will inspect the vehicle and document any repair issues. He will document any items missed by the body shop or the insurance company. He will document any poor quality issues by the body shop or the insurance company. He will document any safety issues that need to be addressed. He will help separate body shop and insurance company related issues.
Wreck Check is located at Tommy’s Auto Body. 915 First St NW. 244-0607
|
