stairmasterman911

my 2002 Boxter S got hit from behind and driven under an SUV with a trailer hitch reciever. OUCH... anyway, it's off to be fixed, but i was wondering how would you all figure out the diminished value for the insurance company? the car is 11 years old with roughly 80,000 miles so i know it won't be much, but i know selling or trading it in will be more difficult due to the negative carfax. thanks for any input.

Macster

When I looked into DV one technique I was given was to sell the car and then compare what I got for the car compared to what I would have gotten for the car if I had sold it prior to the accident.

The problem is several fold: One I was not in the mood to sell the car. The damage was not that great (or deep) and the repairs put the car back to its pre-collision condition; and two is how to establish what the car would have bought had I sold it before the accident.

My advice is to focus on ensuring the car is fixed as good as it humanly can be fixed.

You do not want to accept a car back with substandard repairs and then attempt to somehow make this up with DV money. I would rather that say 10% or 15% of the car's value be spent in repairing the car rather than ending up in my pocket in the form of a DV check.

Byprodriver

I think Carfax has very minimal info about collisions so take pictures of the damage to show prospective buyers in the future how minor the damage was. Also as Macster pointed out, have it restored the best you can.

BostonDuce

With both of the 'business ends' of the car damaged, I'd push them to total it.

Because of the age and mileage triggers in your/their insurance, you may have to settle for reconditioned or aftermarket parts even if it wasn't your fault.

Radiators, exhaust, suspension components are all candidates for hidden damage. You could end up driving a repair bill that is worth more than the car.

BD

Macster

If the car is taken to a proper shop there should be no hidden damage as the shop will id all the damage and quote to repair it and the insurance company will know what it is going to cost it to put the car right.

Cosmetic damage like bumper covers, front or rear hood lids, damaged headlight, tail lights, even radiators or A/C condensers not the end of the world.

All can be bought new and replaced. (The bumper covers and hood lids of course will have to be painted.)

Had my Boxster repaired twice. Once after hitting road debris and once again when hit from behind and shoved into a vehicle in front of my vehicle.

The last repair ran to over $5K and something for the loss of use of my vehicle (say $6K total). And the car was ... let's see this was in Feb. of 2009 so the car was 7 years old but I do not recall the miles, but a WAG would be around (roughly) 175K miles.

mikefocke

My bet is your car is totaled. I hit someone (my fault...it was the Boxster in the parking lot I looked at) with my perfect 26k 99 base about 6 years old. I figured, since it was driveable and no airbags deployed, the repair would be at most $5k. They stopped counting at $26k. That was just for the front end. The truck I hit was absolutely visually unaffected. Yours has two ends that need repair.

And consider if you want the car after it is repaired, will it be as safe?

Larry L

Insurance companies use a formula to calculate DOV.

It's usually ACV x severity x mileage. If the car doesn't total, let them know that you will pursue a DOV claim, and let them make an offer. They might surprise you. If the offer is unacceptable to you, jump online and pull up some comps on your car so you'll have some ammo to throw at them.

stairmasterman911

Thanks guys. Larry, by comps do you mean kbb values for various levels of car? if so, my start value seems to be roughly 17,500, my damage estimate is around 4,500, and it has about 80,000 miles. How would this compute?

Larry L

Some of them use kbb, but most use an average of nada clean retail + clean trade in (if it's clean).

Every insurance company is different. I really can't give you specific numbers.

EJ_2001_986_S

I have been through this exact issue with my 2001 Boxster when it was hit and the other driver was sited. Therefore the other driver's insurance was entitled to "make me whole". I informed the insurance company that I was pursuing diminished value and here's how it went...

The car was fixed by the shop of my choice and after all the repairs I took the car to a local expert (classic car dealer) who the insurance company recommended. He inspected the car and gave the repairs an ok. He then figured up the DV = 35% of the total repair cost. That's all he did and he said that was industry standard.

So starting with the insurance company making an offer is a good idea, but don't take less than 35% of the total spent to repair the car.

There are services out there that you can pay to work through DV claims for you, but even after talking to them I didn't end up going that route.