should I press for diminished value from the other insurance co?

Hey -
I had the exact same thing happen except it was a Mexican illegal that T-boned my 2005 Prius in a parking lot and then he ran off.
State Farm paid for the damage. Then, A supervisor at State Farm and I negotiated a settlement of $500.00 for the diminished value amount. They will initially tell you that you have to get an appraisal, yada yada yada, but just call for a supervisor, be reasonable and negotiate an amount.
You're welcome.


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cwerdna @ Jul 11 2006, 06:36 PM) [snapback]284678[/snapback]</div>

 

Since this happened on private property and the damage was minimal, you probably didn't file a police report. If this is true, then the DMV will probably not be notified of the accident. No history of it equals no diminished value as long as the repairs are "as good as new" and you are 100% satisfied.

But, if there is a history that makes its way into the DMV database, you are going to take a hit of at least $1500.00 when you try to trade in the car due to the fact that it will show up on a Carfax report.

I would recommend that you wait a couple of months before "signing off" on any claims until you are certain that nothing shows on carfax.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cwerdna @ Jul 11 2006, 08:16 PM) [snapback]284709[/snapback]</div>

Umm I think CA DMV that amount of damage is a MANDATORY report to them. Even without a police report.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cwerdna @ Jul 11 2006, 06:16 PM) [snapback]284709[/snapback]</div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rlongenbach @ Jul 11 2006, 06:18 PM) [snapback]284711[/snapback]</div>

Legally, the DMV must be told, see http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d07/vc16000.htm. If you don't tell them, the insurance company will if there is more than $750 worth of damage (or if death or injuries occur, but then the cops'd tell 'em too). I know this for a fact, since new 18 yo driver son has had TWO, count 'em, TWO at fault accidents in the 6 months since he got his unrestricted license. The 1st one--close to $3k damage on his car and the other one was totalled. (If it had been over $3k, they'd have totalled the beemer--that was when I started looking at Prii...) No cop report, no kid to dmv report--insurance co to DMV = 1 point on new license. Accident 2, he bopped someone else (the kid of one of his grade school teachers,no less!) in a car park. Virtually no damage to his car, but about $1500 to other vehicle. In the middle of all of which,we got our annual insurance bill. Kid WAS driving '87 BMW we figured was a good idea 'cause he couldn't hurt himself. Uh huh. Can you say $6k insurance bill? We are now selling the '87 and he is driving my discarded but servicable '91 Acura, which lets us off of about $1k...then we found we could dump all but liability on him--I thought all the cars had to have the same coverage. Insurance co said, sure, if we took care of the $1500, they wouldn't ratchet up his rates again. HOWEVER, because it had already been reported to the insurance co, they had already notified DMV, so now kid has 2 points in six months. The good news is that at this rate, he'll have racked up 4 points in 12 months and he'll lose his license...Welcome to suburban california where public transit means hitchhiking.

Bottom line: DMV knows all and sees all and will tell all...Good luck...