Rear ended, pictures and questions regarding the damage

What I've read is diminished value claims are legal in all 50 states. But I don't live in NY or NJ. But just in googling diminished value claims or experts, all their faq pages say for all 50. Sounds like to me you will have to go after the guy directly.
Not to knock your insurance, but some of the stuff sounds bogus. Why replace a taillight if its fine? A good body shop will need to remove it to paint and blend your quarter panels anyhow. Have you checked the gaps between your quarter panel and passenger back door? Compare them to the drivers side. After my accident my panel either sits in, or my door sticks out about 1/16 of an inch or so.

 

That's lucky then. Maybe its because most of NY drives a car thats been damaged one way or another. d: I know in Georgia you can file a diminished value claim with your own insursnce even when you're at fault. Did the geico rep think you meant to file it with them? Cause I know that's not allowed.

 

He is correct and incorrect. Georgia is either 1 of 2 states, or the only state that allows the at fault party to file a diminished value claim against their own insurance company. I lived in Oregon and filed a DVC against Safeco (2009,) and I live in SC now and am in the process of filing one against State Farm (2012.) They were accidents that were NOT my fault and I filed them against the at fault parties insurance.
In Oregon I was awarded about $1,300 in diminished value for an accident that caused about $10k worth of damage. I shouldn't have settled so quickly because when I went to trade in that same car the value had dropped more like $4k.
It's legal in all 50 states to file a DVC, you personally just can't file a DVC against Geico. It would have to be against the individual directly since they don't have property coverage.
I should also mention that the at fault parties insurance paid my $500 deductible before I went to pick up the car. It couldn't hurt to contact that at fault party, not his insurance "company", but the actual person and ask them to pay your deductible, otherwise you will take them to court to recoup it.I may seem like a bit of a hard a-hole when it comes to this type of thing, but I've been in a handful of not at fault accidents, including 1 hit and run and the cop didn't site the at fault party because he was 92 years old. Even though pulled out in front of me on a hwy where the speed limit was 55mph.
I was also rear-ended by a pubescent teenager who was texting and I showed up to her court date as a "victim" (at the officers request) to insure that she didn't just get a slap on the wrist.
Accidents are a terrible thing to have to go through, minor or major it adds a whole lot of unnecessary stress.

 

That is quite strange for him to ask you to do that. If you didn't, then you would just have to pay for your car to be fixed out of pocket. I'm pretty sure insurance requires a police report, unless the damages are less than $1,500. Did he offer to pay for your damages himself? If so you'd think he would have the money to pay your deductible.
Food for thought, you may also want to get in contact with a NJ lawyer. They often will provide you with information for free. Ones I've talked to have been pretty honest as far as if they will take the case or not, obviously if there is no money in it for them they will suggest a way for you to deal with it on your own. Try a property / accident lawyer of sorts maybe. I don't see how the NJ guy can get away without paying for damages to your car, if everyone had that insurance it would be like bumper cars out on the highway.
On a side note, how do you like Geico?

 

That sounded like a shaddy deal. What's sad is some people go for it and get screwed. You should change your deductible amount from 1k. It will increase your monthly payments, but so will this accident.
State farm for me has been easy to deal with, I've heard from a lot of people that state farm is a pretty straight shooter. So far they have only managed to tick me off by not totaling my car. I had them years ago, but I didn't like them. Progressive has been good, I've just heard geico will randomly increase your rate. We are certainly a generation where doing things online is much easier.

 

If you use a shop that participates in Geico's DRP, then the repairs will be guaranteed for as long as you own your car by both Geico and the shop. However, as we all know, the DRPs are under immense pressure to meet the terms of their agreement with the insurer - which may result in short-cut repairs in order to meet productivity requirements.

 

Ehh...I'm skeptical about that. All insurance companies want to know if you've made a claim within five years when you first sign up, even not at fault accidents. Once I forgot to add one not at fault accident on my free insurance quote, and when I went to sign up for the policy it went up because they "found" out about it. Insurance companies give me the willies, they are in the game to make a buck and if you cost them money, even by not fault of your own, I still think they find a way to make it back. Even if it's not a raised premium, but some new fee next time of sorts.

 

I used one of State Farms preferred shops and was skeptical about doing so for this exact reason. I found out it was a good thing I did though because now that I'm in the process of trying to get diminished value for the car, all the imperfections I point out in the repairs have to be taken into consideration. If I had used another shop they would just tell me to keep taking it back until I was happy and wouldn't take the flaws into consideration when determining an amount.

 

After reading the link from Trenton here's what I think is going to happen:

Geico is going to sue the poor old geezer for the damages (maybe your deductible, probably not as it is not their loss).
You will have to sue said geezer for the deductible & diminished value. (I don't know if that will exceed the limit for Small Claims Court).

Geezer is on Medicaid so he isn't going to have any money or much in the way of assets. You may (or may not) be able to put a levy on his Social Security.

Talk to a lawyer.

 

Do you have uninsured insurance with Geico? If you do there is no deductible.

It is the other guys fault there is no deductible.

 

Ok Good luck. This is an article on that subject.
Diminished value auto insurance claims

 

Hey, I just finished my diminished value claim and with 13.5k of damage was awarded 6k. My guess based on hours of research you're looking at $600-$1000 of diminished value. What is hard is proving that and hiring someone cost about $300, which usually you can also ask for, but in this case its doubtful the party would pay that.