Diminished Value Appraiser for my new Mach-E rear ended

[cinzen]

Hey there,
Does anyone know how to find a reputable independent Diminished Value Appraiser. They apparently all charge a substantial fee, but I want to be sure that I use a company that has had success and I am not throwing money away.
There are many companies that say they are national but have a rep. in my area? I live in St Louis, so I am looking for help.
Any thoughts?

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[Scooby24]

The diminished value appraisers are a waste of money. The Insurance companies usually have their own formula and they'll stick to it unless you can find actual evidence of the value being lower which is very hard to do.

Here's the formula my wife shared with me that her organization uses for claims.

 

[connoisseurr]

Run your VIN through Carvana, Vroom and Carmax and get the current market price. Then, compare to KBB and NADA values with a "Good" rating.

See if your insurance company would take that and request a difference from the driver at fault

 

[Davedough]

Its an uphill battle with insurance, regardless of a diminished value assessor or not. My wife had a Kia Soul that after only 4 months of ownership, got head-on hit by a woman who fell asleep at the wheel. They originally wanted to only give us $2000, of which we argued, with cash offers from a Kia dealership, Carmax and Carvana that showed a much higher hit to the value. After getting a lawyer involved, we only were able to get them to agree to $6k diminished value and as you might guess, almost half went to the lawyer, so it really ended up being a waste of time. After all was said and done, we had $4k to put down on the car she traded in for. It didn't cover what was still owed.

 

[Pushrods&Capacitors]

Hey there,
Does anyone know how to find a reputable independent Diminished Value Appraiser. They apparently all charge a substantial fee, but I want to be sure that I use a company that has had success and I am not throwing money away.
There are many companies that say they are national but have a rep. in my area? I live in St Louis, so I am looking for help.
Any thoughts?

This may not be as difficult as you think it is. My SS Sedan was rear ended back in ‘19 and I handled the entire diminished value claim myself.

I provided current private party and trade values to the at-fault party’s insurance company along with reviews/articles that pegged the SS Sedan as a future collector car due to low prod volumes, desirability etc.

I then told the Rep. that I would write a letter releasing them of all future claims if they paid me $3500. The Rep. couldn’t authorize it but said his mgr. might agree and to send it. I received a response in 24 hrs that they accepted my offer and my check arrived another 3 days later.

The repairs/accident have never shown up on CarFax/AutoCheck or other. ??‍

 

[JDrazMME]

You can get a trade in offer from a Ford Dealer and compare it to the KBB value without an accident. That's what I did. It did take a lawyer but he was a friend so he only took 15%. Everything went smoothly with the lawyer involved.

 

[2FlyMache]

The diminished value appraisers are a waste of money. The Insurance companies usually have their own formula and they'll stick to it unless you can find actual evidence of the value being lower which is very hard to do.

Here's the formula my wife shared with me that her organization uses for claims.

That wasn't my experience. My Land Rover was rear ended with only 1300 miles on it and the insurance company was only going to give me a $1000 for it. The Diminished Value estimator got me over $5000

 

[Scooby24]

That wasn't my experience. My Land Rover was rear ended with only 1300 miles on it and the insurance company was only going to give me a $1000 for it. The Diminished Value estimator got me over $5000

If you plugged in your numbers to the above tool I'm betting you'd have gotten close to the same as the Estimator got you.

My wife has been in insurance claims for some time now (over a decade) and it's been her experience that a lot of those estimators are prior claims adjusters who use the same or similar formulas, get the insurance companies to agree to what they would have already agreed to anyways to get their cut.

 

[2FlyMache]

If you plugged in your numbers to the above tool I'm betting you'd have gotten close to the same as the Estimator got you.

My wife has been in insurance claims for some time now (over a decade) and it's been her experience that a lot of those estimators are prior claims adjusters who use the same or similar formulas, get the insurance companies to agree to what they would have already agreed to anyways to get their cut.

Maybe things have changed in the last 7 years but my insurance company even suggested that it would be better for me to go the route of an estimator. For less than $150 they put together a pretty good portfolio to submit to the insurance company which approved the estimate without any discussion. I don't always trust insurance companies to do the most for you.

 

[Scooby24]

Maybe things have changed in the last 7 years but my insurance company even suggested that it would be better for me to go the route of an estimator. For less than $150 they put together a pretty good portfolio to submit to the insurance company which approved the estimate without any discussion. I don't always trust insurance companies to do the most for you.

Nor should you, but don't trust the estimators either. In your case it sounds like they were reasonably priced.

I've heard of folks paying 500 as a flat fee regardless of the claim...depending on the loss value that could be a pretty big hit to what you are entitled to.

FWIW I ALWAYS go through my own insurance company first. IMO, pay the deductible, you're going to get it back anyways...pay it and get the service through the insurance company YOU chose who will go to bat on your behalf for these things. Your experience will be better.

 

[IamIA]

The diminished value appraisers are a waste of money. The Insurance companies usually have their own formula and they'll stick to it unless you can find actual evidence of the value being lower which is very hard to do.

Here's the formula my wife shared with me that her organization uses for claims.

This worksheet assumes 10% max and subtracts from that figure based on additional modifiers. It makes me suspicious to see that 10% as the max. Why? A diminished value should be a sum of a base plus additional modifiers.

 

[Scooby24]

this worksheet assumes 10% max and subtracts from that figure based on the additional modifiers. why is 10% max assumed to be the ceiling in the first place? a diminished value should be a sum of a base plus additional modifiers.

You'd have to take that up with the Insurance companies. This was provided to me by one.

 

[Kabish]

Its really pretty simple, as long as you have not settled yet... Get a lawyer...

Insurance companies are there to screw you over every second they possibly can. Insurance companies do NOT have your best interest at heart. You get a lawyer and have them deal with all this mess and get you the value that you deserve. Trying to do it any other way will more than likely result in less value being returned.

St Louis follows "rear-end collision doctrine", meaning if someone rear ends you its 100% their fault. That is as long as you were not being a clown on the street. Its a case a lawyer would take in an instant and would likely be zero cost to you.

I don't get why people don't lawyer up the second they get into a non at fault accident. Especially an accident involving the MME, its so damn expensive to repair...

 

[2FlyMache]

Nor should you, but don't trust the estimators either. In your case it sounds like they were reasonably priced.

I've heard of folks paying 500 as a flat fee regardless of the claim...depending on the loss value that could be a pretty big hit to what you are entitled to.

FWIW I ALWAYS go through my own insurance company first. IMO, pay the deductible, you're going to get it back anyways...pay it and get the service through the insurance company YOU chose who will go to bat on your behalf for these things. Your experience will be better.

I still used my insurance for the repairs and that worked out great. I was actually surprised that I put 67K miles on car and you could never tell that it had been in a serious rear end collision

 

[cinzen]

Who did you use as an appraiser..?

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