My 2012 V wagon was recently backed into while it was parked at my house. It hardly did any damage to the driver's fender but it did buckle it a bit at the wheel well so the body shop wanted to replace it rather than repair it. The repair was about $3,000 total which included replacing the fender, painting the fender, bumper, and part of the driver's door to blend.
I requested a diminished value claim with the insurance company and they offered me $75. Yes, $75.00. I laughed and stated my case and they came up to $200 claiming the amount of damage was not significant and the majority of the repair was labor costs. My position is that the car now has aftermarket paint and potentially a tainted carfax report which will show an accident.
I guess I'm not really sure what to expect with the diminished value claim and was hoping someone with more experience can chime in. I was hoping for a couple thousand since someone who is going to buy a car like this will 100 times out of 100 buy a car with no damage/paint history if they had a choice between two at the same price point. Should I hire a specialist and see what they can do?
I requested a diminished value claim with the insurance company and they offered me $75. Yes, $75.00. I laughed and stated my case and they came up to $200 claiming the amount of damage was not significant and the majority of the repair was labor costs. My position is that the car now has aftermarket paint and potentially a tainted carfax report which will show an accident.
I guess I'm not really sure what to expect with the diminished value claim and was hoping someone with more experience can chime in. I was hoping for a couple thousand since someone who is going to buy a car like this will 100 times out of 100 buy a car with no damage/paint history if they had a choice between two at the same price point. Should I hire a specialist and see what they can do?