Going-to-court-

An important factor to remember when submitting a Diminished Value claim is that, you are not the insured and while like any business they probably need more customers, they are not at all worried you will cancel a policy or even be a future client. They will be rude, deceptive and make the process so frustrating you will give up. This is by design, the less they pay out in claims, the more they are making. Even a strong claim can be denied. Insurance companies employ hoards of lawyers and confronted with paying a claim they know they will lose is just a gamble that you will give up. Since they employ lawyers, there is no significant cost to fighting a claim in court, they will have to pay anyway, so might as well give Skippy the lawyer something to do, if you can’t take the heat they save money and time.

Most reputable Insurance companies pay a well-structured and legitimate Diminished Value claim. Less ethical insurance companies, the worst being Allstate, will make the process unbearable and not worth the effort. So what can you do if your Diminished Value claim is denied?

Considering your time is worth money, how much is your loss? Is it about the money or being compensated for your life being disrupted by a bad driver?

For losses up to $7,500 you may consider filing your claim in Small Claims Court. For larger losses, you may have to hire an attorney to represent you, either way you will need to file that suit against the person at fault, not the insurance company. The insurance company will still have to pay a judgment awarded in court, but the liability is on the person at fault and they will be named in your suit.

In court it’s all about proving 2 things, Liability and Damages. For most Diminished Value claims liability has already been established, you just need to prove your damages. If you have never been to court, do not waste your time with a long drawn out stories and emotional testimony. Stick to the facts. The accident occurred on this day, the liability was determined by that insurance company or this police officer etc. Just the facts! While the judge will listen to your story about having a bad day, they just want you to present the facts they can use to make the award and on to the next case, the less drama the better. Make it short sweet factual and you’re on your way.

So the facts in a diminished value claim are basically supporting data that can be verified. In addition to your Auto Appraisal Network Diminished Value Appraisal report some other supporting documents to fortify your claim would be, Service records showing you took care of your car, Get a CarMax appraisal report, it itemizes a written offer including a line item adjustment for prior accidents.

Because Auto Appraisal Network uses readily available market data that can be easily verified, the resulting Diminished Value is specific to your vehicle and results in a realistic and credible post repair fair market value that holds up to any scrutiny or ill contrived methods. Our reports present well and more importantly are backed by factual market data.