Your car is worth less after an accident, but you can get money for lost value

CHARLOTTE — Roy Estes always ‘wanted’ a BMW like the one he bought.

“I’m afraid something will happen to it, so I don’t drive it very much,” he told Action 9 attorney Jason Stoogenke.

And something did happen. He says a driver hit him in a parking lot.

“I never let off the horn, and she backed into me anyway,” Estes said.

He says she admitted fault and that he filed a claim with her insurance, Farmers. He asked for diminished value -- he says about $5,000 -- based on research he did online. He says Farmers countered with $250.

“I said I’m not going to take that,” Estes said.

So he found more data and sent it. He says Farmers went up $50. “It’s not reasonable,” he said. Estes says he offered to take $2,300. “[Farmers] sends it back... ‘I’ll give you $500,’” he said. Again, Estes said no. “I feel cheated.”

Estes stayed persistent and says, after several weeks of back and forth, Farmers agreed to pay him $2,380.

Billy Walkowiak is an insurance adjuster. Drivers hire him to fight for diminished value, the difference between your car’s value ‘before’ versus ‘after’ the crash.

“Once a vehicle has been in an accident, it’s not worth the same as a vehicle that’s not been in an accident. If you go to look at two vehicles on a car lot and one’s been wrecked and one’s not been wrecked, which one are you going to buy?” he said.

How do you figure out the right value? “I take the year, the make, the model, the mileage, and the severity of the accident and I look at the marketplace and what it’s doing,” Walkowiak said.

And when it comes to diminished value, you may have to ask.

“They’re not going to tell you. They’re not going to volunteer the information,” Walkowiak said.

Farmers emailed, “Every claim is evaluated and reviewed on an individual basis. While we can’t comment on specific claims, we work with claimants throughout the claims process, taking into account the circumstances of the loss and any new, additional information they may provide.”

Stoogenke says:

- If the wreck was your fault, you probably won’t get diminished value.

- But if it wasn’t -- you should be entitled to it.

- In both Carolinas, you have three years to recover diminished value.

- A side note: when it comes to repairs, remember that you pick the body shop. Don’t let anyone tell you where to go. It’s your car -- your choice.

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