Norman signed up for a free claim consultation through our website after doing his own research and getting an initial offer on his BMW diminished value claim of around $3000. Hit by a drunk driver, he was having a hard time proving the amount he was owed, but he was SURE it was more than he was being offered. His practically new BMW now had an accident history and he would pay for it as soon as he walks into any dealership to trade. (more…)
Recently, I was asked to review the impact a collision would have on a relatively rare vehicle, the Tesla Model S. The review was challenging because the vehicle doesn’t have many of the mechanical components that a traditional internal combustion engine vehicle has. Additionally, there has been some reservations about the safety of the Tesla due to recent reports of fires ensuing after collisions (undercarriage damage to the battery bank). (more…)
If you’ve found this information, then you’ve probably been involved in an auto accident of some sort and you are seeking recovery for property damages you have incurred. It is not uncommon to have a dispute with the insurance company over your claim.
Disputes most commonly occur over the dollar value a claim is worth. For the purposes of this excerpt, I will address the article’s title and focus on helping you get words down on paper (or computer screen).
This is a difficult topic to quickly and sufficiently cover, but we’ll give it a shot by focusing on general guidelines and common tactics for most insurance claims. We’ll assume that you have sufficient language and grammatical skills to compose a demand letter that doesn’t contain glaring mistakes. (more…)
Recently I was provided with a pretty big list of arguments that attempted to show why diminished market value on automobiles is not real, or at least why it is never very much. I am going to address each one, point by point so as to be very thorough. Mind you, these arguments were made by a professional who evaluates the market of stigma losses on automobiles.
I guess most of us have heard of the placebo effect, but just in case. . . here’s my definition:
Being told that a pill (you don’t know it’s just sugar) is a fix for a problem, then having the problem resolve. The healing effect due ONLY to the belief of having a healing medicine, and not any actual physical medicine.
I think this is a great example of the power of thought on the physical world. It is at the very least, evidence that it may be possible to think healing into being. As I was reviewing my historical records of how diminished value claims are settled, I began to think about and analyze the conversations and belief patterns of my customers as they behaved and thought about their insurance claim potential. The placebo effect is rampant.
Recently, I had a case where an adjuster was negotiating an inherent lost market value claim based on values and condition descriptions found in Kelley Blue Book. The amount of inherent lost value that the adjuster was willing to pay was about $4k less than what my research and opinion came out to. Obviously, I argued that Kelley was not accurate, and naturally, the adjuster requested a synopsis on why I believed that using Kelley Blue Book was not a reliable method for researching inherent lost market value, or DV as it is becoming common to call it (diminished value).
I happily obliged the adjuster, and here in this blog entry, I will re-cap why I think using Kelley Blue Book (or any other online valuation guide) to calculate DV is a severely lacking and inaccurate method.
In a professional forum for diminished value providers, we had a member inquire about how the amount of the repair bill affects the inherent diminished value of a vehicle. It is my experience that the amount of damages is an imperative factor to have in order to accurately assess diminished value. Let’s dig right into the details. . .