Actual Cash Value or Fair Market Value?

October 16, 2017By Justin Petty

I’ll bet that no one has explained to you what I am about to explain . . .

First of all, the terms Actual Cash Value (ACV) and/or Fair Market Value (FMV) are sorely lacking and ambiguous when it comes to actually helping to define the value of a private passenger automobile. 

In fact, the formal definition in almost every source one can find leaves out the MAIN ASPECT that would make the definition useful. 

The terms ACV and FMV are so ambiguous that they are totally meaningless when it comes to figuring out the value of your vehicle.

Don’t believe me, let’s break it down. 

Start with familiarizing yourself with the “formal” definitions.

INVALID DIMINISHED VALUE CLAIM DENIAL – 8 Unfair Examples

January 22, 2016By Justin Petty

If you’ve had the displeasure of being in an accident where your vehicle was repairable, you’ve probably experienced a loss in the resale value of your vehicle, no matter how well it was repaired.

Additionally, in the vast majority of cases the insurance company that is responsible for settling the claim with you gives you an unfair and invalid diminished value claim denial.  In my view, the denial of these valid claims is an act of fraud.

If it is fraud, then why doesn’t the insurance company get in trouble for it?

The primary reason is that there are very few attorneys and even fewer accident victims that really understand the denials.  Because of that, it is difficult for the accident victim to defeat the illogical and unlawful reasons that insurance companies use to deny diminished value claims. 

I thought long and hard about what I could do to help accident victims get fair compensation for lost value, and outside of preparing an appraisal for them and directing them to an attorney that will take their case, the best I can do is to educate.  So that is exactly what I will do right now!

I’ve already published one article that gives some responses to common denials, but in this post, I am going to pull out the stops and address every denial reason I can find, and provide all the proper reasons why the denials are invalid, improper, and in most cases, fraudulent.