The Tesla and Inherent Diminished Value

December 16, 2013Auto Accident, Auto Repair, Diminished Value, Insurance Claims, Rare Vehicle Auto Claims, Tesla Diminished Value

Tesla Model S – Diminished Value On A Rare Vehicle

tesla diminished value

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…)

Writing Insurance Claim Dispute Letters

October 14, 2013Auto Repair, Diminished Value, Injury Claims, Insurance Claims, Total Loss

dispute letters
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…)

The Placebo Effect / How It Affects Your Diminished Value Claim!

September 18, 2013Auto Repair, Diminished Value, Insurance Claims, Small Claims

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.

placebo-brain
©iStockphoto.com/ FotografiaBasica

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.

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Diminished Value and Kelley Blue Book

September 13, 2013Auto Repair, Diminished Value, Insurance Claims

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.

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Salvage Vehicles, Total Losses, Rebuilt / Salvage Titles & Diminished Value

May 23, 2013Diminished Value, Insurance Claims, Total Loss

Salvage Vehicles, Total Losses, Rebuilt / Salvage Titles & Diminished Value

In every claim I have ever handled where the vehicle was a total loss and had a salvage / rebuilt title, I was instructed to deduct 50% of it’s pre-accident value to account for the salvage / rebuilt status.  Also, when I was handling claims for insurance companies, I was routinely told that diminished value did not exist and to simply deny paying for it.

If asked, the main reason for denial was because it was a “stigma” claim, for which we did not legally owe (which was a lie).  The next best denial reason was that unless the vehicle sold for a loss due to the repair history, the claim was “unrealized” and there was no claim (also a lie).

Just think about that for a minute if you’re an adjuster.  Are you not instructed to deduct 40 – 60 % of the value on a total loss settlement if the vehicle had a salvage or rebuilt title?  And are you not instructed to refuse to pay diminished value on vehicles that are repairable?  Do you know the law about the matter?  I do.

The fact of the matter is that in most cases, if a vehicle has any substantial value, then if damaged and repaired, it will suffer lost market value due to stigma.  If your damages were due to another person’s negligence, then their liability insurance company will ultimately have to settle the claim for them if you sue the person.

How is stigma loss documented and how do you sue?

Information is always free at Petty Details, LLC!

Older Vehicles Can Have Diminished Value, Can’t They?

April 30, 2013Diminished Value, Insurance Claims

do older vehicles have diminished value
Are you joking?  YES!

Seriously, I sometimes get the feeling that some people just don’t understand how life works, and that causes them difficulty in discerning ordinarily easy facts to observe.  Our mission statement at the office is “We are here to prove that paying attention to details and doing the right thing is the key to success in business and in life.”  I understand that we can always argue semantics about what is the right thing, but this article should at least demonstrate some of how I think as well as shed some light on how to determine whether an older vehicle has any lost value due to a collision and repair that is worth pursuing.

I assume if you found my blog, you don’t need a definition of inherent lost market value, so, let’s take an older car example and go with it. . .

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How To Sue The Insurance Company Over A Wreck

September 15, 2012Diminished Value, Insurance Claims, Small Claims

how to sue

I truly cannot tell you how many times a claimant threatened to sue the company when I was adjusting insurance claims.  All insurance adjuster learn pretty early on that a person will have a hard time trying to sue someone else’s insurance company for bad claims handling, so never was I ever worried when a third-party claimant threatened suit.  In fact, I hoped that they tried so they would learn a lesson.  Just the fact that they threatened it made it known to me that they had no clue how to fight with me.

Now that I am a private claims consultant, it is still one of the most common questions I get from individuals who are upset about the way they are being treated by an insurance company.  If you’ve found this article by searching the internet for “How to sue an insurance company” or some variation, then you are who I am trying to reach.  Please continue reading, the following information is 100% true.

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