Accident advice need

[Steppenwolfe]

Last Sunday afternoon While traveling on I 81 north of Roanoke, I got rear ended when traffic stopped. Nice older woman from Indiana with a little white dog just couldn't get stopped in time. State trooper ticketed her. Luckily neither of us were hurt. However, I'm pretty sure her little suv is totaled and my BRAND NEW F 150 got hammered. I had only had the truck two weeks. Tomorrow the truck is going to the dealers collision center for insurance adjustment, and we'll exactly see what the damage is. Any way, the truck was 62 grand and probably has 20 grand in repairs, which may include replacing part, if not all, of the frame. My question is, even if fixed to good as new, I will have what is called diminished value due to the truck having an accident report attached to it. How much diminished value do you think I may have? Would you buy my truck knowing it had been in a wreck? And, would you get rid of the truck immediately after the repair?

 

[George2615]

Glad both of you were not hurt in the accident.
WOW!!!! 62 grand for an F150. Must be some truck.
At only 2 weeks old at time of accident you will likely lose your shirt trading it in on another.

 

[murphy1244]

Sorry to hear about your accident. Glad that your alright. I would get it fixed and off it. They never seem to drive the same after an accident.

 

[TheMan419]

Google computing the diminished value. There is no set formula. Insurance companies will usually offer you no more than 10% of the value of the vehicle as additional compensation. Lawyers will say it is more like 33% of the pre-accident value of the vehicle.

The trouble you are going to have, if you choose to trade it in, is that the vehicle lost 25% of its value once you drove it off the lot 2 weeks ago.

 

[TheMan419]

Google computing the diminished value. There is no set formula. Insurance companies will usually offer you no more than 10% of the value of the vehicle as additional compensation. Lawyers will say it is more like 33% of the pre-accident value of the vehicle.

The trouble you are going to have, if you choose to trade it in, is that the vehicle lost 25% of its value once you drove it off the lot 2 weeks ago.

 

[oosik]

I've been rear-ended 2X and the repaired vehicles never were the same. The front & rear axles were slightly out of alignment and tire wear was terrible. Both vehicles developed rattles - early on. One was a Ford F-150 4WD - it sure didn't cost 62K new though. I'd get rid of it and get another - you will loose your shirt on a trade in. Even repaired it will never seem the same to you.

You could be surprised and due to the damage/repair costs it might be totaled.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

Nice older woman from Indiana with a little white dog just couldn't get stopped in time.

Nice older woman from Indiana with a little white dog was tailgating.


If you cannot stop in time to avoid hitting the car in front of you, you are following too closely. Period.

 

[ray66v]

I have repaired vehicles for several decades.

They can be repaired properly, and they can be "right".

Make sure your shop has been in business for a while, and has a good reputation.

The dealer may be a good choice. But, they put their pants on the same way as the guy at the independent shop does. And, the independent shop has to work harder for their customers, because they can't count on business automatically coming there, like the dealer does.

Using a shop the insurance company tries to steer you to, is often not in your best interest. And, that shop may not be as interested in taking care of you, as they are taking care of the insurance company, to keep them sending work there.

By law, the insurance company can't require you to go to a particular shop. And, generally, everything they say, if you tell them, you don't want to go to their shop, is not true.

Insurance companies are very skilled at getting you to play the game the way they want. And, very skilled at making you believe they took great care of you, while they may have done the opposite.

Take some time to educate yourself, before you make any decisions about having a repair done.

 

[roadhunter]

62k F150????? Holy cow what does that thing have for options.

Does this have the aluminum bed and body panels? If so it will be really interesting to see a real world cost for repairs.

Sounds like a really frustrating situation, especially with a brand new truck. I hope this works out for you.

 

[oldballs]

The last time something like that happened to me I traded the truck(1995 F150) back to the original dealer for a new and bigger truck (F-250 SuperDuty). The original dealer was also the certified repair source by the insurance company.

'Twas an inattentive middle age man who was talking on his cell phone that broad sided me as he came out of a shopping mall.

I didn't want to chance it that the repairs would be okay, since I keep trucks "forever".
"

 

[comancheflight]

I hate it when someone replies to a post and say they don't have an answer to your question BUT...well this is close but I'm going to say I was told by my auto body repair place your exact senerio. He said with all of his repairs some of his clients do the following. They check to see if their VIN number shows up on any of the Web based auto sites like carfax. He told me that he knows of two that called the insurance companies after their car showd up and basically negotiated a settlement rather than suing them over depreciated value. He said they got (I think) around $3K. But wasn't a gazillion dollar truck I'm guessin.
He also said some insurance companies are stopping the turning over of information for that reason.
Again, just what he told me about 6 months ago..
:confused3:

 

[comancheflight]

2 minutes searching I found this:
Make a diminished value claim | CarInsurance.com

 

[turnkey4099]

Nice older woman from Indiana with a little white dog was tailgating.


If you cannot stop in time to avoid hitting the car in front of you, you are following too closely. Period.

Which, from what I see on thre road, is about 90% of all drivers out there. Very rarely do I see a vehicle following another at anywhere near the recommended space between therm.

 

[kennyd]

I went through much the same issue about four years ago with a new Toyota Corrolla with only 6k miles, I was hit in the rear and had about 12k in damage by the time it was fully repaired-initially estimated at about 9k so it was not totaled.
I actually hired a specialist on my own to assist in my diminished value claim, and while I can't specifically remember the exact numbers now, I do remember it was very beneficial once everything was settled.

 

[Clint S]

We went through this a few years ago too, a little different scenario. We were driving to trade a 4 yo vehicle in and a 80yo lady pulled right out in front of us. We clipped her, it was her fault , Yada Yada . Needless to say 12 k car had 5500 in damage so not totaled and our 11k trade in went to $7500. We filed a claim , but gave up after a while of getting the run around.

 

[LD1]

What you do is up to you......but I think you really have two options...

1. loose your tail trading it in or selling it. Not only do you have the diminished value of it being in a pretty serious accident, but the diminished value of the depreciation.

2. Keep it for the long haul. Use a good shop or the dealer for repairs so you will know they will stand behind their work. The "diminished value" of a vehicle that has been in an accident diminishes over time. Someone looking at a nearly new truck, with low miles.....being in an accident is a real big deal. And likely to steer a customer away. Looking at a 15 year old truck with 150k miles......the fact that it was in an accident 15 years ago holds alot less weight.

If you are one to trade vehicles often, I'd do it now and get it behind you. IF you are normally one to keep a vehicle for the long haul, I'd stick with it, and make the dealer or shop fix the truck "right" even if it takes several trips. Cause 10-15 years down the road, the "diminished value of being in an accident" isnt gonna make much difference in the trucks value.

In either option though, certainly file the diminished value claim.

 

[check]

We went through this a few years ago too, a little different scenario. We were driving to trade a 4 yo vehicle in and a 80yo lady pulled right out in front of us. We clipped her, it was her fault , Yada Yada . Needless to say 12 k car had 5500 in damage so not totaled and our 11k trade in went to $7500. We filed a claim , but gave up after a while of getting the run around.

In Ontario, you would get nothing for diminished value.

 

[EarPlug]

As a victim, all you are entitled to is to be returned to a "pre accident condition". Proving the dollar amount of Diminished Value is the challenge i.e. What is the Diminished Value Today? 3 Years from now? 5 Years? It can be argued that you have not lost any value until you actually sell. As a victim, all you are entitled to is to be returned to a "pre accident condition".

In your case, since the truck is only 2 weeks old, calculating the Pre Damage value should be easy to calculate. Ask a couple of Dealer what they would be willing to pay you for a trade on a no damaged condition. Then, ask for a price post damage/repair. The difference is your Diminished Value. You will probably need to wait until after the repairs to get this done.

This isn't going to be easy and you WILL lose money.

 

[EddieWalker]

Whatever you do, be sure to not accept the first offer from the insurance company. The longer you hold out, the more pressure they are under to get it settled.

 

[AchingBack]

Deduct the loss on your tax return as a business expense.