Expert: Bennie719 - 3/11/2008

Question
My husband was in a car accident-he was sideswiped by a big work truck (who worked for a grading company.)  At first the guy admitted fault, apologized and didn't say anything when he got the citation.  Then, his insurance company said they're not claiming liability.  So, we filed with our insurance company, they completed the repairs (estimated at $1800), including waiving our deductible.  They're going to subrogate with the other insurance company.  They didn't call to discuss Diminished Value (after we've asked about it several times), but just sent us a check for $203...  we have a 2005 PT Cruiser Convertible in excellent condition  with about 35K miles (we had just bought it used a month before the accident.)  We purposely got one that hadn't been in any type of accident, so I feel we "paid up" for that.  I'm assuming that the car is diminished in value more than that...  Is this a fair amount (I'm assuming not!) and how do we go about figuring out an accurate amount?  I know that we're supposed to be "made whole" and I don't feel that $203 is making us whole!  I realize this wouldn't be a problem if you keep the car for 10 years, but we were only planning on keeping it for about 2, possibly 3 years.

Answer
Hi Stephanie,
$1,800 is considered minimal damage and a diminished value payment of between 10% - 15% of the damage is considered fair.  It appears that you are being paid about 12%.  A battle for an additional $40 doesn't look worthwhile.
I hope you find this helpful.
Your feedback by rating my answer will be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Bennie
San Francisco Bay Area