Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 9/14/2009

Question
My unattended parked vehicle was struck in a parking lot by another driver's SUV.  He left his name and number (nice guy!) and upon returning to my car and seeing the extensive damage I called the police and the other driver.  He returned to the scene along with the police and a report putting him at full fault was issued by the police (no summons since it was a private lot).

My car was a brand new Audi (less than 3 weeks old).  After a few days and much arguing with the other party's ins. co. they agreed to rent us a vehicle at Hertz at their expense.  The rental is a nice car but it's not my brand new Audi.  My car will be in the shop about one month and had over $5000.00 in damage.  I pay almost $700/month in lease payments on the car.  Can I try to recover a month's lease payment from the insurance company for loss of use or does the fact that they rented me a car for that time negate my claim?  So far I have not involved my own insurance company, only the other party's ins co.

Answer
Hi Stephen,

You are entitled to either a replacement rental car or a loss of use payment but not both.

However, there is another area of recovery you should not forget and that is the diminished value of your vehicle. Considering the newness and amount of damage your vehicle has lost value. Due to the police report the damage history will new be available on vehicle history reports such as CarFax and AutoCheck. You may have a claim worth several thousand dollars.

To learn more about diminished value and what you could be entitled to visit www.collisionclaims.com

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh