What is Diminished Value

Transcript

Hi, I am Mike Hancock with Hancock Injury Attorneys and today we’re going to

discuss diminished value claims. The concept of diminished value is fairly simple: the law recognizes that even if your vehicle has been properly repaired it still has a diminished value as a result of being involved in a crash.

Whether you have sustained a diminished value to your vehicle as a result of the accident really depends on a few factors: first we take into account what type of vehicle it is we take into account that how old the vehicle is; and we take into account the amount of damage. As an example, if you were in the market to buy a Porsche and you were told that that Porsche had been involved in an accident, would you be willing to pay the same price for that car as the same vehicle? sitting next to it that had never been involved in an accident? That is the concept of diminished value claims.

Although there have been many Florida appellate and Supreme Court cases recognizing the right to recover diminished value for your vehicle, insurance companies will not offer that information to you. In fact, it has been my experience with my clients that when they present the diminished value claims themselves to the insurance companies, the insurance adjuster typically asked the following question: was your car properly repaired, and if so there’s no diminished value. This is just a complete misstatement of the law.

Without actually hiring an attorney to represent you, you have no actual leverage to deal with the insurance adjuster or the insurance company. By retaining an attorney to represent you in your diminished value claim, you go from a position of having no leverage to a position of strength. And the reason is because we have the ability to file a lawsuit if necessary and push this to trial.

If you have any questions regarding your diminished value claim, I’d be happy to get on the phone with you or have an in-office consultation with you and discuss it at length and explain how we can benefit you in detail.

For more information on diminished value claims please go to our website at HancockInjuryAttorneys.com.