I was involved in a hit and run accident recently. The insurance company paid the claim without any issues. I was then offered a settlement for "Diminution of Value" to the vehicle. I have no idea if their offer is fair or not. I have seen several websites that "specialize" in this area, but I have no clue whether or not they are legitimate.

Has anyone had any experience in this area? I would appreciate any advice or suggestions.

Yes, they offered me the DV in an email after the claim was settled. As of today, I am told that a check has been mailed to me. It is not my intention to cash the check without doing due diligence.

Is this one of the big insurance carriers? Was it your insurance or someone else's that made the offer?

what is the make/model of your car?

It is a large insurance company (mine) that made the offer. My vehicle is a 2017 Infiniti QX80, excellent condition with 6200 miles. The repair was done by an Infiniti dealership.

I had to sign a release of further liability with geico before they settled my diminished value claim. You might want to check the documents you signed during this process.

Also how much damage to vehicle and how much are the offering?

The damage was $3680 and their offer is $1910...I have not signed a release.

I had a QX80 and can tell you from experience it doesn't take much damage to rack up $3600, is this the type of damage that would show up on a Carfax?

I don't know what it takes for an accident to show up on CarFax, but the rear bumper panel had to be replaced.

If it doesn't show up on auto checks or Carfax that seems like a decent deal.

Here is a good article on Diminished Value of a vehicle.


https://www.carprousa.com/How-Do-I-Collect-My-Diminished-Value/a/377

In general on a private sell or even on a trade-in the buyer is looking for damage that would/could effect how the car performs and/or ages. IMO, a replacement rear bumper replaced by a dealership isn't going to affect your resale value at all, or if it does, it would be very little.

Following as I'm in the same situation for my wife's car. $4,500+ damage due to being rear-ended, repaired very satisfactorily with OEM bumper cover and floor pan etc but it still shows on on Carfax now.

I took it straight from the collision center to the dealer to get their best offer, which clearly showed a reduction in value of $2,300 due to the accident based on the extent of the repairs. USAA (at fault driver's insurance) sent me a check for $313, even after submitting the offer as my evidence. I have obviously not cashed and am still in the process of going back and forth with them to try to get a more reasonable settlement.

Like the OP, I'm considering using a 3rd party to mediate. Has anyone used WreckCheck or similar for this? They will only take cases estimated at $1,250+, and their online calculator has mine right around $2,000.

At this point, I'm not sure what the downside is to letting them pursue it further since USAA stopped responding.

I am not familiar with WreckCheck, but there is a company in Conroe called Acquire Auto that does DV appraisals. Their phone number is 936-666-2567 and ask for Alex.

As for my situation, I am in touch with my insurance company, but they are playing hardball. I asked them to re-appraise their valuation (at my expense) because they rated my vehicle as Average as opposed to Excellent and because they failed to account for $9100 of options added to the vehicle (I provided photos and the original window sticker). These changes would result in an extra $600-$800. Thus far, they have refused to budge.

Hopefully, we can work something out...

Usually police report or insurance claim is all it takes to get reported to CarFax.