Diminished Value, Damage Repair

I'm sorry to hear about the damage to your car, but I doubt you have a "Diminished Value" claim.

Any car that is driven is going to have a series of door dings, dents and chips over time. If repairs are made, I don't think the value of the car is diminished.

If serious damage has been done and repaired, then yes, the value of the car may be diminished.

In real life, new cars can be damaged in shipment etc. and repairs are made without knowledge of the purchaser.

I once saw a movie showing the building of Ferraris. At one point in QC, small defects in the bodies are detected and repaired. In some cases bondo was even used.

I'm not an insurance man or an attorney, but if the damage was minimal and satisfactory repairs were made , I can't imagine that the car has been diminished in value.

Then again, I may be completely wrong...............

 

Don't shoot the messenger......

 

yeh, i agree, dont shoot the messenger. you asked for comment, i thought the guy was trying to be helpful. just because the answer wasnt the one you wanted to hear doesnt mean it wasnt correct. it may not be correct, but he made that clear at the end. best of luck with your claim, but take a chill pill in the interim will you. cheers

 

You have no diminished value in the mind of the marketplace......

While you technically may make a claim for $$$ and even collect something from the guys insurance (which is justified as you shouldn't pay for the repair)......in my mind and that of probably 90% of the other posters here (based on the last poll we ran) you will not suffer at resale time.

Cosmetic stuff is basically irrelevant. If you're talking market valuations something more important is the fact that the car is an off color.....I'd bet that a properly repainted red or yellow car would bring more $$$ than an original silver one.

 

I would suspect that there is no diminished value. If I were shopping for a nice 308, in silver, and there had been a ding, properly repaired, it would not in my opinion change the value of the car. I recall an F chat posting where a Ferrari owner was complaining about mismatched panels, and the owner of the business demonstrated that it is not unusual for Ferraris to come from the factory with mismatched panels. Not a big difference, mind you, but a difference nontheless.

 

Take a chill pill Dude!
I think the first reply was totaly honest and fair.

What model do you have? You don't mention that.

If you had a "Super America" or "GT California" any year. I would say sure your car is going to have to have a perfect and expensive repair to put things right.

But come on if its a more common ferrari that's an Oxi moron I know. Get a good repair done and move on. I bought a BN 04 Spider 72 miles on her, it already had something fixed at the factory. Small but I saw it. These are hand built cars they are never perfect ever. Excep in magazines. In your defence I can live with a scrach I put there. Never someone else's. I always stay with the car if something is being done period.

There are no stupid answers....

 

diminished value? I am going to be serious here and say your not going to have a chance at that. If your worried about the collectors value of your car you wouldn't have it at a stereo shop getting an aftermarket radio installed. JMO

How much would the dimished value be anyway? if the car is worth $25,000 are you going to get a lawyer and go fight for $2-3k? by the time your done the fight will potentially leave you at a net loss.

This post is my opinion dont take offense I am just being realistic about the situation as I see it.

 

may i ask a question

::sorry i may not have read every sentence of this thread thoroughly::

but,
did the guy at the stereo place admit that he did this damage ?

i have yet to hear that

becuz
without that
and
finding the damage a month later

uh,
you ain't got a chance

his word against yours

 

Sophia.....

I am not an FCA member..............can the article be posted online ?

 

I feel like I need to step in here as well. I doubt that the 1978 paint job on your car, if original, is truly flawless. A better comment might be "unmolested"--and I think we all feel your pain.

If there is significant metal or bondo work you might have a claim, but if all that is required is a skim coat of filler and a respray, I don't think you have a diminished value claim either. Well, actually, you probably do, but it would be in the range of hundreds as opposed to thousands of dollars.

In speaking with my local ferrari dealer, limited area resprays are "common" and if the damage doesn't effect the title of the car, there is no value effect.

I don't claim to completely understand the market or every transaction that occurs, but it is a known issue with 360 Modena coupes having some paint blistering over the oil cooler on the right rear of the engine compartment. My dealer (and their body shop) say that having to refinish this area (which is quite visible) is not uncommon--yet I have not seen a single Modena advertised with the respray commented on or discussed.

I also know that newer paint is easier to fix than the paint on your 308--and that might be the avenue to pursue.

 

"Sorry I ruffled your feathers guys, but wait until it happens to you. If it were my old truck, whatever. Are you so wealthy or so accustomed to being around Ferrari's to the point where they're just an appliance in your garage."

I really think that comment is out of line. There may be people who may consider their cars appliances--but they probably aren't on this board. Have you seen the pictures of offices, garages, and living rooms adorned with Ferrari stuff? Have you seen the passionate discussions about detailing and caring for the cars? How many folks here talk about "Yeah, just drove my car two hours in the rain, up a dirt road, and I'm getting off on looking at the caked mud on my quarter panels"?

I have a Kenmore freezer in my garage. I do not have Kenmore logo shirts, Kenmore jackets, Kenmore patches, or Kenmore models in my office. A Kenmore is an appliance, my Ferrari is my passion.

 

i believe his post indicates that he was having an alarm installed in his shop / garage, when the ferrari was damaged.

 

yeh yeh, cmon guys, if you read peter bs latest above he acknowledges he may have climbed into the messenger a bit hard, so let it go. im sure hes got every right to be pissed at someone damaging his ferrari. hell, mine went into the shop and came back with damage and i was pissed as. proving they had done it is another matter, and in the end, sometimes you just have to press on with life and accept that due to the very nature of our cars the smallest dent or stone chip damage causes us major grief that we wouldnt be too worried about if our general use car got the same damage. it just shows how much we love our cars. which is great isnt it? but it sounds like peter has got them to admit the damage so hes half way there, and good on him. if i could get the guys that did the damage to mine, id have a crack at them as well. we have slightly different insurance down here in new zealand so i cant do a hell of a lot about it unfortunately.

peter b, in an age of diminished responsibility where it seems no one is accountable anymore for thier actions, i hope you get the buggers that damaged your car, and hitting them in the pocket book is the only way to make an impact. and hey guys, dont loose sight of the fact that if he gets a decent payout, the next guy that you get working on your ferrari may be just that extra bit careful and keep yours free of damage. just a thought.

 

Sheesh, with a response like that, I wish I had never replied to your post!

I gave you an honest opinion, even stating at the beginning of my post that that I was sorry to hear of the damage to your car.

Is this the kind of respect you show everyone who may not agree with your way of thinking? As I stated, I might be wrong, but in all honesty I don't think so.

I hope you get what you're looking for.

"What do you drive?" Well, I mainly drive my 79' Chevy Caprice.

If you really meant what do you own, I've owned Ferraris for over 30 years. I currently have 5 Ferraris(including one of your wanted cars shown in your profile; a 512TR), RR's and and other cars.

I usually don't talk about what I have, that's why it's not in my profile.

I DO know what it's like to have one of my cars damaged, but it sure ain't the end of the world as it seems to be in your case.

Just lighten up, you'll live longer!

 

Apology accepted.

 

It’s good you are getting a claim.

Same thing happened to me at a car show (I have photo evidence and witnesses). The owner of the shop said don’t worry that’s why I have insurance. Now his whole story has changed and I have to take him to small claims court.

 

Great looking 308. Love that color.

Was your car original paint? Or was it a very nice re-spray?

If the paint is original, you might be able to argue the difference between a re-painted car and an original car' value, if there is one.

I know with my car, the 246GT, there doesn't seem to be much if any premium for an original paint car vs. a high quality re-painted car.

You might try to contact Carbon at FML, and see if his folks perceive a difference in value.

One of the problems with 246 and 308's is there are lots of them, and they have not had the kind of value appreciation that the cars older have. So, even if there is a difference in new vs respray, it's probably not as much as the cost of repainting the car.

Just my $.02, I could be completely off base.

 

I've seen a various cars including a 575 suffer damage in transport before & being sold or released to the customer without disclosure of the incident. Things like this happen all the time without any knowledge to the owner. If it's a small matter, they try to pass it off like it never happened. In a worse case scenario, it could be like what happened the first F50 delivered in the US.

 

Generally the courts will not award damages if the claim is too speculative. If you hired a lawyer and if he is worth his salt he will hire an expert to testify as to the dimished value. Most certainly on a car of your model type (ie. not ultra rare or valuable) your legal fees will well exceed the value of your claim assuming you can prove your loss to the court or juries satisfaction. Maybe an affidavit from an expert as to his opinion as to the loss of value might help in settling your claim.