Need a good Attorney for diminished value

Hi all,

I wanted to say hello and ask for your advice and recommendation on a good attorney in MD/DC/VA that specializes in diminished value recovery.

I have a beautiful garage queen white Aston Martin Vantage coupe. While parked in my condo garage, my neighbor backed up and bumped into it in Sept 2008. The front grille was bent and the left front fender and hood were cracked (1/4 inch each) I was fuming and went after her insurance company to pay for the claim. They initially wanted to pay for "repair" but I pressed them to have these parts replaced. They footed the $6500 bill
Fast forward two years later....I want to trade the Aston in and get a BMW. Since the carfax on the Aston shows "items ordered after accident or incident" the most I have been able to get for the Aston is $68k. This car retails for high 80s to low 90s, especially since I have purchased the Aston power pack upgrade ($7800)
This represents a significant depreciation of the value of the car, especially since I had nothing to do with it.

Has anyone had any experiences with obtaining money for "diminished value" and if so, I would greatly appreciate a referral to an appropriate attorney.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post

RezF

 

Much is going to depend on whether you accepted a check, which is usually marked "Payment in Full" in the fine print. It's sleazy, but they do it all the time. Generally, the issue of diminished value also needs to be raised relatively closely to the time of the incident. Two years ago might be an issue, and you're outside that window. You will have to see if the statute of limitations has run on that claim.

That said, I've never pursued a diminished value claim, so I'll defer to the experts.

CW

 

Cold call a dealer and ask what the car is worth without giving the VIN, used exotics are slow and not nearly bringing in what everyone "thinks" they're worth right now.

 

Thank you all for replies
One dealer said 60k because of the carfax report and said there is about a 15k difference because of the carfax report
I think 75k is what it would have gone for if it didn't have the dreaded
Carfax report

 

Have someone run an auction report before spending money on an lawyer. That will tell you if the dealer was hardballing you.

 

Sounds to me like your car might be worth what the dealer is offering you, in fact, I think their offer is pretty good. Below is the MMR for 07 AM V8 Vantage.

Above Average Below
Sale Price $74,322 $67,500 $60,678
Odometer 4,787 9,574 14,361
Total Sold * 7 *
Jul 2010 Mar 2010 Sep 2009
Sale Price $58,500 $64,188 $68,800
Odometer 29,480 15,462 13,753
Total Sold 3 4 5

 

Thank you !!!! That's great info
My car is an 08 with 8900 miles. Would you
Be able to run the report on an 08
Many thanks

 

Here are the most recent transactions for the 08s

Date
Auction
Type Price
Odometer
Cond Color
Eng / Trans
In Sample
08/26/10
RIVRSIDE
Regular
$75,500
12,675
Below
MARON
8G / A
Yes
07/29/10
RIVRSIDE
Regular
$84,000
3,758
Avg
BLUE
8G / A
Yes
07/29/10
RIVRSIDE
Lease
$72,000
28,080
Below
GRAY
8G / A
No
07/15/10
RIVRSIDE
Regular
$72,000
15,183
Below
GREY
8G / M
No
07/07/10
MILWAUKE
Regular
$86,500
2,699
Avg
Silver
8G / A
Yes
06/03/10
RIVRSIDE
Lease
$83,000
7,902
Avg
GREY
8G / A
Yes

 

355dreamer

Your'e awesome!! Thank you!! In fact, I am very impressed and happy with the community of folks here who have provided valuable information
It appears I may have a little wiggle room to negotiate a bit from what was given to me. One dealer said $68k and another said $60k
Thanks again
RezF

 

If you still want to talk to an attorney, I highly recommend Rich Carter. He is a fellow Fcar owner and highly qualified attorney, also a board member here. His website and info is www.cartlaw.com He works with insurance coverages.

Might wanna just take Luke's advice and take the money. Good luck.

 

Having once fought for and received diminished value - I'll echo the advice above and note that my experience included a very long, hard fight. In the end - I have learned that DV is far harder to get than most people believe - and insurance companies fight tooth-and-nail to avoid paying it on top of a repair settlement. I only got it because I was holding an even larger potential settlement over their head.

The terms of your former settlement are the key factor. If you settled the case by cashing that repair check - then you are going to be out of luck. The time since the repair would almost certainly work against you as well.

DV is an uphill climb.

 

Yes it is. Like others have said now is a bit late to pursue a diminished value claim but I am not a lawyer. Hopefully this doesn't turn into a $15k education on how not to do things. Good luck!

 

The sad thing is that it was the insurance company that provided the damages to CarFax in the first place. And I've had customers who've gotten totally screwed by CarFax reporting frame damage when in fact there was none.

 

I had a couple of experiences with CarFax reporting erroneous information. One was an accident reported (VIN# was wrong) and the second was a mileage discrepancy. I actually was able to have them change the records by providing the actual service and state inspection records.