Thought I would share my experience for anyone that is interested in going down the path of getting dimished value. I represented myself pro-se through all court filings.
My 2016 BMW M3 was hit by someone in February of 2020. It was repaired adequately for the sum of ~$14,000. I initially asked for diminished value, and was told by State Farm that they take the position that a well repaired vehicle does not suffer diminished value, and wouldn't pay anything. I had a diminished value 'appraisal' that came up with $7,000 of diminished value. I thought the report was well done, but won't link here because I don't want to be seen as a shill. After receiving and presenting the report, they still would not budge on any diminished value, so I filed for "Automobile Arbitration". For a $10 fee, my state allows you to sue outside of small claims and request arbitration.
After filing arbitration, I received the typical legal list of "defenses" as to why their client was not liable. I also talked with the lawyer representing state farm who gave me the same speech about diminished value cases being hard to win, about how the appraisal was heresay etc.. I also received my first offer to settle the case for $3,000. I countered with $5,000 but they were unwilling to settle the case.
After nearly a year my case was finally scheduled to be seen by the arbitrators. I made 5 binders of my evidence. One for each of the arbitrators, one for me, and one for opposing council. The piece of evidence I found most convincing were offers from Carvana & Vroom. I went ahead and got "instant offers" on my vin (where the carfax showed 1 accident), and then I went to autotrader and found an identical car that had a no accident carfax and generated an "instant offer" for that car. The identical cars showed a ~7-10k difference in offers. The opposing council argued that all used car prices had risen, and my car was worth more than at the time of the accident. I conceded that yes that was true, but the spread between an undamaged vehicle, and a damaged vehicle remained the same (~$7k).
After discussion the panel of 3 lawyers who were serving as arbitrators returned a judgement in my favor for the full amount ($7,000). It was a long process, and honestly probably not worth my time, but I felt like I was wronged and wanted to see it resolved. I'm writing this post so hopefully someone in the future who is going through the process will have an idea of how it goes. Below is the 'summary' page from my binder:
Summary
• Actual Offers on Plaintiff Car (Orange):
o $21,000 – CarMax In Person (April, 2020)
o $33,525 – Carvana Online (August, 2021)
o $32,616 – Vroom Online (August, 2021)
o $31,439 – Carvana Online (February, 2022)
o BMW Dealership unable to make offer.
• Actual Offer on Comparable No Accident Car (Yellow)
o $41,255 – Carvana Online (February, 2022)
• Actual Offer on Comparable No Accident Car (Green)
o $44,381 – Vroom Online (August, 2021)
• Contemporaneous offers from the same dealer on two comparable vehicles show:
o Vroom (Aug, 21) - (44,381-32,616=$11,765)
o Carvana (Feb, `22) – (41,255-31,439=$9,816)
• The most conservative reading of the offers shows $7,730 in diminished value. The largest actual offer on plaintiff's car over two years was $33,525, and the lowest actual offer on a comparable “no accident” car was $41,255.
• Third party appraisal estimated $6,900 in diminished value.
My 2016 BMW M3 was hit by someone in February of 2020. It was repaired adequately for the sum of ~$14,000. I initially asked for diminished value, and was told by State Farm that they take the position that a well repaired vehicle does not suffer diminished value, and wouldn't pay anything. I had a diminished value 'appraisal' that came up with $7,000 of diminished value. I thought the report was well done, but won't link here because I don't want to be seen as a shill. After receiving and presenting the report, they still would not budge on any diminished value, so I filed for "Automobile Arbitration". For a $10 fee, my state allows you to sue outside of small claims and request arbitration.
After filing arbitration, I received the typical legal list of "defenses" as to why their client was not liable. I also talked with the lawyer representing state farm who gave me the same speech about diminished value cases being hard to win, about how the appraisal was heresay etc.. I also received my first offer to settle the case for $3,000. I countered with $5,000 but they were unwilling to settle the case.
After nearly a year my case was finally scheduled to be seen by the arbitrators. I made 5 binders of my evidence. One for each of the arbitrators, one for me, and one for opposing council. The piece of evidence I found most convincing were offers from Carvana & Vroom. I went ahead and got "instant offers" on my vin (where the carfax showed 1 accident), and then I went to autotrader and found an identical car that had a no accident carfax and generated an "instant offer" for that car. The identical cars showed a ~7-10k difference in offers. The opposing council argued that all used car prices had risen, and my car was worth more than at the time of the accident. I conceded that yes that was true, but the spread between an undamaged vehicle, and a damaged vehicle remained the same (~$7k).
After discussion the panel of 3 lawyers who were serving as arbitrators returned a judgement in my favor for the full amount ($7,000). It was a long process, and honestly probably not worth my time, but I felt like I was wronged and wanted to see it resolved. I'm writing this post so hopefully someone in the future who is going through the process will have an idea of how it goes. Below is the 'summary' page from my binder:
Summary
• Actual Offers on Plaintiff Car (Orange):
o $21,000 – CarMax In Person (April, 2020)
o $33,525 – Carvana Online (August, 2021)
o $32,616 – Vroom Online (August, 2021)
o $31,439 – Carvana Online (February, 2022)
o BMW Dealership unable to make offer.
• Actual Offer on Comparable No Accident Car (Yellow)
o $41,255 – Carvana Online (February, 2022)
• Actual Offer on Comparable No Accident Car (Green)
o $44,381 – Vroom Online (August, 2021)
• Contemporaneous offers from the same dealer on two comparable vehicles show:
o Vroom (Aug, 21) - (44,381-32,616=$11,765)
o Carvana (Feb, `22) – (41,255-31,439=$9,816)
• The most conservative reading of the offers shows $7,730 in diminished value. The largest actual offer on plaintiff's car over two years was $33,525, and the lowest actual offer on a comparable “no accident” car was $41,255.
• Third party appraisal estimated $6,900 in diminished value.