All,

A good friend had a valet do $40-50K worth of damage to his mint 2012 Aston convertible. The car can be repaired without a salvage title, but obviously, the car will not be worth anything close to what it would have been worth pre-accident.

I'm interested in hearing from those of you who have successfully negotiated settlements with insurance companies, and how you quantified the dimunition in value and other damage. Personally, I would not buy an exotic that had $50K of damage for anything close to market price, and likely wouldn't even consider it as a candidate. Proving that a $150K car is worth $110K is difficult.

Let me know if you have any thoughts on how to approach this with the valet company and insurance company.

Thank you,

 

Bummer....what happened?

Almost certainly arriving at the "true" market price for this car after the repairs will involve a long, drawn out process with the insurance company. I would start by contacting a few AM dealerships and having them make offers, in writing, for the car after disclosing the full vehicle history. I would also get similar offers from non-AM dealers to see what they are willing to give your friend. Of course, you can also scour the net to see what if there are any similar cars with similar accident histories, but that likely won't yield very many usable results.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Btw - where did your friend valet his car....so that I will never go there

 

Unless I miss my guess, the insurance company is NOT responsible for diminished resale value. This is when you pull out the policy and read it cover to cover. Their duty is to pay for the cost of repairs to restore the car (after the deductible) or if the cost of repairs exceeds the value of the car (total the car) pay the fair market value and they take the wreck as salvage. I think your pal is just SOL on this one, sorry.

 

Perhaps against the other party's insurance company he may be SOL, but I would think he would still have recourse against the company that employed the valet or the valet company itself. Someone needs to make him whole for the loss of value, even if the car is repaired. If he decided to sell the car the day after all the repairs have been made, the bottom line is that no one will offer him the fair market value anymore after seeing the car history. For that loss, he should have a cause of action, at least against the employer of the valet or the valet company. These are just my two cents as a practicing attorney, although I will be the first to admit that insurance law or these types of civil disputes are not my area of practice.

 

Easy ... Don't deal with it, plenty of perfectly good almost new astons for same price if not cheaper

 

Thanks all.

Where: Burbank Airport!

I will look into contacting AM dealerships.

As to whether insurance companies cover dimunition in value, I think there's a difference when the accident is caused by a third party in a situation like this. The valet company and host are liable for the conduct of their employees. There's no arguing that the car is now worth less, post-accident.

I'll keep you posted.

 

Depends on the state where the accident happened..it depends on state law whether diminution of value is recognized.

 

This is why I NEVER valet. Ask anyone who has ever been a valet and they will tell you not to do it!

 

Same here.. I'm a little paranoid and don't like to let a stranger valet either of my cars. I've heard horror stories.

 

This is correct. Don't confuse the limitation of your own coverage, with the duty a third party owes you.

You may, however, have a limitation of liability or waiver language that is arguably part of your "contract" with the valet that you may have to deal with. Otherwise you need a couple of experts (car retailers, ideally Aston, who are willing to help you regarding the diminution in value. I agree, I wouldn't want to buy your car now, let alone at the going price for a non-accident model.

This is one of those times when it might help to have a family friend who also happens to be a lawyer get involved (doesn't everyone have one?), particularly if there is waiver language involved.

So how does a valet cause $50k in damage in a 30 second, 1/4 mile drive?

 

This is a state by state thing.

In my state of Georgia, the party at fault is responsible for diminished value of a vehicle after an accident. In Georgia, drivers are required to have liability insurance (I'm sure it's the same in California).

Also, here in Georgia there are specialized auto appraisers that deal with diminished value for automobiles. It costs about $250 to $300 dollars to have the car appraised *after* it has been repaired to find out what the residual value of the vehicle will be, including the diminished value from the accident. It is Georgia law that diminished value must be paid.

I've done this twice. I had a 3000GT and a Jag get rear-ended. The diminished value of the Jag was fairly extensive. There was no structural damage to the Jag (no frame damage) but the accident did about $20K of damage to the rear end and the car was forever known as a wreck.

The insurance company the other person had was Geico. The *ABSOLUTE* worst insurance company I have *EVER* dealt with. I will *NEVER* deal with Geico in any way, and I warn anyone that will listen to stay away from them. There is a *reason* why you *might* save 15% on your car insurance. They refused to see my car, and said I would have to have the Jag repaired at their shop. I finally had to subrogate the claim and have the Jag repaired at a certified Jag body shop. Your friend will definitely want to get the car repaired at a certified Aston Martin body shop.

I'd assume an auto appraisal service is available in the Burbank area. They will also represent you with the other person's insurance company (or your own if your subrogate)to get you the max diminished value possible.

 

Haha. Yeah, as they say, you get what you pay for. I pay up for "premium" insurance but it's worth it to me, especially when you own an exotic. I have had one incident with my cars and they were great to deal with.

 

I have Nationwide and they have *always* been outstanding.

 

Well, they are on your side.

 

Ohhh, I think you made a funny.

This is helping my post count as well.