How To File A Diminished Value Claim With Your Insurance Company

After an accident, your car inherently loses value, even if you have it repaired to perfect condition. This means you can’t ever sell it for what it was once worth, resulting in an overall loss. The amount varies but can range between a few hundred dollars to several thousand depending on the value of your vehicle.

In Massachusetts, you can now file a claim with your insurance company for reimbursement for this lost value. Here’s how to get started and what our qualified diminished value attorneys can do to help.

Find Out Your Insurance Company’s Filing Process

First, contact your insurance provider to find out the process you should follow to file a diminished value claim. You’ll want to make sure you have all the documentation you need and anything else your insurance company requires ahead of time before you file. Otherwise, your claim could be denied.

Calculate Your Car’s Diminished Value

Next, you’ll want to find out how much value your car actually lost. To do this, you’ll need to figure out the value of your car before the accident and apply several multipliers based on your car’s mileage and the amount of damage that was done to it in the collision.

The more mileage on your vehicle at the time of the accident, the less money you’ll get back in a diminished value claim. This is because as cars accrue mileage, they inherently lose value, and you can only get back a percentage of the market value that your vehicle had just prior to the accident.

Learn how to calculate your car’s exact diminished value here.

Provide Documentation Of The Damages

Next, you’ll want to provide as much information as possible about the accident and the damage it caused to your vehicle. Spare no detail about what led up to the accident, what happened during the collision, and what you and the other vehicle’s driver did right afterward. You’ll also want to provide documentation about the repairs you had done, what materials and parts were used, and where you had them done.

It’s important to provide clear documentation of how and why your car lost value and how much value was lost. Otherwise, your claim could be denied on the basis of incorrect or not enough information.

File Your Claim

Finally, it’s time to file your claim. Make sure you follow the exact process you were instructed to use and include as much relevant information and documentation as possible. Your claim form should be correctly filled out and without errors, since many insurers deny claims for simple mistakes like a misspelled word or wrong date.

Make a copy of the signed form for your records and keep it somewhere safe, like in a filing cabinet at home or even a safe deposit box at a bank. If for some reason the insurance company tries to say you didn’t file, you’ll have a copy of the document and the date it was filed on hand to prove your case.

Appeal The Decision

If your claim was denied, you may be able to appeal the decision. Start by asking your insurance company why you were denied. You should be able to get an official statement from your insurer if they haven’t already sent you one automatically.

Then, you can compare your reason(s) for denial to your insurance policy to determine if the insurer is following your specific policy coverage. If you shouldn’t have been denied, then you can file an appeal to ask for your case to be reconsidered.

For example, if your policy allows claims to be made for 6 months following an accident, and you were denied because you filed outside of their time frame, you would need to show that you filed within 6 months of the date of the accident. Ideally, the decision would be reversed and your claim would then be approved.

Need Help? Our IDV Lawyers Are On Your Side

If your vehicle has been in an accident, you may be able to recover its lost value through your insurance company. Our veteran diminished value car accident attorneys can help. Contact us now to learn more about filing a diminished value claim or to get legal help by calling (978) 744-8000.

We can guide you through the process of filing an IDV claim to get back the lost value in your car after you were involved in a motor vehicle accident step by step, so you can be confident about the legal decisions you make.