[PaulE]

Steve it sounds like you did good on your second one with Progressive in Florida. My brother had his 2017 Ford Fiesta with only 2,800 miles on it totaled as a result of an accident that wasn't his fault. He has Progressive insurance in New Jersey and so did the person who was at fault. The totaled car was purchased new less than 6 months earlier. Progressive used the JD Power/Mitchell valuation service to come up with a value of the car. They found several similar 2017 Fiestas listed for sale at new and used dealers. They took the listed sales prices, had +/- adjustments for differences in the various options, and applied a factor of $0.06-$0.07 per mile to account for mileage differences between the cars they found and the totaled car. All good so far, and if they stopped there I would have thought it was fair. But then they arbitrarily applied a 6.25% reduction adjustment to all of these prices they came up with, on the assumption that all of the sales prices could have been lowered by that much through negotiating. Then they averaged all of their as-adjusted prices to come up with their settlement amount. I thought that was egregious on their part, but my brother was anxious to get another car and he took the money rather than have them purchase a car for him, which is what they offered as an alternative to taking their settlement amount.

Originally Posted by steved0x

I have had 2 diminished value claims, both coming from accidents where I was not at fault.

Case 1: NC Circa 1997 - Relatively new Chevy Lumina that we had bought 3 days before, wife was turning left on a green arrow, she was the 3rd car through the light when she was t-boned my an elderly man running the red light. Insurance company paid for all repairs, etc.. (10,000? the whole left side of the car was torn up) and I got a letter on the dealer's letterhead that said the car's value was diminished by $2,500 as a result of the accident. Appraiser agreed, and I got a check for $2,500. His insurance co was USAA, at the time I was on Geico.

Case 2: FL 2015 - an elderly man ran a red light and I hit him with my 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser. Spun him around pretty good too Around $2,500 in damage. After the damage was repaired but before the claim was closed, I told the agent I wanted $500 in diminished value damages and they gave it to me with no trouble). He was 90+ and a WWII vet - he took full responsibility and we had a nice conversation. I followed up and he was fine after the accident but surrendered his license and gave up driving after this accident. I thanked him for his service and considered it an honor to meet him. His insurance company was Progressive, same as mine.

Around $20-25% of the repair costs seems to be a good starting point for diminished value. Some states do not allow that type of claim though, I had a friend in SC try to do one and was told that it was not allowed. He may have gotten "handled" though by the agent...

In my opinion you should definitely go for it - your car most certainly has suffered a loss of value and you should be compensated for it.

Steve