by gwyatt1 » Tue Aug 02, 2011 04:31 am
I have a question for anyone who wishes to share their experience and or advice.
I bought a 2011 Ford F250 Superduty Crew 4x4 6.7l Diesel in January. Two weeks later, an elderly woman decided she needed to make a uturn into the side of my new truck with less than 1,000 miles on it. She was cited for failure to yield.
Her insurance company called within a few hours claiming full liability and sent me to the body shop. Turns out, there was $9,796 damage to my truck, including structural damage to the floor and the rear right side of the cab had to be replaced. The welds were broken on the rear portion of the cab. Both doors had to be replaced along with the right rear wheel and tire, and the nerf bars.
At first the insurance company (state farm) was working with me. I forced them to give me a truck for a rental as I had a truck that I just bought, not a car. They agreed to do that for me. They paid for the repairs. Then it came time for me to file DV claim. Now they suck! They will only offer me $4,200 for DV. This is not a fair offer in my opinion. This is a $52K truck, and now car fax show major accident and I will never get what my truck would have been worth when I try sell.
I bought a 2011 Ford F250 Superduty Crew 4x4 6.7l Diesel in January. Two weeks later, an elderly woman decided she needed to make a uturn into the side of my new truck with less than 1,000 miles on it. She was cited for failure to yield.
Her insurance company called within a few hours claiming full liability and sent me to the body shop. Turns out, there was $9,796 damage to my truck, including structural damage to the floor and the rear right side of the cab had to be replaced. The welds were broken on the rear portion of the cab. Both doors had to be replaced along with the right rear wheel and tire, and the nerf bars.
At first the insurance company (state farm) was working with me. I forced them to give me a truck for a rental as I had a truck that I just bought, not a car. They agreed to do that for me. They paid for the repairs. Then it came time for me to file DV claim. Now they suck! They will only offer me $4,200 for DV. This is not a fair offer in my opinion. This is a $52K truck, and now car fax show major accident and I will never get what my truck would have been worth when I try sell.
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 05:10 am Post Subject:
What is the DV, in your opinion, and what are you basing that number on?
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 05:34 am Post Subject:
I am not sure how to figure dv. I have not seen anything that is cut and dry on how to figure dv. I told the insurance company I wanted $17K based on what trucks comparable to mine were selling for used as compared to what mine cost new three weeks ealier.
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 05:39 am Post Subject:
Huh? That is not DV... it's called new to used and it happened as soon as you signed in the dotted line.
If you don't know how DV is figured and don't know if a DV figure, how do you know what they offered was not correct?
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 05:40 am Post Subject:
I believe this insurance company is acting in bath faith and I beleive there is a way to beat them at their own game. I just am not sure how just yet. I am not going to give in like they are hoping I will.
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 05:42 am Post Subject:
If the damages were almost $10K, how can the dv be less than that for starters? Do you know how they come up with the figures?
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 05:54 am Post Subject:
I contacted a dv company, and they told me that I can expect to get between $13K and $15K. Their quote-unquote professional company they use said that the maximum dv is the $4,200 they offered.
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 12:55 pm Post Subject:
The insurance company is not acting in bad faith as they have responded to your inquiry. They are not obligated to make an offer, only respond.
If the max that the carrier is going to offer is $4,200 and thee is no question your DV is worth $13, 000 then you may want to either file in small claims court (depending on the limits) or hire an attorney to pursue the claim. Those are your options at this point.
What are the other person's policy limits?
I have a claim where a rental company is asking me to pay DV. They state the DV is $xxxx but they are willing to take 20% of that. I asked them to provide some documentation as to how they arrived at that amount. They sent me some paper from a company. Basically the entire page contained all the information on the vehicle, options, year, make, model, etc. Then at the very bottom the value was listed, a multiplier of 2.5% or something like that and a DV amount based on this multiplier. No info on what this "multiplier" was or how they came up with that number. I've seen this from other companies who explain it. Basically, it's a number that they pulled out of a hat.
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 02:07 pm Post Subject:
Most of the DV reports that I have seen prepared by insurers are what is known as a modifier formula devised by Infiniti Insurance from the early 80's. They hire an independent appraiser and then give them this formula to use but tell them to be impartial? The formula starts by taking ten percent of the repairs, then it is modified again by anything from a 1.5 to 0 on the severity of the damage. Then another deduction is taken for mileage.(this is ludicrous because a deduction for the mileage was already taken on the pre loss value). They take a few pictures and claim this vehhicle looks like it was restored to preloss condition just like we paid and here is our offer. Consider this example, a forty thousand dollar cadillac with 29,900 in damages (not quite a total loss at 74.9 percent by most statutes. Using that formula and assuming the car was repaired properly, ten percent of 40,000 is 4000. Modified by the damage severity another 1 times 4000 equals 4000. The severity of damage is tops at 1 times 4000 and then the mileage modifier at 1 times 4000. Now we have 4000 as the loss of value. Are we to believe that anyone in their right mind would give 36000 for a vehicle that sustained 29900 in damages? This is how this formula is negated in court because it is preposterous and erroneous and illogical. It assumes a vehicle never sustaines more than 10 percent in loss of value and gets a double penalty for mileage.
Contact a DV appraiser in your state that is willing to testify on behalf of their report in court and by all means hire an attorney. 70 percent of what you will get is better than their best offer.
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 07:02 pm Post Subject:
You must sell the truck and take a loss on it to prove your DV claim, until you do you have no recourse but to negotiate.
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 10:41 pm Post Subject:
You are not required to sell your property to realize or prove your loss. The measure of damages in most states is the value of the property immediately before the loss less the value of the property immediately after unless repairs are contemplated. Inherent diminished value is the sudden and immediate loss of value not to be compared to a depreciated value due to normal wear and tear on the property.
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