Lake Mary Diminished Value Claim Lawyers

As a car owner, you are probably aware that the moment you drive off the lot with your new wheels, your vehicle starts to depreciate in value. There are, however, certain incidents that can cause your car’s value to plummet completely, such as damaging it in an accident. While your insurance policy may cover the cost of repairs, your insurer is not likely to consider how the accident has affected your car’s resale value. A vehicle with an accident record is likely to sell for a lot less than a similar car with a clean record. Fortunately, you can seek compensation for the diminished value of your car caused by an accident.

Diminished value claims aim to compensate a claimant for the decrease in their car’s resale value after an accident by filing a claim with the liable party’s insurer. This can turn an ordinary insurance claim into a drawn-out process. While navigating such a claim on your own is possible, having one of our seasoned Lake Mary attorneys help you through the process can be beneficial to your diminished value claim. Call 407-602-1111 to learn more.

If you have been in a car accident but have subsequently had your vehicle repaired to its former condition, you may not have realized that your car’s value will still have diminished. There are many online tools that buyers can use nowadays to check if a car has an accident history. As such, you might be wondering how to go about filing a diminished value claim to compensate for these losses.

You will need to file a claim with the liable driver’s insurance company and have strong evidence to back up your claim. You will also need to deliver proof of the loss of value of your car.

Here are a few steps that you can take to prove diminished value and strengthen your claim:

• Get an Accurate Appraisal: Have an accurate appraisal done of your car’s value. Ask the appraiser for the value of your car before the accident and the value after the repairs were done. The appraiser will inspect the damage caused by the accident and compare your car to others with similar features to reach an accurate value. The difference in value before the accident and after the repairs will act as proof of diminished value and can be used as important evidence in your claim.


• Gather Additional Evidence: Additional evidence could include trade-in letters from various dealerships in your area stating what they would offer you for your car as well as their reasoning for their trade-in price. You can also include the work orders from your repairs that note which parts were replaced and if your car’s performance is affected as a result. Also include photographs of irreparable changes to your car’s appearance, for example, if the old paint doesn’t match the new paint. This may help to strengthen your claim.

If you believe that you have grounds for a diminished value claim, it may be useful to have an attorney who has experience with similar cases assess your case. Our legal team at Donaldson & Weston in Lake Mary has the knowledge and dedication to represent you.

Benefits to having an attorney help with your diminished value claim:

• Handle All Logistics: Your attorney will guide you through the stages of a diminished value claim and handle all the logistics on your behalf. This ensures that all paperwork is done correctly, that the necessary evidence is obtained, and that your claim is filed in time. Your attorney will handle all negotiations with the insurer and use their tried and tested strategies to fight for the best possible outcome.


• Help You Avoid Common Mistakes: Your attorney can help you to avoid common mistakes made by claimants when filing a diminished value claim. Some advice your attorney may give you to protect your claim is to avoid talking about your claim and the accident on social media, not provide the insurance company with a recorded statement, and leave all correspondence with the insurer to your attorney.

At Donaldson & Weston, we have decades of collective experience navigating cases like yours. We are dedicated to helping our clients obtain the compensation they deserve for the diminished value of their vehicles after an accident. Call us today at 407-602-1111 to talk to one of our attorneys, or fill out our online contact form to get your claims process started.