How to file a diminished value claim with allstate
Diminished Value Claim - How I got State Farm to Pay the Full Amount! (True Story)
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if you've ever been in an automobile
accident and yet it wasn't your fault or
you're in a struggle to try to get
statefarm to pay attention to your
diminished value claim then stay tuned
I'm going to share my true story on how
I got this check for three thousand
three hundred sixty three dollars and
five cents that was my full ask for
diminished value well first we have to
know what diminished value is when
you're in an automobile accident your
car is worth something prior to that
accident now after you get your car
fully repaired it's worth a different
value usually lower the difference
between those two values is diminished
value and it's the best kept secret in
the insurance industry because they
don't tell you that the insurance
company owes you that difference you
have to fight to get that difference all
by yourself in my particular case back
in October of 2018
a woman was backing out of her driveway
on her way to go play golf and she hit
my legally parked 2016 Audi q5
now the car was empty so obviously the
accident was her fault now she left a
note and her husband behind and when I
later arrived I began to take pictures I
met her husband he was super nice and he
shared her insurance information with me
and he also admitted that his wife had
hit my car now I was a nice guy and I
didn't want to call the police so I
didn't I didn't want to get anyone in
trouble as I look back on it though I
probably should have called the police
and next time I definitely will
the next decision I had to make was what
whether I was going to file an insurance
claim with my insurance carrier or with
hers she was insured with State Farm and
I wasn't when I called my insurance
company they said that they would handle
everything for me they would negotiate
with State Farm get my car repaired and
then they would pay me back my
deductible well that didn't sit right
with me why should I have to pay a
deductible when we know that the
accident wasn't caused by me so I ended
up taking option number two which was to
file directly with State Farm now State
Farm was great during this process
they got me a rental car they let me
select the collision repair center that
of my own choosing and I chose Hananiah
collision center in Orange Park Florida
it's really close to Jacksonville
because they're at an Audi certified
collision center I'll leave their link
below in case you want to use them
because they were excellent they
repaired my car later I picked up my car
and turned in the rental car and then I
began to wonder about my diminished
value if I were to ever go and sell this
car to someone or try to trade it in
well they wouldn't give me what the car
was really worth right before the
accident the insurance company is there
to make you whole so I began to research
how to file a diminished value claim
the first thing I did was I hired an
expert his name is John Hackett from
diminished value of Tampa Bay again I
highly recommend John because he walks
you through the process and he's very
experienced especially when filing
claims with State Farm in fact he loves
to do it and has an excellent success
rate with them so I hired him I paid him
two hundred ninety five dollars and he
came up with an expert report for me it
details out what the car was worth prior
to the accident what the car is worth
now that it's been fully repaired and
what the difference was now I have to
admit I was a little disappointed
because John calculated that my
diminished value was two thousand six
hundred and fifty dollars and I thought
to myself if I were gonna go buy that
same car and there was one that wasn't
in an accident and another that was I
would pay far more than two thousand six
hundred and fifty dollars in difference
for the one that wasn't in an accident
but I went with John's expert opinion
because he's well-known in the industry
even though his opinion was conservative
next thing you do now that you have your
experts opinion in his report is that
you have to send that into State Farm
now John was really nice he went above
and beyond for me and sent the report
directly to State Farm with the claim
number that I gave him and a few days
later in the mail I received a form
letter here it is
it begins thank you for the opportunity
to review your request for diminished
value to your vehicle we have been
unable to make contact with you to
discuss your diminished value claim
however we have evaluated the submitted
documentation let me pause there I began
to learn something about State Farm in
this process even though they're
supposed to make me whole they're really
not looking out for my own interest the
same thing happened as they were
repairing my car I noticed that they
tried to use used parts on my car and
they weren't really looking at
for my behalf so when they said we have
been unable to make contact with you I
thought to myself my phone works you
have my cell number
it never rang let me continue diminished
value they say is the alleged difference
between a vehicle's value before an
accident and its value after proper
repairs are completed we believe that
the documentation which has been
provided to date does not substantiate
that the value of your vehicle has been
reduced due to the damage sustained from
the auto accident an appraisal must show
the fair market value of the vehicle
immediately prior to the loss and after
proper repairs they go on to claim that
the appraisal failed to prove the fair
market value and that's why they denied
the claim interestingly this forum
letter is one that after doing research
State Farm sends out almost a hundred
percent of the time obviously I was
upset by it so I picked up the phone and
I called State Farm and I told them I
received this form letter from them and
I wanted to get some more information
there customer service representative
began to explain to me that State Farm
really doesn't believe in diminished
value they believe that they've paid me
my full claim and so there's no way to
prove to them that they owe me more I
thought to myself wow they really don't
care it's obvious that if you look on
the CARFAX report that my car has been
in an accident
that accident was not my fault before
the accident it was worth much more than
after the accident so I tried to get
them to acknowledge that diminished
value existed this customer service
representative put me on hold he went
off and he must have done some number
crunching he came back and he said I
tell you what even though we don't
believe there was any diminished value
in this particular case we'll offer you
1,500 dollars
I thought for a minute maybe I should
take it but then I asked a key question
and I really encourage you to ask this
question as well what methodology did
you use to come up with 1500 for the
diminished value for my car immediately
the customer service representative
declared it's not the diminished value
of your car it's just simply a number
that I'm allowed to offer you in order
to settle this particular situation so I
rejected his claim I hung up and I
thought to myself what are my next steps
I contacted John and he said why don't
you call him back and see if they'll
come up in their offer to a number
somewhere in the middle so I decided to
do that it sounded reasonable and I
called them back spoke with the same
customer service representative and I
said I think it's two thousand six
hundred and fifty dollars according to
my expert you think it's somewhere
around fifteen hundred even though
you're claiming that's not the
diminished value of the car and so I
said how about two thousand one hundred
dollars pay me that and we'll settle
this issue and it will be resolved the
customer service representatives said
I'm not authorized to give you any more
than fifteen hundred so we reject your
offer I thought to myself Wow
so I said to the customer service
representative you're leaving me no
choice but to take your insured to court
I'm going to have to sue them he said
sir you're very welcome to do that and
our conversation ended I thought to
myself is State Farm really looking out
after they're insured really what
they're doing is they're taking a chance
that no one would take them to court so
immediately I began to research and came
up with
I'll take them the small claims court
now our accident happened in Volusia
County so I went to the Daytona Beach
courthouse after doing research can
filed a small claims court suit directly
against the defendant I didn't name
State Farm in the suit at all because
she was at fault she hit my car I filed
that suit for two thousand six hundred
and fifty dollars plus two hundred
ninety five dollars which was the fee I
had to pay to get the experts report at
that moment I also started logging all
of my expenses and that really helped so
I filed the small claims suit I send a
summons to Oklahoma
she lived in Oklahoma even though she
hid my car in Florida she was
vacationing at the time and visiting a
friend
and so I I sent a summons to Oklahoma
and the Oklahoma Sheriff's Department
and they tried to serve it but she
wasn't there it turns out her and her
husband were back in Florida on a
vacation on a cruise and the person they
were visiting helped me to know when
that cruise would conclude and when I
could serve the papers to them directly
here in Florida so when the first
summons doesn't work you get an alias
summons the people at the courthouse are
very helpful and they help you fill out
all the paperwork and it's pretty simple
so I paid the fees to get an alias
summons and the Volusia County Sheriff's
Office served her when she got off the
cruise and came here into Volusia County
again as you can imagine they were very
upset now I tried to work with them I
went to their friend's house
that they were visiting and I shared
with them that State Farm left me no
choice but to take them to court and so
I had to sue them but all they had to do
was give the paperwork directly to State
Farm and State Farm would assign an
attorney and fill in for them it turns
out that's what they did even though
they were very upset with me personally
they should have been upset with State
Farm and not with me when you file a
small claims suit you go get a
pre-conference trial date that's the day
that you go there's no arguments given
but you appear before the judge and you
meet the defendants attorney and you try
to negotiate things out and then you
declare before the judge whether you
were able to work things out or not well
I met the attorney from State Farm and I
gave her all of my expenses because to
file summons to file the small claims
court my expenses kept adding up and so
she asked what would it take to salt
settle this today I told her three
thousand three hundred sixty three
dollars and five cents her immediate
response was there's no way if we
weren't giving you twenty one hundred
we're not going to give you that she
told me she's authorized to still extend
the same offer of fifteen hundred to me
I bit my tongue and I was able to not
laugh in her face at that it turns out
that she didn't have the authority to go
up any higher she called her appraiser
she texted him but he didn't get back in
time to her before the judge came in so
the judge comes in to small claims court
and for she gives about a 15 minute
dissertation that's very informative the
judge claims that you must prove two
things in order to win your small claims
case the first liability the second
damages you have to prove that another
person was at fault for your damages and
then you have to approve the amount of
your damages well I had the second part
taken care of
expert his opinion he was willing to
come to Daytona Beach and testify on my
behalf
so that was covered what wasn't covered
was the liability but remember she lived
in Oklahoma so on the way out of the
court after we set the trial date I
spoke with the farm attorney and I told
her I said I want to be a nice guy this
is really between the two of us me the
plaintiff and you State Farm it's not
really with the defendant although I had
to sue her because she's the one who was
at fault I don't want to have to summons
her again
and make her travel all the way from
Oklahoma to Florida in order to appear
as my first witness the attorney said
something interesting she said why would
you have to summons her why does she
have to testify and I said because the
judge said I had to prove liability and
unfortunately if you remember I didn't
get a police report she said well you're
welcome to do that but you don't have to
I'm not gonna argue against liability in
this case well State Farm honestly at
this point I didn't trust them for all
the things that they went through so I
told her let's put that in writing I did
a little more research Google is a great
resource for this on a joint stipulation
the two sides can stipulate what they
agree to and the facts in the case so I
told her please send me a joint
stipulation she did her joint
stipulation simply stated that liability
would not be discussed in this case I
thought to myself that's not what the
judge said so instead I responded with
an edited statement and I said in that
statement that her client was liable for
all damages due to this accident this is
a fact and it will not need to be proved
in court and I send it back to her on
the joint stipulation it turns out that
as she was doing that she also got a
call back from the appraiser and so she
replied
not to the joint stipulation she replied
with an offer of $2,000 I told her
that's unacceptable to me I need the
full amount if you want to come down the
five cents I'll spot you that you can
write me a check for three thousand
three hundred and sixty three dollars so
I sent her that and the joint
stipulation edits and I said please
respond
in the next few days otherwise I'm gonna
have to go to the courthouse and start
to fill out the summons request to serve
her in Oklahoma well a few days later I
received this mail in my email inbox she
says I am now able to offer you the full
amount of three thousand three hundred
sixty three dollars and five cents that
you were requesting they sent me a check
a release statement that I also ended up
tweaking a bit and I had to file a few
papers with the court to dismiss the
case but that's how I got the full ask
him out now you might be asking three
thousand three hundred and sixty three
dollars and five cents that's different
than the two thousand six hundred and
fifty dollars that was your diminished
value from the expert and that's true
the difference is about seven hundred
and thirteen dollars the reason for that
difference is I had to come out of
pocket seven hundred and thirteen
dollars to actually file the case with
the court send the summons send the
alias summons all the postage that was
needed to do that
I kept good track of those expenses
that's what I shared with the attorney
as to what my value was that's why the
check I received was for the full amount
that's what it took to get my full
diminished value asked back from State
Farm I hope that in some small way if
you're ever in a David versus Goliath
situation like this especially if you're
facing State Farm that this video has
really helped you but now that I've
helped you help me a little bit I'd love
to hear your thoughts and comments why
do you think it took all of that work to
get that cheque from State Farm and what
do you think made the difference was it
the wording of the joint stay
halation was it the fact that I had to
summons someone from Oklahoma to Florida
was it related to the fact that I didn't
name State Farm originally in the case
or was it that john hackett my expert
that his stellar reputation I really
don't know exactly why they settled my
guess is it's likely because the amount
was so small but if that were the case
why waste all the expenses are for me to
take them to trial help me out with that
in your comments below as always
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Related queries:
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how to file a diminished value claim with state farm
