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Hi everyone. Okay, I just got in an accident about almost 3 weeks ago. The guy ran a red light and hit my car on the passenger side with his big pickup truck. Basically he t-boned my car. I was sitting in the passenger side of my car and my friend was driving it. He admitted it and everything. I had to crawl out the driver side just to get out. Had injuries and went to the hospital. My whole right side of my body still hurts and aches. Now i'm seeing a chiropractor...

His insurance accepted the claim and now my car is getting repaired. They said it was gonna be $7,700 in repairs. Anyways, my question is... after my car is repaired to pre-accident condition, if I tried to sell it or trade it in, is it going to be worth the same as it as before the accident? It's gonna be on carfax right? My friend suggested I claim diminished value. I did some research on it online and got mixed reviews about it. Has anyone been in this situation or tried to claim diminished value? Should I even ask for anything? I'm not trying to "get rich" off the insurance people. I just wanna get some opinions on the matter because I never been in an accident and honestly I have no clues about cars and this whole thing lol... Oh yeah my car is a 05 Civic Ex with 42,000 miles. It hasn't been in any previous accidents before this one or had any work done on it...

Thanks guys.


P.S. Here's a link of pics of my car from the accident http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/d...aaa/?start=all

 
Rep Power: 388

A lot of times the damage isnt reported to carfax if it isnt serious damage. Like I had my car parked in front of my house and my neighbor hit it about 25mph and they had to rip out the trunk floor pan and replace it, along with the bumper and work a few things back to how they were. There was no frame damage though and it would have been completly safe to have driven it the way it was....

Looking at your pictures though, that car is pretty ****ed up. I dont know why its not claimed as a total loss to be honest. There is a lot of damage to that car- the rear quarter panels extend from the tail light to the front fender, making them a huge bitch to replace.

The whole door needs to be replaced including the panel, both pieces of glass, the side air bag, front bumper.... dunno what else by looking at that. It looks like there was damage to the other rear quarter panel as well, and with damage to both of them, its really going to be expensive to repair. I dunno... seriously, try to push for a total loss and just get a new car.

 
Rep Power: 241

i agree.

 
Rep Power: 251

I also agree. The other side of the car is jacked too...that's frame damage... it won't ever drive quite the same.

 
Rep Power: 811

it looks like its all body damage tho which is cheaper to fix than cutting you a check for the value of the car. since nothing happened around the engine, and if it drives fine after they fix it, i dont see a problem selling it later. most people dont even look at carfax anymore cause either its wrong, or not everything is reported. ive seen cases for either. carfax is like car alarms. you might be curious and look once, but then you just ignore it.

 
Rep Power: 364

Good luck actually getting it. Some insurance policies have clauses denying the insured a claim to diminished value. I've heard of quite a few people claiming it but very few getting it. The few I've heard get it had rather high end cars (996TT, for example) and the diminished value could buy a new Honda Civic.

However, your claim might be reasonable since all you would be asking for is indemnification and not any sort of monetary gain. It's worth contacting your insurance company (or at least reading your policy in detail to determine if you are specifically not entitled to diminished value claims).

Best of luck.

 
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Oh man-me too, accident on April 10th and the repair shop is already up to 5K in damages...this was a 2008 Civic EX automatic bought in Feb, less than 5K miles. I think I am going to pursue this myself...

 
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i hate carfax

 
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absolutly right

 
Rep Power: 280

wow sux. My g/f's car was just hit too. It was parked on the side of the curb, and a wanna-be eminem hit her brand new VW jetta head on. The metal of his toyota pos was twisted into the engine, so they could not seperate the cars. They tried though, jumped on her hood, and even called their buddies to tie a rope to the car and pull them. They still could not get them apart. Thankfully the neighbor saw the whole thing go down. To top it off the retard left a half empty bottle of liquor in his car, and a knife. Then he fled the scene, and has a record. Jail awaits..

Anyways, she is getting a lawyer involved because the insurance company just wants to repair the car, and send he on her way without compensation on the new cars depreciated value.

 
Rep Power: 0

Yeah, you'll be fine. It's only 7700 in damages, and it's all body work.
If your suspension/frame/engine got some damage, it'd most likely be a write-off, and you'd get what the car is worth.

So since it's all body work, it's not going to lower the price of the car when you try and sell it. You might be able to claim dimished value, but it's their call.

good luck, let us know what happens