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Many people don’t know about the value of a diminished value appraisal and how it can help them when their vehicle is damaged. Rather than simply getting an appraisal when your car is undamaged, you can also protect your investment by getting a diminished value appraisal when your car is in an accident or otherwise damaged.
One situation in which a diminished value appraisal can be helpful is when your vehicle is in a wreck, and it is not your fault. When you take the car to the body shop, you may be able to drive the vehicle away without noticing where the damage occurred at all. However, when you go to sell the vehicle, you may face some trouble.
Simply by looking up the vehicle’s vehicle identification number (VIN), a buyer, maybe a dealership, can tell that the vehicle has been in an accident and that it’s been repaired. This information is entered into a database by the body shop. Then anyone interested in purchasing the vehicle who has the VIN number can look it up and see that it has been damaged.
This can put a lot of people off to buying the vehicle. They aren’t interested in purchasing a vehicle that could have been damaged really badly and whose repairs were not done properly. You may find that a dealership doesn’t want to buy your vehicle because it can’t resell it as a certified pre-owned car or even as a used car. So that puts you in a tricky spot.
With a diminished value appraisal, you can submit a diminished value claim to the insurance company of the party that damaged your car. The cost of the appraisal can also be added to the diminished value claim, so you can recoup your loss of that cost as well as get a settlement that can make up for the lost value of your vehicle.
Additionally, you may be able to purchase insurance at a cheaper monthly rate for your vehicle if you submit a diminished value claim to your insurance company. Since your vehicle is worth less, you can pay less every month.
If you’re going to sell the vehicle, a diminished value appraisal can help you verify that the repairs done on the vehicle were done correctly. This can be helpful for a buyer to know. They may be willing to purchase the vehicle even though it was in an accident if the inspection and appraisal reveal that the repairs are solid.
