The Truth about Vehicle Diminished Value and Collecting Your Money is a secret the Insurance Companies do not want you to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Getting your money is not as easy as it sounds; when in fact some people gave up because of how the Insurance Companies gave them the run around when asking for their loss of value, the law called it \u201cDiminished Value\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you have an\naccident that is not your fault and the vehicle is repaired, it is not perfect\nand the mechanic knows that, but it is very close to it and will work just as\nwell for the most part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is a case I did\nand like I do in all cases, how it happened and what the steps my client had to\ntake in order to get his money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, he was rear\nended by a man who was texting while driving. \nThat rear-end collision caused him to be injured and his car incurred\nover $17,000 in damages. This was a 9\nyear old BMW with a Kelly Blue Book value pre-collision of $21,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After several weeks\nof waiting for his car to be fixed he finally got back his car. It looked very\nnice, in fact they painted the whole car so it looked the same all over in\ncolor; the color will fade a little as time passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few months later\nhe had a blowout in the rear of the car because of excessive tire wear and had\nto get new tires. He did not realize the\ntires had excessive wear and this is caused by improper alignment setting on\nthe steering alignment parts that keep the wheel alignment in line so not to\nwear the tires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was told he needed\na wheel alignment very bad so he gave permission for the Technician to align\nhis car wheels after the new tires were put on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He got the print out\nand it showed the green arrows in the acceptable zone of the charts and was\ntold it looks like the car was hit in rear. They were able to get the alignment\ninto the safe acceptable zone and should be fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After six months of\ndriving and 7,000 miles later, he noticed his tires were showing uneven tire\nwear so he went back to the alignment shop and asked them to recheck their work. They said it is as close as they can get the\nalignment and he was advised by them of that accident damage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is when he saw\nthe work done on the body repairs were not perfect. So he went back to the body shop and was told\neverything is just like it was before the accident and they can\u2019t do any more\nfor him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He called the\nInsurance Company and they said to go to an alignment shop and get it aligned\nbecause the body shop said you must have hit something in the road causing this\nout of alignment problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His next step was to\ntry to sell it or take it in for a trade-in and just take the loss. The Insurance Company said the car was repaired\nto original and it is worth the full $21,000 shown in Kelly Blue Book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He took his car to\nBMW for a trade-in on a new BMW expecting to get the full $21,000 dollar value\nused on his trade-in. After an inspection was done, the offer on the Kelly Blue\nBook value of $21,000 dollars was only $5,000. \nHe asked why is this low offer and he was told the car was in an\naccident; it has structural damage, it also has a bad Car Fax Report on it. He turned down the offer and left, very\ndiscouraged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was telling a\nfriend at a lunch in his office about what happened. They told him about Diminished Value and recommend\nhim calling someone who can prove Diminished Value; get a Diminished Value\nReport that can show the actual loss of value and then show that to the\nInsurance Company and see if he can get that loss of value. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He called around to\nseveral law firms and the Personal Injury Law Firm of Gary Walch in Calabasas,\nCA recommended him to call Lemon Protection and asked for Jackie Winters who specializes\nin Diminished Value. I do Diminished Value Reports and worked with several law\nfirms in CA, NV, AZ and OR as an expert, now for over 15 years in Lemon Law,\nFraud and Appraisal Values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I got his call,\nhe told me what he has been through and is hoping I can help him with getting\nhis loss of value. I asked him to send me all of his Estimate of Repairs\nincluding the Alignment Records. I am also a Certified Mechanic of over 39\nyears as a Heavy-duty Technician and Trained and Certified in all areas of the\nvehicles including alignment training by the Hunter Alignment Training Center\nby one of their top Master Technician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After I got his\nEstimate of Repairs and the Alignment Chart, I found his car should have been\nTotaled Out. As with many people\u2019s cars and trucks, the Technician knew the car\nshould have been Totaled Out but only gave an Estimate of Repairs on the tear\ndown part first and added there may be more repairs needed after full tear\ndown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So after the first Estimate\nof Repairs of $14,000 they got the OK to do the repairs, a few weeks later he\ngot a second Estimate of Repairs and it showed another $3,500 in repairs were\nneeded, now since the work was two thirds done they got the OK to do the rest\nof the work; this is when it should have been Totaled Out, slipped under the\nrug and the customer got stuck with it, the body shop prospered and the\nInsurance Company got off a little cheaper. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is how a vehicle\nshould have been Totaled Out gets past the not Totaled stage and now is back on\nthe road as a good safe car when it should have been removed from the road. The\nnow repaired vehicle is worth less than it was pre-collision, the good news for\nhim is the law is on his side and he is entitled to get that loss of value\nbetter known in the courts as \u201cDiminished Value\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now is the time for\nhim to get on the ball and go after his money. After he got his Diminished Value Report package\nwith a report proving the car should have been Totaled Out because the value\nafter repairs showed he had over $17,000 in loss of value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When he received his\npackage from Lemon Protection, he followed the instructions we gave him in preparation\nof getting the money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He sent a Certified\nDemand Letter to the owner of the car that hit him and to his Insurance Company,\ndemanding his money for his loss of value and gave them 10 days to pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He got a letter from\nthe Insurance Company telling him there is no law in CA that says they have to\npay Diminished Value and his car was fixed; if he has any complaints about the\nrepairs he should go back to the body shop, and he was told the Diminished Value\nReport I did, did not show loss of value, was all lies and worth nothing, and\nthen he was given a diminished value report prepared by the Insurance Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I read that diminished\nvalue report prepared by the Insurance Company and it is one sided; no research\nproving actual average value, and is unfair and downright despicable, cheating\nthe people out of money owed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My client filed for\nloss of value in Small Claims Court for $10,000 which is the maximum amount he\nis allowed to ask. He notified me the\ncourt date and time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I prepared a Court\nBrief for the case since I will be the Expert Witness on this. The Brief I used was edited and approved by my\nAttorney so the Judge will see the Laws showing my client is entitled to get compensation\nfor his loss of value, this loss is called \u201cDiminished Value\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We arrived at the\nCourthouse in Van Nuys, CA on May 2019 and met \u00bd hour before time to go inside\nthe court room at 8:30 am. I gave him a copy of the file I prepared for him and\nexplained to him he should ask the Judge to let him give him a copy of his file\nand then ask the Judge if I can speak\nabout the Diminished Value Report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Judge said yes\nand then asked about my certifications and hands on experience. I told the\nJudge I have 39 years of hands on experience as an Expert Technician and 16\nyears as a Certified Appraiser. I went on to tell him I was first certified on\nDetroit Diesel in 1980, followed by GM, Cadillac as well as a trained and certified\nHeavy Duty Technician and later was certified by National Appraisal Institute.\nThis company also certifies Technicians from other shops such as Mercedes, BMW,\nGM, Ford, Chrysler, Volvo, Mazda to name a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I then went on to\nexplain how the Diminished Value Report proves the loss of value and how we\ncame up with the numbers. I then explained the structural damage and why the\ncar was not made whole as required by law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man from the\nInsurance Company said if he has a problem with the repair he can go back to the\nbody shop and we will pay to have it fixed; he was attempting to show my client\nwas mad about the repairs in hope to shift the way the Judge got the\ninformation he had to judge on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I told my client we\nare not here about the body repairs and to remind the Judge he was not here\nabout the body repairs, but was here about the resale value which is gone and\nthe car is only worth junk price at most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Judge said, Mr.\nWinters, your Diminished Value Report is showing the car should have been Totaled\nOut but is still worth $1,300 according to your formula you are using\nright? I said, yes, your honor that is\ncorrect the car should have been Totaled Out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Judge said, well,\nhe can drive the car and realistically what is it worth? I said, your honor it\nwill continue to wear the tires out and is only worth junk price which is 25%\nof the value of the Kelly Blue Book and would only be good for parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Judge said, one\nof you will not like my judgement but it will be final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Five days after the\ncase was over my client called and was ecstatic and said we won all the\nDiminished Value of $10,000 dollars; he was very happy and I was happy for him.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is just one of\nmany cases my Diminished Value Report was able to show and prove Diminished\nValue to the Judge; he was satisfied as was many other Judges in Small Claims\nCourts and Superior Courts. It is very satisfying\nto see someone who wins what should have been given them from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tell a friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackie Winters<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lemon Protection Est 1984 TM 1988\/2001<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Truth about Vehicle Diminished Value and Collecting Your Money is a secret the Insurance Companies do not want you to know. Getting your money is not as easy as it sounds; when in fact some people gave up because of how the Insurance Companies gave them the run around when asking for their loss … Continue reading Vehicle Diminished Value and Collecting Your Money<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[66,67,72,70,56,71,59,69],"tags":[146,145],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-accidents-2","category-car","category-collision","category-crash","category-insurance","category-rear-end","category-true-story","category-value-loss","tag-money-owed-you","tag-paid"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3EhSK-5i","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemonprotection.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemonprotection.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemonprotection.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemonprotection.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemonprotection.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lemonprotection.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330,"href":"https:\/\/lemonprotection.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions\/330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemonprotection.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemonprotection.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemonprotection.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}