Has your car lost its value after a car accident and how many of us who are willing to pay the full market value for a car that we know will receive significant property damage in an accident? One of the basic questions any buyer asks before purchasing a car is whether it is damaged in an accident. Professional car buyers are responsible for the signs indicating the place designed to repair damage to a car. The average person knows they should at any time by Carfax report on aVehicle before purchase. This is because we all recognize that the cars lose their value when the vehicle suffered substantial damage in an accident. Vehicles are simply not worth as much as a vehicle that was not damaged.
Florida recognizes the existence of a tort claim for depreciation of a vehicle against the tortfeaser (polluters) of the accident. These claims do not exist in the first-party cases where you have your own insurance companypaid for the repairs under their insurance contract with you. First-party claims are governed by the law of contracts and not regulated by the law of tort actions. The claim for diminished value of your vehicle is just one of the claims for damages that may be prosecuted under Florida's tort law, in addition to the more familiar claims for personal injuries. Depreciation claims can be lost as the value of reduced value or reduce the value of claims. One could argue that depreciationclaims should apply to any vehicle including trucks, motorcycles, autos or automobiles, boats, trailers, and even wheelchairs.
The measure of damages has been addressed in at least two cases. Florida's Third District Court of Appeals in the case of McHale v. Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. 409 So.2d 238 (1982) stated the proper measure of damages is the cost of repair, plus the reduction in the value of the vehicle. The burden of proving the reduction in the value of the vehicle is the plaintiff's claim to bring.
Progressive Insurance Company, in Siegle v. Progressive Consumer's Insurance Company, 819 So.2d 732 (Florida 2002), was sued by one of its insured for a loss in value of the vehicle, which they had repaired to their policyholders. In legal Progressive brief to the court, they argued that although a diminished value claim in Florida, not against them, there would be insured through their own that third parties entitled to seek recovery, theirClaims for loss of value. Thus, while denying the existence of these claims in the first cases recognized party, progressive, they do not exist in tort claims by third parties.
We always recommend our customers to obtain quality photographs of their vehicle, the damage before the repair. Once we get to the repair records, an appropriate experts can be sought to give an opinion on the depreciation of the vehicle after the repair. There is nothing in the reported cases, which requires thatThe vehicle must have been sold or traded to pursue this claim. The actual loss is suffered, of course, must be proven and must be significant enough to require the time and cost to justify successfully pursue these claims.