Diminished Value Claims

What is diminished value?

If you have been in an car accident, you have probably heard about diminished value. But what is it? It is a loss in value after all of the proper repairs have been taken into account.

When people shop for cars, they frequently look up things like CARFAX or other vehicle history information. If a car has previously been in a wreck, there may be unknown problems with the car, even if it has been fully repaired by a qualified mechanic. As a result, people tend to pay less for a car that has been wrecked and repaired than they would for a similar car that has never been in a wreck. This difference in value is referred to by insurance companies by various terms, including diminished value (DV), inherent diminished value (IDV), and diminished inherent value (DIV), all of which are the same thing.

In Kansas and many other states, the law allows drivers to recover money for the lost value to a repaired vehicle, even after full repairs have been made. The trend in recent years is for insurance companies to attempt to settle these claims for far less than they are actually worth. A brand new vehicle may lose tends of thousands of dollars in value, yet the insurance company only offers a few hundred. Because consumers often do not understand how this claim affects their rights, many people accept these payments before they realize what they are losing.

What we can do for you:

Our goal is to ensure you recover the lost value of your vehicle with minimal expense. We work with clients involved in Kansas car accidents to identify the value of damaged vehicle, and we hire an experienced car appraisal expert when needed. We use the information we collect to negotiate with the insurance companies on the client’s behalf, we file lawsuits and litigate them when the insurance company refuses to negotiate in good faith, and we ensure that the insurance company doesn’t leverage a client’s claims against the client with overly-broad legal release forms.

In most cases, we can accept clients under a contingent fee agreement, which means the client has no financial risk in hiring us. Under a contingent fee agreement, we only get paid when we get results for you! We take great pride in providing quality representation to every client and maximizing your recovery.

Contact us today

If you have been in an accident, make sure you maximize your recovery for diminished value by hiring an experienced attorney. Contact us for a free consultation to see what we can do for you.