Calculating a diminished value claim is really no different no matter where you’re located, in Oregon, Washington, or anywhere else.

On the other hand, the entire concept of diminished value claims may be new to a lot of people, so I’ll attempt to explain…

Calculating A Diminished Value Claim

Example:
Lets say you have a van that you bought a year ago for $30,000 and it’s blue book value is now $27,000 because you’ve taken good care of it and haven’t driven it more than usual. Your driving along through an intersection and someone runs the red light and smashes into your van’s back door going over 35 mph.

Luckily the air bag comes out and you have your seatbelt on so you are just fine. Your van, however, is a different story. It has some serious dents in it and when you take it to the body shop to get an appraisal, the cost of repairs comes to $4325!

You take it to the automobile repair shop and the body shop does an excellent job. Your van looks about as good as it did before the accident. However, you decide to buy a sportier car that meets your new lifestyle now that the kids have gone.

You list your van for sale in the Auto For Sale section of the newspaper at $27,000 and buyers come to look at the car the following weekend. The first thing they ask is “Has the vehicle been in an auto accident?”

Even if you didn’t tell them the van was in an accident, the buyers could still look up the van’s history online. Once they found out about the accident, the buyer would no longer be willing to pay you $27000, but instead would offer say $22,000. In this case the diminished value would be $5000.

Original value – after accident and repairs value = diminished value claim

$27000 – $22,000 = $5000

If you’ve already settled with the insurance company on the body damage, you probably can still file a separate diminished value claim in Oregon or Washington state if the repairs were done recently.

Think you have a diminished value claim?

Check here to see our guidelines for accepting a diminished value case first.

Want to talk to me about your case?

I want to help you get all the money you deserve for your accident, so call me at  503-280-0888 now or please fill out this short form.

Please specify whether your accident happened in Oregon or Washington State, and give some brief details in the comments.

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Once I see your information, I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can.