You scrimped, saved, and borrowed to finally have enough money to leave the car dealership with a fancy new vehicle. Now, you’ve been driving around town, when a truck comes out of nowhere and damages your new car. So what happens after you have an accident in a new car?
The first thing you want to do is make sure you and your passengers are okay, then you want to contact a reputable car accident attorney to file a claim. This way, you get what you deserve out of the accident, and you will hopefully be compensated for your pain, suffering, and that new car as well. If you find yourself in such a situation, it’s crucial to seek the help of an auto accident injury attorney to navigate the complexities of the legal process.
If you have been in an accident, especially through no fault of your own, then you are going to want to file a claim with the insurance company. If you have no experience with the inner workings of insurance laws, then it’s going to be complicated, confusing, and very time consuming to get the suit filed and receive the compensation you deserve.
That is where a reputable lawyer comes in handy. Once you find out that you and your passengers are okay, your first call should be for a consultation with a reputable personal injury lawyer in your area. But then you’ll still have to deal with the diminished value of your car, even after it’s fully repaired.
What is diminished value?
Diminished value, by definition, is the perceived loss of a car’s value after it has been in an auto accident. In other words, if you’re in an accident with your new car, even if it’s fully repaired and good as new, the resale value of that car will still diminish significantly.
There are three different ways that your new car suffers from diminished value after a car accident. Read on below for a little bit about each of them:
Immediate diminished value: In layman’s terms, the immediate diminished value is the difference in what you would get as a trade in or resale value from before the accident, until after the repairs have been made once you’re in an accident.
Inherent diminished value: Inherent diminished value goes on the assumption that the car is repaired to its original condition following the accident. But the problem is, now that car has been in a wreck. This greatly affects what you can get as a trade in or resale of the new car. In other words, you are going to get less for the car because it was wrecked and is no longer in mint condition.
Repair related diminished value: This is just what it sounds like. If the repairs aren’t exactly as they should be, the car is going to be worth less when you go to trade it in or try to sell it. As an example, if the color of the new paint job doesn’t quite match the original color or generic parts were used, that would be enough to count.
Why does the value diminish?
Put simply, a new car will diminish in value when it is in an accident, because it was in an accident and is no longer in pristine shape. No amount of repairs are going to restore the car to what it was when it pulled off the lot, so the value is diminished and the car is no longer worth what it was.
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