weird situation
 

I got myself a BRZ about 2 months ago and the dealership at the time showed me a carfax report that was up-to-date and it stated that it was one-owner/accident-free. Not long after, I've got into an accident where it was 100% other party's fault. While I was dealing with its claim issues and whatnot, the insurance company is now telling me that my BRZ has been involved in an accident on last November. I have no idea how this has happened. And below is the quote I received from its diminished representative.

"There are not any state mandated calculations for diminished value claims in Georgia that I am aware of. Unfortunately, I can not agree with your assessment for the diminished value of your vehicle. We review the Vehicle’s make, model, year, mileage, and damages as well as it’s vehicle history report. Your vehicle is showing a prior loss from 11-23-16 handled by Allstate causing any diminished value from this second loss to be reduced."

My question is a part where he says 'prior loss', does it means its total loss or was he just referring to a prior accident before this? I emailed him about this and should have its answer ready by tomorrow. At this point, I'm really lost and don't know what to do. Can anyone help me with this? Should I get myself a lawyer? I'm just so done with this already ... :(

I would guess that the "prior loss" reference means that the first owner already received diminished value. That would most certainly mean it should have had a carfax on record. Depending on the amount of money you are looking at it may very well be worth your time to at least speak to a lawyer.

Thank you. How come Carfax then didn't say anything about it though? I don't understand ...

I would check this vin. Either you were duped by the dealer or insurance is making a mistake. If it can be some technicality I think its hard to say. Regardless you need another neutral party to advise you before proceeding. I would demand to know exactly what they think is dimisnshed as they can't just put an a random number on it.

I think you may need to talk to a lawyer. A great guy that can at least set you up with someone is Steve Lehto. Look him up hes often on jalopnik and expert of all experts. He will also talk to you to some degree for free.

If there indeed is something wrong that was not disclosed, stand your ground. A dealership must not be allowed to do this and hide behind premis of a business. Sorry man this is not cool.

As @Tcoat said, if the car had already received a diminished value claim that would become the basis for your new diminished value claim. So, if after the prior accident the car value went from, say $12,000 to a repaired $10,000 then that would be the new basis for a second claim. You would not get the valuation based on an "unmolested" car.

Your agent is also correct that there is not a specific formula in Georgia. I did some research on this when mine was in an accident. My car was just under 100,000 miles at the time so it was primarily an exercise in curiousity (I got a check for a $3.54 in diminished value).

Here's the official document saying there is no specific formula used for determining the value.

Also, some information on the Diminished Value laws in all 50 states.

Shoot me your VIN. I'll run Carfax and autocheck on it, and see if Subaru has any records available on it.

CarFax buyback perhaps? See link: https://www.carfax.com/manifest/bbg/termsConditions.cfx

Thank you so much guys I really do appreciate all the support and help. here's my vin JF1ZCAC10D2611655

Carfax, Autocheck, and Subaru records are clean as a whistle. Regular oil changes were done under added security. I'd be talking to your insurance agent about where they're getting their info.

From what I've been told not everything gets reported to Carfax or Autocheck. For example someone could pay for it out of pocket.

Which begs the question: where is the insurance company getting this info?

There must be somewhere that the DV gets recorded?

@trippinbillies40, thank you very much. I'll try to get bottom of this as I'm curious to know where did they get that info and all. Again, I really appreciate it.

Not all insurance companies are good about reporting to carfax/autocheck. My old 2000 GS-R that I owned since new had a clean carfax and autocheck.... yet I had an accident with it and State Farm paid the claim. In my case, there was no police report (wet surface change from asphalt to brick combined with driving too fast = side swiped a post).

Even if neither the police nor the insurance company reported it to CarFax/Autocheck, the Insurance company can find the info from their own sources including law enforcement agencies and other insurers directly.