Diminished Value Appraisal with Coilovers
 

So, long story short, I got hit by somebody in a parking lot a while ago and I'm pursuing a diminished value claim against their insurance. After a lot of back and forth, the insurance has offered to pay for the cost of a third party appraisal, saying that whatever number the appraiser comes back with will be what they pay me, period. I would just go ahead and get it done, but my only concern is that the appraisal process includes an in-person inspection. My worry is that the inspector will notice my coilovers and that would reduce the value of the claim.

Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? Are my fears unfounded?

:thanks:

Did it damage the coil overs? If no, then you will get exactly the same amount as if you never had them.

If yes, you will get slightly more

Isn't there a bit of bias if the insurance company pays the appraiser's fee?

There is a seeming conflict of interests, however, you agree to it when you purchase the insurance.


Most people don't think of insurance as a binding contract, which it is. They agree to provide X coverage with Y stipulations, and you agree to pay XX per month for said coverage.


The big problem is most people don't bother to read the policy info to find out exactly what is and isn't covered and the stipulations regarding the coverage.


(Ex-claim representative)

Many people think the insurance companies have to be "fair" but this is far from the truth. They are companies out to make a profit just like any other so if they can avoid paying or pay less they will.
Like Okie said, many people don't check what will or will not be covered and then when the time comes to try and collect they cry foul because they think it should be and it isn't.
I read my policies through even when just renewing and have found things that they have changed/attempted to change several times that could have screwed me up if I wasn't aware.

I can say as a former claim rep, we tried to do everything we could to compensate people for a loss (I specifically handled Theft and Personal Article Policy claims). And if you were cool, we'd bend the rules to get you more money or get you your money faster, etc.


If you acted like an a$$hole, you were held to the letter of the policy.


CR's really do understand it sucks to have to deal with it. Just keep in mind being cool to them goes a long way, they are on the phone 8+ hours a day with people who are pissed off/upset/disappointed/etc.

True! My statement was focused on the Companies' point of view.
People tend too treat some groups (food servers, car sales people, almost any service industry employee on the phone) like crap and then expect great service!
My wife is awful for this and I have too reign her in all the time. When she smacked up her car she could not understand why after a 10 minute rant at the claim rep she could not get the answer she wanted (as opposed to the answer she needed) but I had an answer in 2 minutes.

I checked out the appraiser they want to use, and it' actually the same guy I was gearing up to hire before they offered to pay the fee. For the purposes of my original question, I think that we can reasonably assume that the appraiser is fully independent and is not "in league" with the insurance company or anything like that.

As far as being polite with the agent, I feel as though I have been firm but not overtly aggressive or anything like that. It's also entirely possible that I'm being massively over-paranoid about all this. I do tend to get a little obsessive about things from time to time and overthink them.