Guess it’s time for the train horn install

[GTBrandon]

Sorry that happened! Just curious though, I'm assuming you blaring your horn for 5 seconds is an exaggeration, but even if it was half that... And you were braking, how'd they hit you in the rear?

Yeah it was an exaggeration, but I was laying on it longer than a simple beep. I wasn’t able to get off to the right due to construction and it was a red light in front so that limited my options. I tried slowing down but I guess she slowed down with me as it didn’t seem to make a difference. It was probably partly me in my mind thinking “There’s no way she doesn’t actually see me. There’s no way she’ll keep coming over and hit me. Right??” So in retrospect I might have been able to slam on the brakes and avoid everything, but it was 2am, I tried my best to avoid her safely/calmly, and I was naive about someone being blind enough to run into me. Also it’s not on the back, it’s my rear quarter panel which she hit with the right front of her car, right on the bumper and wheel well.

Take it to Carmax and have them appraise it. Don't tell them what you are doing - just act like you are interested in selling it. Then look online and find similar cars to compare it to that don't have any carfax incicdents. Boom.

Yeah I was going to but given how low CarMax appraises already, it would probably do nothing for me. I’m thinking of bigger dealerships as a trade in value, as well as looking at the average Mannheim numbers even though they are lower due to dealer auction prices.

Just a heads up. It's illegal for insurance companies to "steer" you towards a particular shop. From my understanding, and I can confirm if you'd like, you can go to whatever shop you feel like and they will still have to pay. They try to get you to use their preferred shops but you don't have to. But they may have better relations with certain shops that gets things done quicker and less arguing come supplement time. (after they take it apart and find little odds and ends).

As far as diminished value goes, depending on how much you're trying to get and what the company thinks you can get, $400 isn't bad considering the one guy who does it in Richmond gets like over $600 but that usually covers the whole deal. If the insurance company says no and you have to take them to court, they'll usually testify as an expert on your behalf. That doesn't mean you'll win but again, it probably depends on how much you're trying to get to know if it's worth the hassle of a third party company.

I'm not sure but could check, but I'd think you can request the diminished value and if the insurance company says no then hire the third party but I guess you would then need a way to determine what value the was diminished beforehand. Like Joey said, you could take the difference between fair, rough and clean values and try it that way. But I believe most insurance companies actually use nada. They may use both now but the 3rd biggest in the county used primarily nada.

Edit: if I recall, diminished value people/companies just use some sort of algorithm or formula which I'm sure you could find somewhere on the interwebz to calculate how much you should ask for.

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They didn’t pressure me into using a particular shop, but they partner with all the major shops around me so there was no reason to go outside of their “list”. It’s not worth me taking them to court over but I think I’ll go the route of dealer estimates first and if they say no, then look into paying a certified appraiser. If we are only talking $1,000 in diminished value then a $400 appraisal might not be worth the time but we’ll see. First things first, I have to get the car fixed which will hopefully be done by the end of next week.